Page 77 of Nanny for the Athletes

I laughed at that, and Logan gave me a rare laugh too. Braden held up a single middle finger, and we laughed even harder, voices echoing throughout the arena.

32

Beth

Christian lived in a luxury condo in downtown St. Louis. From what Braden had told me, he lived in a similarly-luxurious loft building that cost twice as much as my monthly salary when I was working a day job.

Logan, however, lived in a neighborhood that was firmly middle-class. It was a simple three-bedroom house with paint that was peeling and a small yard. It was nice and quaint, but not what I would have expected from the formidable hockey player.

“Thisis where he lives?”

“He bought it with his signing bonus when he first joined the NHL. He doesn’t want to move. Says he’s happy being in one place.” Braden shook his head. “It’s probably because… Eh, we should just go inside.”

I didn’t want to push him to tell me, but I was also extremely curious about Logan’s upbringing. I followed him up the driveway and through the front door.

It was chaos the moment we walked inside. Logan’s four dogs started barking and came sliding around the corner to intercept us in the foyer. They stopped barking when they saw it was Braden and me, but they still wiggled and jumped up excitedly, even little Loki.

Claire came around the corner next. “Beth!” she said, running straight up to me. For a moment I thought she was going to hug me, but then she remembered herself and stopped just short. “I’m glad you’re here. This is my new home. It’s where Logan lives, and now I’m living here, too.”

“I know! That’s so exciting.”

“It’s nicer than my mommy’s house. It only had one room, and lots of spiders. But the yard is small, so we can’t have lots of dogs like you.”

“Four dogs is still a lot,” I said, following her down the hall and into the kitchen. A familiar face was sitting at the kitchen table, chatting with Logan. She smiled when she saw me.

“Emily, right?” I said, pulling her name from my memory. “It’s nice to see you again! Where’s your fiancée?”

“At home. She spent the day trying wedding cake flavors,” she said, rolling her eyes.

Braden scoffed. “You let Leslie do that all by herself?”

“I have to fit into a wedding dress next April. A day of tasting cakes would set me backweeks.”

“You could taste them and then spit it out,” Braden suggested. “Or send me instead! I would’ve skipped the hockey game to eat cake all day.”

“Braden, you can go…” Emily paused to cover Claire’s ears. “…fuck yourself.”

“I can, and I do!” he said with a big grin.

“He’s not even my brother-in-law yet and he’s already acting like…” She covered Claire’s ears again. “…like a little shit.”

Braden gave her a shit-eating grin. “I’ve had years of practice, future big sis.”

“I wanted to thank you for spreading my business card around,” I told Emily. “The kennel is thriving thanks to you.”

“Yeah, you definitely seem like you’ve got your hands full now.” Emily glanced at Logan and Braden, then winked at me.

I felt my cheeks grow hot. I guess she knew about thesituationI had with the three guys.

“Thanks for watching Claire,” Logan said, hugging Emily.

“Anytime.” Emily punched Braden on the shoulder. “Later, football bottom.”

“What? I’m aWide Receiver,” Braden replied, rubbing his shoulder.

“Exactly.” She winked at me one more time. “You guys have fun tonight.”

When she was gone, Logan asked Claire, “Did you eat dinner?”

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