Page 65 of Hockey Wife

“You do?”

“Yes. So we’re all going to act like this is perfectly normal, which I’m sure it is.” She scrunched up her mouth. “Is it?”

“Not in the slightest.”

Trish barked out a laugh. “Got it. Well, you only need to pretend you’re crazy about my son in front of his grandmother. The rest of us are all in on it. Wink, wink. A little less pressure, right?”

“Appreciate it.” Tightness thickened her throat. So Banks wasn’t able to maintain the lie for his mom and sisters. No one bought them as a couple except the little old lady who probably had poor eyesight.

He’d said he wanted to save face, but evidently that didn’t extend to fooling his family. She supposed she should be glad he had this great, open relationship with them. She was rather envious, to be honest.

Trish took a long hard look at her. “My son knows how to pick ’em, that’s for sure.”

Georgia had no clue if that was a good or bad thing. Regardless, she felt as though Trish understood her.

Which made one of them.

20

The sound of laughter echoed in the hallway as he opened the door. He shouldn’t have worried—after all, his family were top quality. They would treat Georgia with respect because she belonged to Banks.

Okay, belonged wasn’t the right word. She was connected to Banks. Legally.

He preferred his instinctual take on it.

He had planned to sit Georgia down tonight and give her the lay of the land. Essentially, he was setting her up for a clash with a gaggle of highly opinionated women who would go to the ends of the earth to protect him. They were usually able to spot trouble of the female variety a mile off and could size up any woman in his orbit in seconds.

One of their strategies was plying their victim with alcohol.

“Day drinking’s begun, I see.”

His mom jumped to her feet, a half-full martini glass in hand, which meant she could manage that and the tight hug for her son with no damage to either.

“My boy! My married, full-of-secrets boy!” Post-hug, she rubbed his arm, squinted, and gave him a hammy wink. “You got yourself a wife without telling me? And then kept it a secret for two months? And you think the fact she’s gorgeous and knows how to make a French martini is going to win me over?”

Laying it on a bit thick, Mom.

“We wanted to settle in first.”

“Right. And how’s that going?”

He cast a quick glance at Georgia, who had skipped the adult beverage in favor of raspberry tea. She offered an almost imperceptible eyebrow raise and a sly grin that immediately relaxed him.

“It’s … going.”

His mother narrowed her eyes, looking for a chink in his armor. Was he in control here or was he laboring under the delusion that his wife might like him? Banks had made a mistake with a woman before. Thought it was the real thing and learned quickly that not everyone is as enamored of a big-muscled guy with the personality of Sequoia. That money and fame and talent can only get you so far.

So when his mom took that deep-dive into the depths of his soul, he tried to put her at ease as he held her gaze, beat for beat.

Finally, she let him off the hook. “Georgia’s been keeping us entertained.”

“Oh yeah?” He wouldn’t mind hearing this, but first he needed to hug his grandmother. Stuffed into the cushions of the giant sectional, she was trying to get up. Both Banks and Georgia jumped to her aid. The little sprite that was his wife got there a second before him, but instead of helping his gran up, she placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Stay right there, Connie. Let your grandson come to you.”

She looked up and smiled at him, while he sank into the spot beside his grandmother.

“Babcia,” he murmured as he put his arms around her frail body. “I can’t believe you’re here.”

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