Page 40 of Playboy

Then it’s my turn. I pull my best friend into my arms. “I’m so happy for you.”

I truly am. Ava is such an amazing mom to the girls she and War adopted, and to Brayden, the teenage boy who isn’t legally theirs but might as well be. This child will be just as blessed as its three older siblings. Ava’s challenging childhood—War’s too—makes this even sweeter.

Ava squeezes me back. “Me too.”

“When are you due?” Millie asks.

“November seventh.”

“Wow,” I rasp, bringing a hand to my lips.

I’ve done the calculations, and if I’m correct, I’m due in January, which means Ava and I will be pregnant together. We’ll have kids the same age. Our children could grow up to be best friends, just like us. If I weren’t so emotionally stunted, maybe I’d share this information with the group.

“I’ve got news too,” Millie says.

“Oh no. Not you too,” I mutter without thinking. My chest constricts tightly. Shit. I’m not sure I can take another big announcement. This week has been full of surprises.

Sara snorts. “Took the words right out of my mouth.”

Millie shakes her head, but she’s smiling. “We’ve decided we want to try for another baby. I thought I wanted to wait until I was a bit older, but with Gavin being in his forties already?—”

“That sexy silver fox Hockey Daddy,” Lennox coos.

Millie giggles. “Yeah, that. And it might be nice for Vivi to have a sibling closer in age.”

Ava nods. “That’s how I felt. I love the idea of Scarlett and this baby only being three years apart.”

“Yeah, I’m sure that’s what you were thinking when you were begging War to bang you against the door.”

Ava turns a rosy pink and hisses, “Hannah.”

I laugh. “What? We all know how babies are made. Not one of you is innocent.”

Sara dances in her seat, one hand raised. “Guilty. But no babies for me anytime soon. Thank god we’ve got you, Han. We can always depend on you to be the fun auntie who drinks cocktails with us and talks about dirty sex.”

I hold up the glass of liquid I paid the server to make look like a dirty martini and dip my chin. “That’s me. The inappropriate auntie.”

And the in-denial future mom.

FIFTEEN

DANIEL

It’s been seven days.Seven days since I left Hannah after breakfast. Seven days since she’s responded to my texts with anything more thanI’m fine.It’s been seven days since we found out we were going to be parents and seven days since she basically ghosted me.

We lost in Detroit, and the season officially ended. Normally I would have gone out and lost myself in alcohol and women. Yes, women.

My reputation never bothered me before. Only in the last month has it hit me that it’s a hurdle I’ll have to overcome to get Hannah to trust me.

I never believed my dad when he swore that one day it would get old. That one day I’d only care about one woman, and her opinion would be all that mattered.

I never cared what people thought of me. At least not when it came to my reputation off the ice. On the ice? That’s different. I’ve always cared, and I’ve always worked my ass off.

But now—well, fuck. Now I care more about what Hannah thinks than what Gavin or even my father does.

And that’s a big fucking problem since she won’t give me the time of day, let alone the opportunity to change her opinion.

Yeah, maybe I asked her how she was feeling one too many times. But what else was I supposed to say? I was doing my best not to make a fool of myself. I want her to know I’m thinking about her. That I didn’t just stop caring about her the second we parted ways last week. But I can’t exactly make that known if she won’t pick up the damn phone.

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