Page 44 of Hooked On Them

“Promise me one thing?” Josie’s eyes gleamed with a sparkle that only a little sister’s could have.

“What’s that?”

“Try not to fall in love with them. I don’t think the hockey world is ready for you to start collecting players like Pokémon.”

I rolled my eyes but couldn’t help smiling. “Very funny. Miles is a friend helping out in a crisis, and Dominic...” I trailed off, not even sure how to categorize whatever Dominic was to me. “Dominic is complicated.” I didn’t tell her about Carter still being in the picture; that was a whole other element that I didn’t have the emotional capacity for at the moment.

“Mm-hmm.” Josie’s knowing smirk made me want to hang up. “That’s exactly how it starts. First, they’re complicated, then before you know it, you’re building an Alaska King bed to fit all your boyfriends.”

“I’m hanging up now.”

“Love you too! Call me when you start fantasizing about player number three!” Josie blew an exaggerated kiss at the screen.

I ended the call, tossing my phone aside with a groan. Leave it to my little sister to find the humor in my complete disaster of a life. But underneath the jokes and teasing, I knew she was right about one thing: this secret had an expiration date.

And when it finally came to light, there was no telling what would be left standing in the aftermath.

Chapter16

Windows Shutdown Sound

Nora

There were at least seven better ways to spend my morning than voluntarily walking into a conversation that could torpedo my career. Dental surgery. Jury duty. Getting a bikini wax from someone named Helga with no sense of mercy.

But instead, I was walking shoulder to shoulder with Miles toward Coach Lovell’s office, trying not to look like I was seconds away from throwing up. Spoiler alert: I was absolutely seconds away from throwing up.

“Stop fidgeting,” Miles whispered, his breath warm against my ear. “You look guilty.”

“I am guilty,” I hissed back. “We’re about to commit fraud.”

Miles chuckled like he hadn’t volunteered to pretend to be the father of my unborn child. “Fraud is a bit dramatic. We’re rearranging some facts.”

“Is that what we’re calling it?” I rolled my eyes but relaxed slightly at his easy grin.

Which was another problem entirely. Miles looked unfairly good today in a simple blue henley that made his green eyes pop. His red hair was slightly tousled, like he’d run his hands through it a few times, giving him that effortless attractiveness that belonged in commercials for expensive cologne, not standing in a hockey rink pretending to be my baby daddy.

As we stopped outside Coach Lovell’s office, my brain helpfully provided a list of everything that could go wrong with this: I get fired, Miles gets traded mid-season, I throw up on Coach’s shoes.

Miles nudged my shoulder with his. “Hey. Earth to Nora. It’s going to be fine. Are you ready?”

“Ready?” I whisper-shouted. “This is your plan. We’re lying to the head coach about a nonexistent relationship to cover up the fact that I’m pregnant with his other star player’s baby.”

When I said it out loud like that, it sounded like the plot of a bad movie.

Miles shrugged, unbothered. “When you put it that way...”

“What other way is there to put it? I need a minute to gather my thoughts before we go in.” Should we have made an appointment? What if he was grumpy today and not the understanding man I’d grown to know?

Coach Lovell wasn’t unreasonable and had a heart. He would completely understand why we kept our pseudo-relationship under wraps for as long as we had. And he would completely be okay with me being pregnant. He had to be.

“We’re informing management about a pre-existing personal relationship. That’s all.” Miles rested against the wall, arms crossed over his chest, giving me the full effect of those shoulders I’d tried not to notice during training sessions. “Relax.”

Easy for him to say. He wasn’t the one who might get demoted to coaching peewee hockey in rural Saskatchewan if this all went south.

“I think I’m going to be sick.” I pressed a hand to my stomach, which was churning with a combination of carrying a baby and paralyzing anxiety.

Miles placed a gentle hand at the small of my back. “Remember, I’m right here with you, okay? Partners in crime.”

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