Page 35 of He Has Charm (Boston Brawlers Hockey)
I wonder what my imagination is thinkingitis. Shit. Delaney scoops up the sheaf of papers and shifts them into her bag in one smooth move. I’ve always admired her efficiency.
“The place is all furnished. Follow me and I’ll show you through.” She starts walking. I follow and Knight follows right on my heels. I take a deep breath of his male scent—old denim, spicy aftershave, and thatje ne sais quoi. “There are two bedrooms and a nursery.” She pushes open the nursery door for a two-count. Long enough for me to register cute. Then she closes the door.
“It’s big enough to fit a queen bed in there for my sister when she visits,” Maddox says. “She’s pregnant, but not due till next season. So we won’t need the crib.”
“You can always disassemble the crib and store it in the closet,” Delaney says and moves to the next bedroom. My uterus whines in protest. After a three-minute whirlwind tour where I secretly applaud the older woman for her speed-walking ability, she heads straight for the front door.
“I’ll leave you two on your own now. Stay out of trouble. Oh, and I live nearby so I’ll be stopping in for random hanky-panky checks.” She shifts her eyes back and forth between us. “Because that would be strictly against the contract and Jett and I—the Brawlers organization—are in complete agreement that there is to be none of that. It’s all hockey all the time for you, Knight. Got that?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He salutes her. She scoffs, steps outside, and pulls the door closed behind her with dramatic force. Shit. I want to throw myself at the door and beg her to come back because the overwhelming sense of being abandoned to face a dragon alone overtakes me.
But I shake off the stupidity for the moment, square my shoulders, and turn to face the blue-eyed monster. My trepidation deflates in disappointment to see he’s tapping his phone and when he puts it to his ear he meets my eyes and grins.
“Hey there, pest. Just wanted to call and let you know I’m in my new place.” He proceeds to give the so-called pest the address and I gather from the rest of his playful conversation that he’s talking to one of his sisters, the one that lives nearby. He’s invited her to visit over the next weekend.
And even though he holds on to my gaze for the entire conversation, he doesn’t mention me once, leaving out the somewhat important fact that I’m living here with him. When he ends the call and slips the phone back into his pocket, I wait a beat for him to say something, then a second beat. Damn him. We both know he can outdo me in the silence department.
“So your sister will be visiting next weekend?” I finally say.
“Yeah. You don’t have a problem with that, do you?” I can’t read his smile, so I give up.
“No. Why would I? She can take up babysitting duty while she’s here and give me a break. I’ll stay with my friend Shelly—”
“Oh no you don’t. You’re staying right here. I don’t want to get in trouble with Delaney and the Brawlers if she finds out you’re ditching your responsibility to babysit me.”
“I thought I was your warden?”
“Same thing, different age. But when I’m in your company, it’s best I don’t think of myself as a grown man. Then I’m liable to get too many grown-man ideas about you.” I throw up my hands to stop him from saying another word.
“I get the picture.” I pick up my bag and head for the guest room before I have to withstand another round of his flirty behavior. But I can feel his eyes heating my back as I walk away and the feeling isn’t unpleasant. In fact it makes me tingle. Along every single nerve ending. Right down to my toes.
Shit. I wish I’d packed my vibrator.
