Page 8 of On Thin Ice

Ally: Was going to veg in my room.

Erika: Boo. Get down here. I need a drink before tonight’s party.

I hadn’t told her I was pregnant since it wasn’t something I blurted out to people. But getting out of this room was probablythe smarter option, and now I had a valid excuse to wait another day to drop this bomb.

Win-win.

I rubbed my hand over my belly. I shouldn’t think about her that way, but I knew he was going to freak. He’d been adamant about not wanting kids. Ever. I never asked why for multiple reasons. One, kids hadn’t been on my radar at the time since I’d only been twenty-four and was just out of graduate school. Two, we weren’t an actual couple. And three, our conversations were never deep, which was exactly how both of us liked it.

Ally: Give me thirty, and I’ll be down there.

Erika: Yes! I knew you wouldn’t leave me to my own devices.

I chuckled and went into the bathroom to touch up my makeup.

Socializing with my fellow statisticians was part of why I was here.

***

I set my shoulders back and took a deep breath the following morning as I stared up at Dom’s condo building. I’d texted him an hour ago to see if he was around and he’d quickly responded in true Dom fashion. I probably should have felt a slight bit guilty for letting him think that I was texting for a hookup, but what else was I supposed to do? We’d never been thehey, let’s get together and chatkind of friends.

I snorted and swiped on my phone. Glancing down at our text chain, I let out a perverse giggle. Our visit was not going to play out like he assumed.

Ally: Hey.

Dom: Hey yourself. Why’d you run out on me yesterday?

Ally: I had to get back to my conference. You free this morning?

Dom: For you, any time. Wanna come to my place?

Ally: Sure.

He gave me his address, we confirmed a time, and he said he’d leave my name with the front desk. Now here I was, walking into his building and hoping like hell that I didn’t run into any of my brother’s other old teammates who were also now on the Stampede. It would be just my luck to run into Timmy or Flower.

Or Fishy. He was the worst of the gossipy hens. But with any of them, if I was spotted heading up to see Dom, or even just in the building, they’d have questions and end up texting Ethan. I definitely didn’t need that right now. My nerves were already shot.

It was still pretty early in the morning and training camp hadn’t officially started yet, so the lobby was clear of hockey players, and I slipped into the elevator without seeing anyone I knew.

So far, so good.

Taking another deep breath, I pressed one hand to my belly and hit the button for Dom’s floor with my other one.

It was going to be fine.

Sure.

My heart raced as the elevator climbed. I honestly didn’t know which outcome I was going to get or which one I wanted. Would it be easier if he wanted nothing to do with a kid, and I could just go back home without the guilt of keeping secrets? Probably. But if he wanted to be involved, I was all for that, too. It just meant more issues with logistics because he was here, and I was not.

Ugh.

The doors slid open before I could dwell any longer, and then I was walking down the hallway, nervous energy swirling through my body.

“It’s going to be fine,” I muttered, taking my hand off my belly as I reached Dom’s door. No need to immediately give myself away, after all.

Then the door swung open and there he was, that annoyingly delicious smirk on his face as he held my gaze.

And now my body was fluttering for an entirely different reason. I couldn’t help but clench my thighs.

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