Worth the Risk (Carolina Rebels 5)

“I don’t have a type,” I quickly dismiss.

“She has brown hair, green eyes, and do I really need to go into detail about her rack? She’d be perfect for you looks-wise if she’s short.” At that, I look down at the napkin and fiddle with it. “Holy shit. She’s short!” Derek laughs.

“Anyone is short compared to me.” Not anyone, but most women. I’m six feet two inches. Raelynn’s lucky if she’s five foot four, if I had to guess. And I really don’t have a type. Brown hair is common. The green eyes thing has been a total coincidence and it hasn’t happened every time. I think back on girls I’ve seen before. He may have me on the short girl thing. Not saying I’ll dismiss a girl based on height, but I don’t know. He’s fucking with my head now. Bree’s mom was average height, so he can suck on that.

“You’re in denial,” he says with a chuckle.

“Leave it alone, Derek. Nothing’s happening. Nothing’s going to happen. I need her as my nanny more than I need to...” My voice trails off as I struggle with what to say.

“More than you need to fuck her or have a relationship with her?”

“Yeah, whatever. What are you doing for Christmas?” I ask. Sometimes, he’ll spend it with my family.

“What are you doing? Is Christmas at your place or Ma’s?” Yeah, he’s been around too much since he calls my mom Ma like I do. “Is Raelynn going to be there?” he asks in a sugary voice.

“I don’t know on all accounts. Ma will probably want us to go there, but I don’t know if I want to fly with Bree yet, especially over a holiday.” That just sounds horrible. If I have time off during the season, why would I want to spend any of it in an airport or on a plane? Especially considering it’s just a few days, such a short time period, and I don’t know how Bree will be on a plane. I haven’t taken her anywhere yet. “Christmas will be at my house,” I decide right then. “You’re more than welcome to come and sleep in Bree’s room or on the couch.”

“Thanks. I’ll book my tickets soon.”

I ask him if he’s seeing anyone, getting the conversation far away from Raelynn. Talking to him, though, has unfortunately made me realize I need to start thinking about Christmas. This will be Bree’s first Christmas. I don’t want to go too crazy, considering she’ll be ten months old by then and let’s face it, she won’t know what the hell is going on, but there’s a bit of a weight on my shoulders. If I want to start any traditions with her, this is the year to start, especially if later, I want to be able to say, “I’ve been doing this since you were a baby!”

I wonder what traditions, if any, Raelynn has with Jackson. The only one Mom and Dad really had with me was buying an ornament for me every year. That’ll be a good one to pass down. There’s still time to think about it, though. The bigger issue is that it looks as if I’ll have a full house for a few days in a month. I’m actually looking forward to it.

When someone is out of the game, the lack of his presence can be felt by everyone, especially when it’s a prominent person like Brayden. He may not be the most talkative guy and he can be a bit rough on the sur

face, but he has a confident, reassuring presence nonetheless. People look up to him. They listen to him. They follow his lead. With him at home, dealing with a concussion, Scotty is the one who seems to make the best attempt at filling his shoes.

Once we skate onto the ice, it doesn’t take long to feel and see that our start will be another shaky one since losing Brayden. Shaky starts aren’t fun, but it’s nothing to be concerned about right now. We just need to get our minds focused, get our legs going, and tally a few goals. We can repeat what we did the last game. Start on the wobbly side, but finish strong and with a win.

They score first and second. Both times, the puck seemingly makes an easy path past Liam ‘Savage’ Irving, our goalie in net. The rest of the first period is scoreless, but there’s a lot of back and forth up and down the ice as possession of the puck changes hands from their team to ours.

The second period starts off much better. The Kessy twins are on the ice with Sergey Orlovsky, the trio of forwards who have been working well together lately; they rush down the ice. Serge has the puck, but there’s a defenseman on his heels, so he passes it to Collin, who is in the middle of the ice. He slaps it to his brother and from his place along the boards, he slaps the puck toward the goalie with a quick release.

The entire bench holds their breath for a moment.

Waiting.

We exhale as we stand, fist bumping and cheering for Thing Two’s goal. We’re on the board and now only one goal behind.

The next chance comes with about five minutes left in the period. I just swiped the puck from a player and send it gliding along the boards and behind the net, right to where Nathan ‘Donny’ O’Donnell waits to scoop it up. The goalie squares up to him, but Donny shoots and the puck wiggles its way between the post and his shoulder, knocking into the back of the net.

Tie game.

The third period seems to be the most intense. Everyone wants to score the next goal, to take the lead, and maybe even have that goal be the one to secure the win by the time the seconds count down to end the game. Ian ‘Bruiser’ Rhett draws a penalty. While one of their players sits in the sin bin, Scotty charges down the ice with the puck after gaining it from the face-off. He sends it right through the five-hole.

And not another goal is scored.

Rebels win.

I’m finally home. It’s late and the house is quiet, except for my footsteps. I walk up the steps and peek into Jackson’s room first. He’s sprawled out on his stomach, sleeping soundly. Across the hall, my princess has her arms up above her head and her legs stretched out as she sleeps. She’s too fucking cute. Lastly, I walk to Raelynn’s room. The door is halfway closed, but a light is on.

“Hey,” I say, expecting her to be awake when I push the door open.

She’s not.

She lies on her stomach, her cheek is smushed against an open book, and a laptop sits next to her. What is she doing? Another book sits by the one she’s using as her pillow and I pick it up. It’s a textbook. Why would she have a textbook? Raelynn hasn’t mentioned being in school. Then again, Raelynn doesn’t talk much about herself.

I set the book on the dresser and then the laptop, closing it. I gently shake her shoulder, remembering how easily she wakes up.