Scoring Off The Ice (Ice Kings #2) - Stacey Lynn Page 0,34
I have a very clear understanding of what babies do to Hannah.
Which means I’m changing the subject. Pronto. “Y’all here to see Mikah and Angelo I take it?”
“Yep. Word has gotten out to the team, so the girlfriends and I decided we’re bombarding his place to get our snuggles in. Guys are coming, too. You should stop by. Mikah would probably love to see you again.”
She gives me a look that makes me fight against fidgeting and pummeling her with curiosity.
Did he tell her about Sunday?
“Calm down, babe. You’re scaring the girl.” Byron’s not wrong.
Hannah’s sweet but I can already tell her personality is like a powerful tornado, whipping everyone up in her orbit.
“It’s okay,” I say. “And that’s sweet of you to offer, but I need to eat dinner and get some work done.”
“Oh that’s okay.” She reaches down and whisks my Chipotle bag out of my grip. Chips crunch from her grip that has me cringing.
Chipotle chips are life.
“Mikah said he’s ordering pizza and wings for everyone. You can come eat with us. At least stay for awhile, maybe a drink and then you can get to work. We’ll probably be too loud anyway for you to get much done.”
Since she’s holding my dinner hostage, I don’t really suppose I can argue with her.
I’m still not sure I can keep up with her. We didn’t exactly part as new best friends last weekend.
“Um.”
“Better drop it,” Byron says. He shakes his head like he’s annoyed with his wife, but his smile says he’s anything but. “She’ll get her way eventually. Usually does.”
I hold up my lunch bag and messenger bag. “Can I at least drop this off at my place first?”
Hannah nods, all serious. “I’ll allow it.”
“Kind of you.”
She laughs and tosses an arm around me. “It’ll be fun. And you’ll get to see Angelo again.”
She’s tempting me, and teasing. It’s weird how she can do both so easily like we’ve known each other longer than a five-minute interaction in which she essentially stopped by to see if I would sell gossip to blogs or whatnot. But when she’s not staring me down like there’s a possibility I could be chewed gum on the bottom of her shoe, she seems likable. In the same way Maggie is crazy and my other friend Pippa is loyal and nutty.
“Will I get to hold him?”
She shrugs shamelessly. “Maybe.”
Chapter Thirteen
Mikah
* * *
My condo is packed with teammates. Sebastian Hendrix and his wife are here. Jude and Jason Taylor are here with Kate, Jude’s fiancée. She’s currently holding and bouncing Angelo, talking animatedly with Regan. She’s the wife of Duke Fletcher, one of our defenseman, almost as big of a guy as Byron, who I’m still waiting to arrive with Hannah and their children. My large sectional couch is heaving from the weight of the rest of my team, all settled back, watching ESPN, talking about the upcoming season with beers in their hands.
It’s a night to celebrate.
After calling the nanny service company Hannah recommended last week, my next and first stop was to head to the team’s medical clinic. It took me about an hour to figure out how to get Angelo ready to leave the apartment, but I was feeling pretty confident.
Until I got to my Land Rover in the underground garage and realized the car seat Hannah ordered for me was still in its box upstairs and I remembered her saying something about how to the car seat chair clicks into a base, which I didn’t have for the seat Angela left at my door.
I trekked back upstairs and stared at the new car seat still in its box, trying to figure out how in the hell I was going to get everything back downstairs, with Angelo, and not lose my mind.
More than once my gaze flickered to Paisley’s apartment, but she’d told me she had school early in the morning, so I doubted she was home.
And I couldn’t rely on her for everything. I wanted to get to know her—not treat her like help.
By the time I dug out the car seat and base, shoved straps into the right places on the chair, and re-situated Angelo, he decided that was the perfect time to fill his diaper.
Sweating and frustrated, I’m still pretty sure I wasn’t very nice as I grumbled and changed him. Remembered I hadn’t grabbed a diaper bag so I did that, and fortunately Hannah had said she’d pre-stocked it with everything but bottles and formula.