Page 23 of On Thin Ice

She laughed. “Together? That’s weird.”

“Don’t knock it ’til you try it.”

“Whatever. Next question.”

“Favorite color?” I asked. I was going for the basics because it seemed easy. I just wanted to keep talking to her. I liked talking to her; I always had.

We spent the next hour answering questions until she started to yawn, and I reluctantly let her go. We’d made progress, but there was still so much we had to figure out.

I settled back on the couch and stared at the pictures she’d sent.

This washer. And I was going to be a father.

I was fucking scared shitless.

Chapter 5

ALLY

Iemailed my latest report off and rolled my shoulders, my body stiff from sitting in my chair way too long. Being able to work from home was a blessing, but sometimes, with no coworkers to physically chat with, I got lost in a project and forgot to stand up and move around.

My phone pinged, and I swiped it on, smiling when I saw Dom’s name. We’d spent the last week texting back and forth. Our conversations were still very surface level, but it was nice. We were nowhere near figuring out the logistics of co-parenting, but we most likely had months to formulate a plan. I assumed that, because I was giving birth in the middle of hockey season, he wouldn’t be around much during her first few months anyway, but since I hadn’t expected him to be around at all, I wasn’t disappointed.

Again, not that we’d talked about any of that. It was just a logical assumption.

I needed to stop getting ahead of myself, but I loved a good, thought-out plan. Not to mention, I was nesting bad, like so bad, that I had multiple Pinterest boards about how to perfectly reorganize for baby and a few different storage options in my Amazon cart.

My phone pinged again.

Dom: What’s for lunch today?

Dom: How are you feeling?

I couldn’t help smiling. Yeah, he’d been a total dick when I told him I was pregnant, but he could not have been more attentive since. Sometimes, I wondered if it was completely genuine or more what he thought I wanted to hear, but he kept asking, so I was going to keep hoping for the best in him.

As a co-parent.

Who was stupidly gorgeous.

Dammit. Hormones were not doing me any favors, but I wasn’t freaking blind. And maybe I’d watched clips of his last preseason game online, and the camera had caught him lifting his jersey to wipe some sweat away from his face after the game. Why the hell didn’t that man wear a shirt or something under his shoulder pads?

“Ugh.” My chest felt prickly. Probably heartburn.

Okay. I couldn’t completely blame them. It’s not like the man hadn’t been insanely hot before I got pregnant—hence the getting pregnant.

I’d lusted after the man for years. And I was tired and pregnant andfrustrated.

Little diva started hiccupping again, and my lusty thoughts faded—a little—as I pressed my hand to my belly. I was now twenty-eight weeks pregnant, and I could not wait to meether, which is why I needed to get all my ducks in a row. Unfortunately, I didn’t have ducks. They’d been pushed out of the way by a bunch of drunk squirrels who had no sense of direction.

I laughed at my ridiculous thoughts and focused on my phone again.

Oh, right. Lunch. I was hungry. And apparently easily distracted by thoughts of Dom.

I shook my head and tapped on his name.

Ally: I’m good. How’s your shoulder?

Dom: It’s fine. Wait. Did you watch the game yesterday?

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