Page 11 of Man Advantage

God, he was just so adorable when he was talking about his kids. I’d never given any thought to Trev as a dad, but it was obvious now that he was meant to be one.

“Well, speaking of your kids…” I loosely folded my arms. “We still haven’t talked much about the job.”

“Oh. Yeah. We haven’t, have we?”

“To be fair, the last week has been a bit chaotic.”

“It has. Come on, let’s sit in the living room. You want a beer or something?”

As we headed in that direction, I said, “A beer would probably put me to sleep right now. Could I bug you for some water?”

“Of course.”

He got us a couple of glasses of ice water from his ridiculously huge kitchen. Then we settled onto the couches in the equally ridiculous living room.

Trev sipped his water. “So, it won’t be like keeping up with a pair of newborns or toddlers.” He grimaced. “They’re well past that stage, thank God.”

I laughed. “Ran you ragged, huh?”

He groaned. “I should’ve known I was in for it when another teammate with twins told me the first year would be like nonstop playoffs. No sleep and no breaks, except with no end in sight.”

“Wow. And it’s not as bad now?”

“Nah. Once they started sleeping through the night and we could let them play unsupervised, it started getting a lot easier.” He had a fond smile firmly on his lips. “I mean, don’t get me wrong—they’ve been a blast from day one. I love them. But that first couple of years…” He huffed a laugh. “I’m glad we ended up with twins because otherwise, we’d be one and done.”

I chuckled. “I believe that. And now I get to jump in when they’re older. Cool.”

“Lucky you,” he said with a laugh. “As for the job, there isn’t much to it, honestly.” He paused for another sip of water. “The only time it really becomes full-time is when I’m on the road. Otherwise, I’ll still be here a lot. Even when I’m gone, they’re at school during the week, so between drop-off and pickup, you do you. Plus they’re at my ex’s place every other week.”

“Oh. So it’s not like 24/7.”

“Nope. And they don’t need you to be constantly interacting with them when they’re home. Make them food or help them make it. Take them to playdates or parks or whatever. Take them to soccer.” He shrugged. “Some of their friends’ parents turn themselves inside out trying to constantly provide stimulation and interaction, but Bryan and I both prefer to let the boys entertain themselves as much as possible. Either on their own or with their friends. As long as there’s an adult nearby, and someone checks on them now and then…” A half-shrug this time. “They don’t need someone looking over their shoulder every second of every day.”

“Thank God for that. I think that would’ve driven me insane as a kid.”

“Right?” He smirked. “Though I might start hovering a bit more when they get into middle school and high school. Because I’m pretty sure that’s when the real problems start.”

“You mean like kids sneaking off to smoke weed under the bleachers or cutting class to make out in the woods?”

Trev laughed, which made my heart flutter with nostalgia at our past as wannabe juvenile delinquents, but it also made my spine tingle. He’d always been attractive, but I still couldn’t get over howhothe was now. The grown-up pro athlete version of Trev was seriously sexy.

And I was startled to realize that the dad version of him was attractive in its own way, too. The way he smiled when he talked about his kids or looked at their photos. Just… him as a dad. Icouldn’t explain it, but it did something to me that made it hard to think or speak around him.

Or maybe I was still overwhelmed by everything. Being here. Being out from under the disastrous fallout of my breakup. Being in the same place as Trev for the first time in too long. That was all a lot to take in, so I could probably forgive my brain for tripping over the most ridiculous things.

Fortunately unaware of one of those brain trips, Trev said, “Let me get something out of the kitchen. Be right back.” Then he got up, and I absolutely did not take advantage of that moment to check out his ass in those jeans. He’d always had a nice ass thanks to hockey, butgoddamn.

I took a long drink of water to cool me down, and about the time I’d reclaimed my dignity, Trev returned.

He sat on the couch and handed me a thick binder. “This is basically everything you need to know about the boys. We put it together for when we were traveling and left them with their grandparents for a couple of weeks at a time, and we’ve just kept it updated as time goes on.”

“Handy,” I said as I picked it up. On the front, someone had writtenZane & Zach Allen. I opened the cover to the first page. On that was what must have been recent school photos of the boys, and below that, a list of the basics: birth dates, contact information for their dads and grandparents as well as pediatrician and dentist. There were even half a dozen numbers that looked to be associated with Trev’s hockey team, probably to make absolutely sure someone could reach him in an emergency.

“It felt a little over the top even to me,” Trev admitted. “But my mom said it was really handy when they needed to take Zach to urgent care after he took a fall on the playground, and also when Zane got stung by a bee. So… I guess it’s better to be overprepared than under.”

“Yeah, no, I get that.” I thumbed through the pages, which had dividers labeled asmedical/vaccine history,school and teachers,playdate friend contact info,andactivity info. It was definitely thorough, and while some part of me did want to tease him for being as meticulous as he’d always been, I kept that to myself. After all, this was all information I might need. Just knowing I’d have it all at my fingertips settled some anxiety I hadn’t even noticed yet. What if one of the boys got hurt? What if I needed to contact Trev while he was on the ice?

Yeah, this was on-brand for the Trev I’d always known, but I suspected I’d be relying on it, at least for a while.

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