Hot Puck (Rough Riders Hockey 2)

Holy shit.

Panic crawled along her shoulders and trickled into the pit of her stomach. The pen and paper in Beckett’s apartment flashed in Eden’s mind. That night, she’d thought they might have been a gag from his teammates. Then she’d learned of his nieces, and she’d assumed the paper and pen had been left behind when they’d been visiting. But now…

Oh God.

No, no, no.

The girls joined a couple of other boys, and they all ran through the corridor, laughing and chasing each other, their gleeful voices bouncing and ricocheting and echoing. The woman with the trio of girls crossed her arms and watched them play with a serene smile on her pretty face. Another woman came around the corner, and the two fell into an easy conversation.

Eden’s brain spiraled for answers. His sister? Could this be his sister and his nieces? But he said he had two nieces, not three. Though the little one could be a friend of the girls. Or the woman could be babysitting.

There were a dozen different explanations to fit this scenario. Logically, Eden knew that. But emotionally, her brain was having a heyday throwing doubt at her, because, honestly, how did Eden know Beckett wasn’t married?

How good could a quick Internet search be? And how many lovers had John passed off as female colleagues right in front of her face? For that matter, how many financial scams had John covered as legitimate business? How many lies had John twisted as truth?

How many attacks had John sworn never to repeat?

What made Eden think she would be any better at seeing lies now than she’d been able to see then?

The woman followed the girls as they ran down the corridor. Her gaze caught on Eden. And held. After a moment, she lifted her hand to wave. Eden felt as stiff and cold as metal, but she slipped her hand from her crossed arms to wave back.

The metal doors slammed open, and team members dribbled out in small groups. Eden strategically placed herself at the base of the stairs, prepared to bolt. Her mind was now in an intense battle between logic and fear. Surely Faith wouldn’t have stayed quiet at the pancake breakfast if Beckett were married. Would she? Then again, Eden knew less about Faith than she knew about Beckett. But Gabe, Gabe would never lead Eden astray. But Gabe was all about the game, not the guys. He probably wouldn’t even know if Beckett was married or not.

Still, it didn’t make sense for Beckett to have Eden meet him here if he’d known his wife and daughters would be there to greet him. Hell, maybe they were supposed to be out of town and were surprising him. Or maybe he did know they’d be here and this was his ploy to make his wife jealous.

Eden lifted a hand to her temple to stop the spin and whispered, “Or maybe it’s just his sister.”

She didn’t know anything anymore. All she could do was wait. Wait for this sand under her feet to completely shift and knock her on her ass or solidify into concrete.

Eden held her breath as another wave of men passed through the tunnel. And another. People said hello and joked and hugged and talked and made plans. Kids played and laughed. A couple of the guys who’d been at the YMCA said hello to Eden before jogging the steps to the parking lot. No weirdness there. That was a good sign, wasn’t it?

She hadn’t counted, but she swore most of the players had to be out of there. Where in the hell was Beckett?

“I should leave,” she whispered to herself, glancing at the stairs with a fist gripping her gut. “I should go.”

The doors opened again, and Eden had convinced herself that if it wasn’t Beckett, she was leaving.

When she swung her gaze back, Beckett came through the door with Tate a couple of steps behind him. His gaze immediately homed in on Eden, and a big smile lit his face.

“There you are,” the woman said.

Beckett’s gaze darted toward her, then the three girls, and his momentum stopped dead. His smile faded into shock.

Eden sipped a breath and held it.

“Man, you’re still the last one out of the locker room,” the woman said. “Girls, he’s finally here.”

The three girls turned. The two older ones returned to the woman’s side, but the little one, the little one threw her arms in the air, yelled, “Daddy!” and ran full speed at Beckett.

Eden stood frozen as Beckett dropped his bag and caught the little girl with a grunt and “Jesus, Lily…”

Daddy?

Daddy.

Eden turned and hurried up the stairs. She wasn’t thinking, just moving. Away, away, away. No, no, no. How did this happen? How did this happen?

“Eden!”