Page 77 of Tempting the Goalie
“Bro, you’ve got a hot chick living under your roof and you don’t acknowledge her?” Asher says.
Phoenix side-eyes Asher. “What do you know? Besides, Elyna is a single mom. She’s got a lot on her plate. I’m giving her a place to live. She doesn’t need me hounding her.”
“Hounding was not where my mind went,” Eric says.
I should be grossed out by their boy talk but I’m too used to it.
We spend the rest of the afternoon chilling and chatting. Phoenix reels in a northern pike and Becket reels in a small-mouth bass, and then they are competing about whose fish is larger.
When Asher almost falls overboard reeling in his fish; my other brothers come to his rescue.
We return home with three nice catches. My brothers are pleased with themselves, and they get to work cleaning the fish while I head upstairs to shower. I shoot Luc and Elyna texts to come to the main house for dinner. Elyna comes up with excuses, but I convince her by saying Luc and I are leaving for Riverside, so she needs to spend our last night here with us.
She finally agrees and so we have a cookout with my brothers, Luc, and Elyna. That isn’t a recipe for drama. No not at all.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Isabelle
Phoenix is manning the grill like it personally offended him. The pike sizzles over the flames, the smell mixing with charcoal and lemon.
Luc’s tossing a football in the yard with Becket while Asher helps set out paper plates and a giant bowl of potato salad. Eric’s on his third beer, perched on the picnic table bench beside Elyna, who’s trying to bounce her crying baby on her hip. Poor Braden’s red-faced and squirming, clearly overstimulated.
I sit back in one of the lawn chairs, sipping a soda and watching it all play out like a scene from someone else’s life, but a sense of contentment washes over me. I’m a lucky girl to have such a great family and boyfriend.
"You want me to take him?" Eric offers Elyna gently, holding out his arms.
Elyna looks startled but grateful. “Are you sure?”
“Eric loves babies,” Asher teases.
“You do?” Elyna asks, seeming surprised.
“I have no experience with babies but I figured it’s worth a try. I saw a movie with a baby recently and when they passed the baby around it stopped crying,” Eric explains.
“That doesn’t sound very promising but my arms could use a break,” she says and she passes Braden to Eric.
Eric chuckles and lifts the baby easily, bouncing him a little. Braden hiccups and calms almost immediately, his head resting on Eric’s shoulder.
“Show-off,” Phoenix mutters from the grill.
Eric turns, still smiling. “What?”
“Nothing,” Phoenix says. “Just focus on the guests and I’ll handle the actual food.”
Eric raises an eyebrow but doesn’t answer. Phoenix has been on the grumpier side more than usual lately. Elyna tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, clearly hearing the edge in Phoenix’s voice. She moves to help set out the condiments instead.
I glance over at Luc. He’s laughing with Becket now; with that same easy smile I’ve known since we were kids. But all I can think about is what my brothers said earlier about the NHL and the puck bunnies and all the women who’d throw themselves at him once he enters the draft.
I hate that it’s stuck in my head.
Phoenix flips a fish filet with more force than necessary. I watch him watching Elyna from the corner of his eye. The tension in his shoulders has nothing to do with the grill. He’s always had a weird thing about her, but he covers it with this gruff, distant act that fools no one except maybe Elyna.
“Fish is done,” Phoenix calls.
Asher whoops and grabs a plate. “About time. I’m starving.”
“You’re always starving,” Becket notes.
