Page 57 of The Hard Hitter

“He does?”

“Yeah, he’d love to have a big happy family, but sadly, he’s resigned himself to the fact that it’s never going to happen.”

My heart squeezes at that. I want so much for Zander. He’s an amazing guy, so caring, giving, always putting the needs of others first. He deserves the world and then some.

The guys carry on in the rink, and Daisy grows antsy beside me.

Quinn reaches for her diaper bag. “We should probably get them out of here. Scotty needs a diaper change.”

“Why don’t we head back to my place.” As soon as the words leave my mouth, I catch myself. I’ve been spending a lot of time at Zander’s, and feel very comfortable there, but it’s definitely not my place, even though he’d given me a key. “I mean Zander’s place. I have a lot of prep for the barbeque.”

“Sounds great. I’ll help.”

I scoop up Daisy and Zander glances over at me. He knew we might leave early, since we had the kids. “Wave bye to Daddy,” I say to Daisy, and as we both wiggle our fingers, Zander goes still, a change coming over him.

He removes his helmet, and intense eyes lock with mine.

Beside me, Quinn is packing up the toys and juice boxes, and doesn’t notice…but there is something going on with Zander. I can feel it deep in my soul.

Jonah skates up to him, and it seems to pull Zander from whatever trance he was in.

We make our way to the entrance, and both Zander and Jonah come off the ice. Zander drops a kiss onto Daisy’s cheek.

“You guys heading out?” he asks.

“Quinn and I are going to make the salads and get the steaks marinated. Take your time, have fun, we have everything covered.”

“You sure?”

“Positive. I like doing this for you, Zander. You do so much for me, and everyone else.”

“Okay, we won’t be too long.” Our eyes hold, linger, but he doesn’t kiss me, not in front of his daughter and the other guys.

I’m about to turn when I get a sharp pain in my stomach. I lean forward, and a noise crawls out of my throat.

Zander quickly takes Daisy from me. “Are you okay?” he asks, and when I straighten, the concern on his face fills my heart with all the things I’m not supposed to feel for this man.

“Cramp,” I say. “A girl thing.”

He nods and puts Daisy down. “I want you to walk, Daisy.”

“Okay, Daddy,” she says, and when she reaches up and takes my hand, the muscles along Zander’s jaw tighten. I hold her tiny little hand, and my heart beats a bit harder. Walking away from Zander…from Daisy…is going to be a lot harder than I ever expected.

“You sure you’re okay? Daisy might be too heavy for you. You might have strained something.”

“No, I’m pretty sure it’s a girl thing,” I say.

I turn to see Jonah handing Scotty back to Quinn and after the guys see us off, we pile into Quinn’s car, which always has a spare seat for Daisy. The kids play in the back as Quinn drives us to Zander’s place, and from the way she’s casting me glances, I get that she has something on her mind.

“What?” I finally ask.

She laughs. “You like him.”

“Like who?” I ask, playing dumb as we pass through the elite neighborhood.

“My brother.”

“Of course I like him. He’s a nice guy.”

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