Page 28 of Falling for You

“Firecracker, can you please let go of my ear?” I demand as we get outside, trying to keep the humor out of my voice. But she doesn’t answer back. Instead, she lets go of my ear, walks over to a dark blue Ford, and opens the door.

“Penelope,” I call out, but again, nothing, and now, fear is coming out of me by the tons.

Why won’t she talk to me?

She finally climbs back out of the car, walks over to me, holding a piece of paper, and slams it against my chest.

I frown and grab it before turning it over and reading it, but shock fills me, and I look at her sharply.

Tears filled her beautiful dark green eyes again, and she finally speaks, allowing me to hear her sweet voice again, that is full of pain.

“You’re a little close. I think you need to back up until my father can arrange the court date,” she says, and my jaw ticks.

“There won’t be any court date,” I growl, full of anger, before tearing the paperwork up. “I didn’t request this. I have been trying to find you for fucking months, Penelope, and if I had known you were trying to find me, I would have opened the front fucking door for you, not sent you a restraining order.”

She looks away from me, and I hate it. I fucking hate it.

Throwing the shredded paperwork on the floor, I get into her space and cup her cheek while wrapping my left arm around her waist. I make her look at me as I bend a little, ensuring our nosesnearly touch and our breaths mingling as my body finally feels at ease for the first time in almost a year.

“What’s his name?” I ask in a whisper, changing tactics while keeping my eyes locked on hers, unwilling to ask if he is mine because I know he is.

She’s been trying to contact me for months to find out. If what Tony said outside was true, her family wanted her to have an arranged marriage, meaning she didn’t expect to see me again.

For a moment, one moment, she relaxes into me, her eyes closing like she was trying to memorize my touch. In the same breath she moves out of my hold, making me feel suddenly cold.

“His name is Hudson Evans,” she admits, and my heart pounds, “and you tearing that paperwork doesn’t change the fact it exists.”

That said, she moves past me quickly and back inside while I stay still, wondering how this could have happened. A feeling pulls at my gut, knowing Elena has something to do with this.

She tried banning her from the arena, claiming she was crazy when confronted by security. I’d bet my entire bank account that she knew about my son.

Taking deep breaths, I turn and head back inside with one destination in mind – my Firecracker – not willing to lose her for a second time.

Fuck I’m an idiot for not meeting Nurse Vine, a fucking big idiot. The fact she gave him my middle name as a first and my last name, I know I can win her over.

One way or another, she’ll be mine and in my arms, where she belongs. Her and our son, all before we win the Stanley Cup again, mark my fucking words.

Chapter 11

Penelope

My heart pounds as I rush into Harry’s hideous house, a house my sister didn’t want to move into and hates staying at. It’s bland and too white for my liking. It’s worse than my mother’s taste, and since I was disowned apparently Avery has been staying at our parents’ house quite a lot.

They’ve been standing by her and holding her up all while leaving me out to dust.

I shake my head, hating how my resentment keeps building. For the past month, I’ve held onto the passes my dad gave me the day I gave birth, contemplating attending a game. There was a pull, a big one. Still, with the restraining order, I was scared, which is why my dad was going to get it overturned. He was just waiting for a court date, but now, after so long, he’s here. Taylor is here, not denying the paternity, claiming to have been lookingfor me, and just like every time I’ve watched him play, which has been more aggressive lately, my body pulls to him, the need to wrap myself around him hard.

I wasn’t ready, I thought I was, but I wasn’t because now I need to keep myself detached for him to be a father, which will be hard because everything is still there.

He still makes my heart pound, my stomach tighten, and my pulse race.

With one touch, he still lights up my whole body, sending sparks throughout my skin.

“I hope you’re not causing problems, Penelope!” Harry growls as I walk into the living area, and I look his way to see every eye on me, and you know what, screw him.

I raise a brow at him and, without breaking my stride I retort, “I hope you’re not hitting your mistress like you do your wife, Harry.”

His eyes widen as everyone looks at him in shock, and he chuckles nervously before stating, “She-she’s kidding, right Penny?”

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