Tempt The Boss (Tempt 1)

“I couldn’t miss my two best boys on the ice again.” He looks at both Cooper and Austin.

“Hey,” Cooper greets Gabe, who is standing next to me, gawking shamelessly. “You must be Gabe. I heard you’re really good.” He ruffles his hair. Gabe continues to stare and has still not said anything.

I nudge him with my hip. “Um. You’re Cooper Stone,” he whispers, and everyone laughs.

Cooper laughs, too, and is about to reply when he looks over at Rachel. “Do you skate, too, or are you just a princess?”

“I’m a princess, and I only skate if I can make snow angels.” Rachel smiles.

Parker walks in with Matthew and Karrie following her.

“Hey, guys,” she greets us as she goes to Cooper’s side. “Who are these guys?” she asks me.

“These are my children,” I say, smiling at her. “This is Gabe, who, believe or not, never stops talking.” I hug him sideways. “And this is my girl, Rachel.”

“She’s a beauty.” Parker smiles at me in return. Rachel leaves my side to go tap Matthew’s leg. He stops talking to Karrie and smiles at her before squatting down in front of her. “Hey there, Princess.”

“Will you be my boyfriend?” Rachel asks, while I gasp out loud and Austin groans beside me.

“Um,” Matthew mumbles.

“Rachel, what are you doing?” I question, going to her.

“Well, Auntie Kay has Noah as her boyfriend, and you have Asshat.” Cooper bursts out laughing. She looks at Austin and smiles. “Sorry, Asstin. So, I want one, too, and I want him.” Rachel points her thumb at Matthew, who is in stitches.

“I would really, really like to be your boyfriend, but Karrie is my girlfriend, and it wouldn’t be fair to her.”

“Oh, that’s totally okay. I give him to you,” Karrie says to Rachel. “No take backs, either.” Cooper and Parker are now laughing even harder.

Matthew stands up and glares at Karrie. “I’ll show you no take backs later.” His tone is fierce, but Karrie looks at him and then down at her nails. “Can’t. I’m busy.”

“You’re busy, huh?” he mocks. “Really? With no phone, no car, no purse, no wallet?” He smiles at her.

“Matthew,” Parker whispers. “You didn’t.”

“He must have lost the handcuffs,” Cooper chimes in. “Okay, why don’t we go get ready to skate?”

“How about the girls go out for cupcakes and coffee?” I ask them.

“Is Noah coming?” Cooper asks while walking to the rooms in the back.

“I would love to go for coffee,” Karrie says. “You guys can be my getaway.”

“You can run, but know that I’ll always catch your ass and drag you back,” Matthew warns with a wink, then turns and jogs into the back.

“That man is a…” Karrie stutters. “He’s a…he’s a…”

“He’s an asshat,” Rachel helps her out, smiling at me and then Parker and Karrie, making everyone laugh.

“Okay, babe.” Austin kisses my lips. “Come back, and for the love of god, whatever you do, make sure you bring Karrie back with you.”

I look at Karrie, who looks like she is about to blow steam out of her ears, just like in the cartoons. Before she can explode, Parker goes up to her, seemingly averting that crisis. “Honey, I’m so, so sorry.” With that, we all head out to go have chocolate cupcakes and coffee.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

AUSTIN

We spend three hours doing drills and practicing stick handling. We play a two-on-two game, since Noah never showed up.

Matthew shows Gabe little tricks, and I have to give it to him; he soaks in every word, following up Matthew’s instructions to a T and getting into it right away, hungry for more. When we call it a day, he actually groans and moans.

Craig is there when we skate off the ice. “That boy, with a little bit of coaching, could be out of this world. He’s a natural.” He looks at Gabe. “I got one more left in me.” He looks from Gabe to me.

“What does that mean?” Gabe asks, taking off his helmet and spitting out his mouth guard.

“He coached Cooper and me. Now he wants to get his hands on you.” I watch his face turn from confusion to awe.

“Can I?” he asks me. “You think you can talk to Mom?”

“I think we could talk to her about it,” I say to him while I whip my jersey off, throwing it into the bag that holds all my equipment.

Gabe finishes before us and goes back to help Craig clean the ice on the Zamboni.

“Kid has the itch,” Cooper says, unwrapping the tape from his legs. “Where is the father in all this?” Cooper knows all about being a stepfather.

“He’s around.” I shrug. “He cheated on her with the kid’s teacher. Found out she’s Camilla the Cunt.” I unwrap my legs also.

“Holy shit, no way!” Cooper shouts. “You think you’re ready for this?” He knows I don’t have any experience with kids.