Page 13 of The Daddy Claus

“So, a large orange juice?” The waitress blinks down at me, mentally filing away all the juicy gossip so she can spread it around once she finishes with us.

“That sounds great.”

“I’ll get your drinks and come back to take your orders.”

After the waitress disappears, Raven snorts. “I thought her eyes were going to bulge out of her head.”

“Me too.” Gabbi laughs and turns to me. “She’s probably in the back dialing up the grapevine right now. You and Jordan are going to be the talk of the town.”

“She’s too late.” I sigh. “We’re already the talk of most of the town.”

“Oh boy.” Raven shakes her head. “What did the clueless caveman do now?” My friends started calling Jordan that silly nickname after his third failed attempt at wooing me. I spent my entire seven-day vacation fending off wooing attempts.

I’m not going to lie. He stole my heart a long time ago then turned around and stomped on it the night of the masquerade party. I need to know I can trust him not to break my heart again.

“What day do you want to know about?” I sit back.

There are several for her to choose from. Every day is something new. Jordan sent four hundred roses to my tiny apartment while I was working late one night. My landlord let the delivery men in with the flowers, and I returned home, exhausted, to find every single inch of space in my apartment covered with gorgeous red roses. I kept a dozen and asked two Falcons players to come and deliver the rest to the nursing home for me.

“Gabbi told me about him following you around the arena while you tried to work.” God. I almost forgot about that one.

The first day back after my week-long Christmas vacation was a freaking nightmare. Jordan kept interrupting my sessions all day long. Each time he stuck his head in the door, I’d have to start all over again because the players would tense up in front of the big boss.

“Following me around is an understatement.” I smile and thank the waitress as she drops off my orange juice. Once she takes our orders and walks away, I finish explaining. “He stalked the room, snarling if anyone dared to get too close to me. Hello!” I throw up my hands. “My job is to help the players recover from injuries and manage pain. It’s kinda hard to help them if I can’t get within five feet of them.” Gabbi has tears rolling down her face as she bites her bottom lip to keep from laughing out loud. “He freaking terrified the players so badly, I’m pretty sure they’ll have to be at death's door before they try to see me for therapy from now on.”

“Oof.” Gabbi winces and wipes her eyes with a napkin. “Please take it easy on my poor, clueless, caveman brother. He hasn’t ever dated anyone that I know of.” That definitely makes my heart soar. “He has the Midas touch when it comes to business but absolutely zero clue how to approach this relationship.”

I’ve already told myself the exact same thing over and over again. It suddenly occurs to me they don’t know the latest. “Wait until you hear what happened yesterday.”

Gabbi leans back against the red leather and takes a deep breath. “Give me a second to prepare myself.” After a few seconds, she looks over at me and slowly blows out her breath. “Okay. I’m ready. Lay it on us.”

“He brought me lunch.” I hold up my hand when Gabbi frowns. “Wait. That isn’t all. After we ate, he nonchalantly offered to give me a ride home from the arena. It sounded so sweet and thoughtful, and I agreed.” I pause for effect. “Then he showed up with a brand new SUV that costs more than eight times my yearly salary. Eight freaking times. Do the math on that. Then he announced he bought it for me.”

Raven whistles through her teeth. “I bet that went over well.”

“You’d win that bet.”

“I can see my oldest brother needs some assistance.” Gabbi rubs her hands together as a wicked gleam fills her eyes. “Leave it up to me.”

I’m not sure what scares me more, what Jordan will attempt next or how my best friend will “assist” her brother.

"You're stressing Hollie out,"Gabbi announces, sailing into my office at the arena like she owns the place. She tosses her coat over the back of a chair before plopping down into it, making it clear she came to read me the riot act.

Awesome. Just what I needed today. I thought the four weeks I spent without Hollie were hell. The last two are coming in hot to steal the crown. I find some new way to fuck up with her every day.

"I miss the days when you didn't hang out around here." There's a reason I didn't want her dating one of my players. I mean, aside from the fact that she's too goddamn young to even be living on her own, let alone dating. I didn't want her here all the time. She's one of the lights in my life. And the biggest pain in my ass. Affectionately.

"I miss the days when you weren't an idiot," she says, smiling brightly. "But we can't all have what we want, now can we?"

Ouch. Harsh… but she's not wrong, either. I am a fucking idiot.

"Hollie told you about the SUV?" I guess.

Gabbi's narrowed eyes and scornful expression are answer enough. Hollie definitely told her about the SUV.

"I'm not going to apologize for making sure the mother of my child and my child have a safe vehicle." To hell with that. I don't care if Hollie is pissed about it. Her car is an accident waiting to happen. I need her and our baby safe.

"You can't just throw money at everything."

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