The Bad Boy Hockey Collection: A Collection Of Single Daddy Romances

“I should probably get you home,” Craig says, tugging his t-shirt back over his chiseled abdomen. “You and I both know Nancy’s sitting in that chair by the window, watching and waiting with stars in her eyes.”

The mental image makes me smile. Mostly because Aunt Nancy had been right about Craig. About what a good man he is, and that he’d be good for me, too. “And you want to go home to Ellis,” I add, giving him a knowing grin. “It’s okay, you can say it. You don’t have to hide that from me.”

He leans over and kisses me, a slow and passionate kiss that leaves me breathless and rethinking the earlier thought that my desire for him had been quenched. “You are a truly amazing woman, Meg,” he breathes against my lips. “Don’t let anyone ever tell you otherwise.”

I’m grinning like a goddamn fool as he leans back and finishes pulling his clothes back into position. We drive from the garage to Aunt Nancy’s house with only a few words spoken between us, but Craig’s arm is stretched across the bench seat, his fingers entwined in mine. The way his thumb runs across my knuckles, so softly and sensually, says more than his words ever could.

Something has happened between Craig and I. Something more than just giving ourselves to each other in the front seat of his truck in a flurry of overwhelming need. Something daunting. Something that could be like a dream come true for me. Something very, very good for us both.

Or very, very bad.

A thought niggles at my consciousness. You’re not ready for this. You can’t handle this. This wasn’t the plan.

I remind myself that my plans were crushed the moment I left Dallas. The moment my boss ripped away my dream job and sent me packing.

To a small town called Cardon Springs.

Where a man named Craig Connelly has taken me by surprise and made part of me think that that should have been the plan all along.

“I want to see you again,” he says, pulling his truck into Aunt Nancy’s driveway. “Are you fre

e tomorrow night?”

It’s on the tip of my tongue to nod, but I wonder if I shouldn’t seem too eager. “As good as that sounds, I should probably spend at least one evening with Aunt Nancy,” I say as an excuse. “Don’t want her to develop a complex, you know.”

He chuckles, giving my hand a squeeze. “Fair enough. What about the next night?”

He’s not going to give up easily, I can tell, so I nod. “That sounds really nice, Craig. Where are we going to go when everything closes down by eight o’clock?” I smirk.

“My place,” he says with a smile. “I can’t very well ask my mom to watch Ellis again. Besides, I’ll be more comfortable having my little man in my sight. I’d love for you to meet him, Megan.”

My stomach constricts at the thought of meeting his son, despite the fact that the little boy isn’t even a year old. It seems like a big step. I am about to push the thought aside and just give another smile when Craig continues.

“That’s probably a bit scary, and I get that,” he assures me. “But I’d love to introduce you to him, if that’s something you want to do. If we’re something you want.”

“Craig, I—”

“I’m not meaning you have to promise anything, Meg,” he says. “We’ll go slow, I swear. I just want to make sure you and I...well, that whatever is going on here is something you want. Because I sure as hell do. Want it, I mean. Want you.”

His confession traps my breath in my throat, but I answer him without even weighing the question in mind. “I do, too. Want this, I mean.” I promise him with a soft smile. “I’ll see you and Ellis soon, okay?”

I climb from the truck, but Craig doesn’t let go of my hand right away, instead choosing to bring my fingers up to his mouth and kiss my knuckles softly.

“I’m looking forward to it, Megan.”

I give him a crooked grin, squeezing his hand before I let it go and pull reluctantly away. “It’s Meg,” I tell him softly. Then, I head up the walkway to the front porch, where the outside light is still on, giving him one more fleeting glance over my shoulder before I disappear inside the house, leaving part of my heart in that truck with him.

***

Cardon Springs is the only place I’ve ever been where I can come here for a bit of solitude and time to rest my brain, bruised heart, and shattered pride, only to wind up tied in knots over the one thing I never expected to find—a man.

If Craig can be considered simply a man. Because I don’t think he is. He can’t be. A man has never been able to make me want things like a quiet home life and someone to come home to every evening. A man has never kept me awake at night with thoughts of his dark eyes and memories of his firm, muscled body. And a man certainly has never had me so worked up and anxious about him coming to pick me up in less than an hour that I’ve resorted to confessing almost everything to my aunt in hopes of feeling some sort of reprieve from the racing thoughts I can‘t seem to halt.

“I think you’re getting way too ahead of yourself, my dear.” Aunt Nancy is doing what she usually does, making copious amounts of tea and force-feeding it to me like it’s the answer to all my problems.

Thank God I didn’t have it in myself to admit to her that Craig and I slept together the other night. She has no idea just how ahead of ourselves we really got.

“I know you think that,” I argue. “But you were right about him, Aunt Nancy. Craig is a good man. A good man with an infant son that’s his world. Am I ready for something like that?” When I’m frustrated, I gesture with my hands a lot while I talk, so I wisely set my mug of tea down before I end up wearing it and scalding myself.