Page 8 of The Nanny Goal

Those voices are the reason for the family dinner.

I halt in my tracks, just a few feet away from theserioustrouble I was about to hit on, as my teammate Forrest and his older brother Connor, two of the four Granger brothers who all play in the NHL, who will be playing against each other tomorrow night in our barn, squish the little blonde between them in a double bear hug.

“Get off me!” Laughing, she pushes them away and brushes a few chaotic strands of hair off her face, all breathless and giggly. “This is why I never visit you idiots. It’s dangerous to my health.”

Forrest clasps at his chest. “Hurtful.”

“Literally,” she mutters, but her gaze quickly slides back to me. She shrugs in a universal apology motion, as if to say,Sorry my brothers interrupted our moment.

I wince back in my own apologetic way,sorry it’s about to get so much more awkward, as Forrest pulls me into the conversation. “Emery, this is my teammate Alexei Artyomov. We call him Arty. Don’t let his scowl fool you, deep down he’s a softie.”

Am I scowling? I frown and rub my jaw.

He gestures from me back to her. “And this is my bratty little sister, Emery. We call her Buzz.”

“Or Em Bear,” Connor adds, grinning as he sticks his hand out. “And I’m the handsome older brother.”

“Second oldest,” Emery says, rolling her eyes. “First in ego, though.”

He shrugs shamelessly.

But I’m still focused on her.

I knew she is a college student in Boston…and that’s about it.

She doesn’t look anything like Forrest described.Emery? She’s a tomboy. Plays hockey. Gives as good as she gets in a fight.

All of those things could be trueandI could have used a head’s up warning that his sister is wildly hot, too.

Maybe he doesn’t know that yet. Maybe when he looks at her, she’s still his pipsqueak little sister.

She’s young, after all. But there’s something there, under the surface. A hot little thing just ready to burst free.

Fuck me.

Because even knowing she’s off-limits, the way Emery Granger is still looking at me, I know she’s exactly the kind of trouble I will want to get into at the first opportunity.

CHAPTER3

EMERY

I love hockey. It’s been in my blood since the day I was born, the first daughter to an NHL star after four boys—who all grew up to play in the big game, too. Grangerslovehockey.

But I’ve never, ever wanted to bang a hockey player.

Especially not a grumpy one, because life is way too short for that—although Alexei Artyomov’s frown didn’t appear until my brothers showed up.

Come to Calgary, my mom said.It’ll be fun, she said.We’ll get to see Forrest play against Connor, and have a family dinner with three of the five Granger kids.

Never mind that I’m in my final term at college, and sinceIdon’t have a lucrative pro hockey career to look forward to, maybe I should actually give that my full attention.

Never mind that nobody in the family came to seemyteam play this season. And sure, yeah, we had a shit season that’s already over, but Forrest is having a brutal season, too, and here we are in Calgary anyway.

At least my parents always get me my own really nice hotel room. I might be neglected, but I’m still spoiled in my own way.

And they let me pick the restaurant for dinner.

Which is good, because it turns out that our family dinner the night before the game isn’tjustfamily.

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