Grinder (Seattle Sharks 1)

Chapter 1

Getting a three year-old to sleep should be an olympic event.

“Is that better?” I asked Lettie, smoothing back her thick brown hair from those summer blue eyes as she drained the small glass of water. She nodded, her smile full of tiny, gapped teeth as she settled back against her pillow.

If hockey was my world, where I made my living breathing the game, the ice, the needs of my team, then Lettie was my sun—the only thing in this universe that thawed my heart.

She was also the only thing I’d ever be caught waxing poetic about. But I couldn’t help it, I was owned by a tiny three-year-old.

“Thank you, Daddy,” she said, but the way she plucked at her covers and wiggled her tiny feet told me there was something else on my daughter’s mind.

“What’s up, sunshine?” I asked.

She looked up with excited eyes. “I like that Bailey is here.”

“Me too,” I said, unable to stop the smile that spread across my face at her happiness.

“I like Bailey.”

A small chuckle rumbled through my chest. “Well, me too,” I said, ruffling her hair.

“And now she’s here all the time? Mornings and everything?”

“Yep,” I answered, reaching for her bedside table. Bringing Bailey to live with us as Lettie’s full-time nanny was a no-brainer. As often as I’d need her to travel with me for away games, and with the unpredictability of my schedule, it was really the only way for her to have a life...for either of us to. She’d been doing the job for six months already, but with the season starting up, it was the right time.

“So when I get up she’ll be here?”

I paused before turning out the light and took a deep breath. “Yes, but Lettie, let’s wait until the clock has a seven on it, okay? Not everyone likes to party at five a.m.”

She bounced slightly, her eyes lighting with mischief. “I just can’t wait to see her.”

“You just saw her, remember? She tucked you in,” I said bringing her covers back up to her chin and urging her to lay down.

“I know, wasn’t it amazing?”

I leaned forward, kissing her forehead. “Yes, it was amazing. And it will be amazing again tomorrow night.”

“She’s the best,” she said, her eyes as wide as her smile. “Maybe she wants to see me before the sun is up!”

I pursed my lips, fighting the laughter that came so easily around my daughter, but only her. “Scarlett McPherson, you leave Bailey alone until morning. Do you understand me?”

Her lower lip extended in the cutest damn pout. “Yes, Daddy.”

“Okay. I’m going to run for a little bit, so if you need me I’ll be in the gym, okay?”

She nodded and flung herself forward, hugging me tight.

I held her close, savoring the smell of her strawberry shampoo, and the simple joy she emanated. Everything was simple in her world—her daddy loved her and Bailey adored her.

For the first time since she was born, there was a sense of stability in this house, and by God, I was going to keep it that way.

“I love you more than the stars,” she said with a hard squeeze.

“I love you more than the moon.”

“The stars are prettier,” she argued.

“Well, the Earth needs the moon, so I love you more.”

Her face scrunched momentarily before she shrugged. “Okay. But only because you need a win.”

I hugged her again and put her to bed, silently cursing Rory for saying that yesterday when he was here, arguing to let Bailey move in.

I turned off Lettie’s light and shut her door softly behind me.

My watch read 8:15 p.m. I could get in a couple miles and then meet the guys for drinks. Or I could get a couple miles in and maybe chill for the night.

Yeah, the second was probably the more responsible of the choices.

The refrigerator shut as I passed the kitchen, and I turned to see Bailey unloading a bag full of groceries. Her top was perfectly respectable, but the slight dip in her neckline gave me a mouth-watering glimpse of her cleavage.

Don’t look at her like that, you asshat.

“Hey,” I said, instead, as smooth as a fucking seventh-grader.

“Hey,” she answered with a bright smile as I leaned across the island. “So I picked up some more of that Greek yogurt you like, and some stuff for cupcakes tomorrow. I figured I’d bake with Lettie to kind of celebrate our little…” she gestured around her “arrangement?”

A corner of my mouth lifted in a smile. “Bailey, you’re living with us. There’s nothing illicit going on.”

Pink stained her cheeks and damn if it didn’t make her even more beautiful. Not that Bailey needed the help. She was petite but packed a powerhouse body that had found itself under mine in a few of my more drunken fantasies. And that face? Damn, she was perfection—huge hazel eyes, thick lashes, and olive skin with the most kissable mouth I’d ever laid eyes on.

But that was all I was ever going to lay on her.

“Well, yeah,” she said, pulling her long, dark brown hair into some kind of knot on the top of her head. “It’s just a transition.”

“Hopefully a good one.” It had to be. Lettie adored Bailey, and we’d been friends since we were kids, so it wasn’t like I could afford to piss off Bailey...or our mothers.

“It will be,” she promised. “Besides, I was practically living here anyway. Now I don’t have to drive back to my place in the traffic.”

“Agreed.” Seattle traffic could be a nightmare.

She paused, leaning back against the opposite counter, inadvertently putting those lush curves on display.

Fuck my life, if I didn’t get out of here I was going to sport wood harder than the fucking floor.

“I’m going to go get a couple miles in,” I told her, pushing back from the island.

She reached over and into the fridge, then tossed a bottle of water my direction. “Have a good run. Oh, and I heard Rory and Warren talking today while we were moving in. If you want to grab a couple beers with the guys, I’m totally okay here with Lettie.”

“Thanks. I’ll think about it, but I’m pretty sure I’m just going to turn in.” And get the hell away from you before I lose my nanny to sexual harassment.