Page 80 of Dump and Chase

“We won all three games, so pretty good. And I had an interesting conversation with Ethan.”

I cringed. “Do I want to know?”

“Guess that depends. Seems he’s worried that I’m trying to move in on you.”

I wasn’t surprised, even though I’d made it more than clear to Ethan that I was done with him. If I wanted to move on with Brandon—and I was mostly sure I didn’t—then it was none of his business. But Brandon was staring back at me, his blue eyes earnest. I liked spending time with him. Since Ethan, he’d been the first guy I’d had fun with. Everything was easy with Brandon. Shit, when had this happened? When had I started liking the guy?

“And what did you say?” I finally got out. I’d let way too much time pass before spitting something out.

“I told him to shit or get off the pot.”

I nearly choked on my tea. Brandon was encouraging Ethan to pursue me? I prodded some more. “And what did he say?”

“He was cagey.”

“Sort of like you’re being now?”

He picked away at the label on his beer bottle. “I guess I’d want to know where your head’s at. You have a long history with Grant, and a future too,” he said, glancing at my stomach.

I leaned back in the booth and sighed. “When he came back home for his dad’s funeral and we made this kid,” I said, pointing to my belly, “I thought we had a chance to get back together. I knew he had a girlfriend, and I guess I tricked myself into believing that it wasn’t serious, that maybe he wanted me back instead. I didn’t know she was his fiancée. The minute I found that out, everything changed for me. It sounds strange, but the part that was holding onto him let go.” I stopped to rub my belly, something I noticed myself doing more and more. “But when I found out I was pregnant, all my feelings got mushed up together. I don’t know what to think or do anymore.”

The server set down the salad and extra garlic bread. I grabbed a slice and tore off a piece, stuffing it into my mouth.

“You’ve got a lot going on,” he said thoughtfully. “I don’t want to complicate things for you, but here’s how I feel. If you do decide you’d like to start dating again, I’d like to be the first person on your list.”

His smile warmed my heart. “You would want to date someone who is going to have a baby in four months? Really?”

He stared at me with an intense gaze that made me feel like we were the only two people in the restaurant. “I think Grant is the biggest clown for letting you get away. I think he kicks himself every day for it but he doesn’t know how to make it right. I’ve met a ton of women, and you blow them all away. So yeah, I’d date a pregnant woman who’s having my teammate’s kid. In a fucking heartbeat.”

“Okay.” I was blushing hard. “I may be open to that. For now, though, I’m starving. Can we eat?”

He told me stories all through dinner of the crazy things that had happened to him in his hockey career, like the time he’d accidentally locked himself out of a hotel room wearing nothing but a towel and had to explain to the front desk, in said towel with everyone in the lobby watching, that he was getting a newspaper that was farther away than he thought, and the door shut behind him.

Being able to have fun and laugh had me seriously considering a real date with Brandon, and as he walked me to my car, I stopped him on the street.

“What about Mario’s daughters?”

“Right. We forgot again,” he said with a sweet smile. “Next time. When you get back from Minneapolis.”

“Sure. I’d like that.”

By my car, he pulled me close and placed the softest kiss on my lips.

“I’ve been waiting a long time to do that,” he murmured. “Thanks for a wonderful evening. And if I don’t see you before you go, have a great holiday.”

I thought about that kiss on the drive back to the condo. I could definitely see more dinners at Mario’s and kisses from Brandon Warde.

ChapterThirty-Eight

Ethan

Tangi was pacing the living room, then walking through the kitchen and back out again. Her flight home had been delayed three times, and based on the weather and the snowstorm pummeling Minnesota, I was pretty sure it was going to be canceled. She’d planned to go for only three days, and by the looks of the storm, it wasn’t going to be over for another day at the very least.

“Christmas is ruined,” she said, throwing herself down on the sofa next to me. “I’ve been looking forward to this trip for weeks.”

“Sorry, Tang.”

“Now what?”

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