Grinder (Seattle Sharks 1)

I wrapped my arm around her waist and grinned down at her, wishing we weren’t in public, or so close to Lettie. “You can bet that I’ll take you up on that later,” I promised.

We stood there, smiling at each other like idiots, and I loved every second of it. Being with Bailey was easy. Not easy in the, hey-she’s-already-here-why-not, but easy in a way that I felt content for the first time that I could remember.

Maybe that’s what happened when you started to fall for your best friend...everything just clicked.

We made our way out of Minnie’s very girlie house and into Toon Town, each of us taking one of Lettie’s hands.

“Did you have a good day, Lettie-Lou?” Bailey asked.

My chest tightened at her use of my nickname for Lettie, at the perfection that this day was.

“It’s been the best day ever!” Lettie exclaimed.

And she was right. I looked to my left, where my girls talked in excited, happy tones, and the simple rightness of the moment was so complete that it was almost frightening. Crazy right. A forever kind of right.

A diamond ring right.

Whoa. It was too soon to even have that thought—absolutely. But it was just that—a thought. But a damn good one. What if this was what a real relationship was? What if this was what the rest of our life could look like? Partners, friends, lovers, working together to raise Lettie?

What if Bailey was the one who didn’t leave?

It should have been scary. I should have run the other direction screaming from the crazy, committed thoughts that were going through my head. Hell, we’d only been together a couple of weeks.

But we’d been friends all of our lives. All the relationship aspect had added was the hottest sex of my life and the promise that she was the only one I’d see naked. Hell, she was the only one I wanted to see naked. That, itself, said something.

“Daddy?” Lettie asked, getting my attention.

“Yes?” I asked, looking down at her delighted, exhausted little face.

“We were wondering what you thought about grabbing pizza and eating at the hotel?” Bailey asked. “I think we’re all a little exhausted.”

I checked my watch. I wasn’t playing tonight, but I was still going to support my guys. “Yeah, we have time for that.”

When Lettie’s feet started to stumble, I picked her up and put her on my shoulders. Hell, I was tired from walking all around this place and my legs were a bit bigger than my four-year-old’s.

“So have you given any thought to those art programs you were talking about?” I asked Bailey as we walked to the parking lot.

She shook her head. “Not really. I mean, I’d love to get into a local gallery, but maybe that’s a pipe dream.”

“I remember telling you once that I thought hockey was a pipe dream.”

“Yeah, well, you have a God-given talent, Gage. It would have been a waste for you not to use it.”

“The same goes for you,” I said, helping her off a steep curb onto the sun-soaked pavement.

She shrugged. “Maybe we only get one massively great thing in our life. Not everyone is meant for the spotlight.”

I lowered Lettie off my shoulders as we reached the rental car. “I don’t believe that. You’re extraordinary, Bailey.”

She rolled my compliment off like she always did, with a tight smile and a change of subject. “Thanks. So, I was thinking that maybe we could have both of our mothers over for Thanksgiving? Unless you think that’s too much. I don’t want—”

I leaned down and kissed her, just a quick brush of our lips. “I think that would be great. I don’t want to have Thanksgiving without you.” Or Christmas. Or New Years.

God, I had it bad.

She lead Lettie to the back seat and strapped her in.

As I rounded the back of the rental car, I saw a woman struggling with her double stroller, an unruly toddler who apparently didn’t want to leave, and two squalling infants.

Some of Lettie’s early days played back through my mind, and my heart went out to the woman. “Ma’am?” I called out and crossed the blacktop to her minivan. “I promise I’m not a creep or anything—my girlfriend is right there with my little girl—can I give you a hand?”

Her shoulders sagged in relief as she wrestled the little boy. “Would you mind?”

“Not at all,” I said. “Why don’t you get him strapped in and I’ll keep these girls happy for a second? Is it okay if I hold them?”

She looked me up and down as the screaming intensified. Her eyes prickled with tears, and I knew that on any other day she would have told me to take a hike.

“My name is Gage McPherson,” I said softly. “I’m an NHL player for the Seattle Sharks. You can google me and everything.”

The boy screamed again, heading into full-on meltdown, and she nodded, clearly at her wit’s end. While she buckled the boy into the car, I unbuckled the girls, who looked to be about six months if my memory from Lettie was right.

I carefully lifted them one at a time into my arms, thankful that Lettie hadn’t been twins. Then again, I wasn’t sure the world could have handled two of her.

Or how I could have cared for two babies when Helen walked out.

The two girls tucked their little heads against my chest as I swayed, murmuring just how precious they were. They quieted, and I felt that little bit of peace that only calming a baby can give. I glanced over to our car, where Bailey leaned against the frame near Lettie’s open door, watching me.

The yearning on her face broke me down like nothing else could have. I knew that this had always been her dream—holding babies of her own. Hell, she’d been playing house since we were kids, mothering everyone around her, babysitting just for fun. Her impeccable maternal instinct had been one of the reasons I’d trusted her with Lettie when she’d come home from Cornell. That, and there was no one in this world who knew me better.

One of the babies yawned against my chest, and I smiled.

I got it, why Bailey wanted this so badly.

I just hoped I could love her enough that she wouldn’t feel like I’d cheated her out of it—that Lettie and I would be enough to content her need for family.

She gave me an adoring smile, and I mirrored it.

“Thank you,” the woman said, reaching for the first little girl. “Their dad is deployed and I just wanted to get them out of the house for the day.”