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

Fine. Just curious how long I should let him nap?

An immediate response came.

Please tell me he’s not still sleeping?

I checked the time. Almost four o’clock. Hmm, obviously I should’ve known better than to let him nap this long.

Okay, I won’t tell you. ;)

I sent it, waiting for the phone to ring shrilly, followed by Samantha’s frustrated voice as she ripped me a new one over my stupidity.

But it didn’t come.

Somehow, I wondered if that was worse. Maybe she’d save the shitstorm until she got home from work so she could berate me face to face.

That was okay, though. Let her be angry. If I had my way, she wouldn’t be furious for long.

The thought made me smirk. Samantha was feisty and independent and protective, but two could play at that game. She didn’t know it yet, but she had just met her match.

***

I heard the key in the door just as I was putting the finishing touches on my surprise.

“Levi!” I gasped with a grin, staying as quiet as I could. “Get up to the table, little man! Your mom’s home!”

The little boy zoomed by me in a frantic scurry, his eyes wide, mouth set in a wide smile.

“You ready?” I asked him, and he nodded, shoving his hands in front of his mouth in anticipation.

I pushed his chair in, then stood behind him, in full view of the doorway.

Samantha pushed the door open a few seconds later, fidgeting with the key to get it out of the door. “I didn’t expect the—”

“Surprise!” Levi cried out cheerfully, his little arms opening wide to display the table before him. His announcement was a little premature, but it accomplished what it was meant to.

Samantha pulled the key from the door, but she wasn’t focusing on it anymore. It hung open, almost as much as her mouth. She stopped in her tracks, staring incredu

lously at the dinner table, neatly set with a piping hot pan of lasagna in the middle of it, steam billowing into the air above it. Her eyes were the only part of her that moved, from Levi’s smiling face up to my own crooked grin.

To say I had her attention was an understatement.

“You...made dinner?” Getting those three words out seemed to pull Samantha from her trance, and she took a long glance around the apartment. When she’d left this morning, a daunting stack of boxes had been piled up near the table, still sealed with packing tape. Now, the stack was gone, and the cardboard boxes were broken down and tucked neatly by the door, just needing to be taken out to the recycling bins downstairs. I didn’t think it was possible, but her eyes widened even further. “You unpacked my things?”

“We unpacked, didn’t we, Levi?” I ruffled the boy’s hair, and he answered with a giggle.

“Surprise!” he said again.

Samantha’s purse slid slowly off her shoulder to the floor near the door, and she shuffled out of her jacket. “I, uh, didn’t expect...I mean, I figured your day went okay, but...”

I had to bite the inside of my lip to keep my faint smirk from growing into a full-fledged grin. She was so damn cute when she was speechless.

I took a few steps to the left and pulled out the chair at the end of the table, motioning to her to come and sit down. “Everything went great, Samantha. Really. I’m sure Little Man Levi here will tell you all about it.”

She crossed the floor as though hypnotized, her gaze flitting between the meal on the table and me. She sat down without another word, and I helped her to pull her chair in, using the close proximity to lean forward and whisper into her ear, “You’re welcome.”

When her head turned quickly so she could see me, I just winked and headed for the chair at the other end of the table, unable to hide my amusement.

“You’re staying for dinner, too?”