Page 64 of Goalie Interference

“Seems we both got a surprise.”

I heard him sigh, and his voice lost its belligerence. “I didn’t know how to tell you.”

“The cat’s out of the bag now.” Goober was winding through my feet, at risk of tripping me. I made it back to the couch safelyand dropped onto it. “But FYI, telling me would have been a lot better than getting sideswiped like that.”

“You’re right. I’m an asshole. Are you upset?”

Not as much as I had been. “Why didn’t you tell me you were seeing someone?”

“Oh, Soph.” I could picture him running his hands over his face. “Part of the problem with our families being so close after the divorce is that it’s hard to share news that’s related to dating, or sex.”

“Because if we weren’t connected by family, I’d never need to know.”

“Exactly. And somehow after you break up, it’s a competition for who moves on first.”

“You always were competitive,” I said dryly.

“It’s not like that.”

Maybe it wasn’t, but the fact that I’d had sex last night, with someone else, made me much more confident in this conversation. “So tell me, what is it like?”

“I met her a month or so ago, at a PR thing. She was there for her job, and we just…connected.”

“And the kids?”

He didn’t speak for a moment, and then his voice was hesitant. “She has two boys. They like hockey.”

How nice.“But when we couldn’t have kids, you wouldn’t consider adoption, IVF, anything like that. You were worried about your father and his legacy obsession.”

“I know. I was. I am.”

But somehow this time he was willing to consider options that he hadn’t with me. Me, the woman he’d known most of this life, and been married to. But for this woman, someone he’d known for a month, he was.

“Seeing you last night, with Remy, was a shock. How did that happen?”

I wasn’t going to tell him he invited me for moral support to help raise money for the shelter, only for us to sleep together because Ollie had hurt me. “That doesn’t really matter.”

“I hope he isn’t still making it some kind of competition.” Ollie sounded more like himself—confident, forceful, sure.

But last night a sexy, attractive man had made me come twice and was interested in a repeat. I wasn’t letting Ollie take that away from me. “Are you seriously implying that the only reason a man would invite me out would be to try and make you jealous?”

A pause. “No, no, sorry. You looked good last night. Beautiful. No surprise someone asked you. I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

I’d been hurt by Dad and Ollie, not Remy last night. But I was speaking to Remy’s boss, who could make his life hell if he really wanted to. I needed to make sure last night didn’t upset his hockey life.

“Remy asked me to go with him last night because he’s awkward at events like that, and I’m used to them. He was raising money for an animal shelter and wanted things to go well. We went as friends.” I wasn’t sure we were still “friends” but that wasn’t any of Ollie’s business. “That said, I’m going to suggest you should worry about my possible relationships as much as you want me to worry about yours.”

“Fair. You’re an adult. I didn’t mean to talk down to you.”

I knew he didn’t mean to, but he was used to being in charge and knowing what he was doing. Had I let him do too much of that when we were together?

“Now, since you know about Maria and the boys, I can tell you that I want to bring them to the families’ Christmas.”

I couldn’t answer for a moment. For Christmas? Already?

“Her family has their celebration Christmas Eve, so she’s invited me to join them. And then they can meet everyone on my side Christmas Day.”

They could meet everyone? “Was I going to get any advance notice, or were you just going to show up with them on the twenty-fifth and surprise us all?” Christmas was a week away.One week.

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