Roman (Cold Fury Hockey #7)(54)

“Nonsense,” I say without looking at Georgia, my fingers automatically tearing it open. “You’re Lexi’s closest friend and like a mother to her. I know she’d want you here, and so do I.”

The minute those words are out, I realize they’re true. Whatever has been going on between Georgia and me, when you move past all of the teasing, baiting, and downright flirty innuendo that goes on, I’ve developed some deep feelings for her.

“Okay,” she says with a smile. “I’ll stay then.”

I don’t look back at her as my heart is beating so hard I’m afraid I might stroke out. I pull out the letter and realize my hands are shaking as I open it.

I’m immediately assaulted by columns and numbers on the page, some circled in different colors. Words jump out at me like child and alleged father and allele. My eyes scan furiously down the page until I get to the word that matters the most.

Probability.

And next to it: 99.9 percent.

“She’s mine,” I whisper, my throat almost completely clogged by emotion. I mean…I knew it deep in my gut she was my daughter, but seeing it proven this way is like finding the joy of it—the absolute miracle—all over again. Looking back up at Gray, I see her eyes are moist and I cough before saying, “She’s ours.”

Then Gray is around the counter and in my arms, with her face buried into my shoulder as we hug and laugh, and fuck it, I go ahead and cry too. I feel Georgia’s hand press into my lower back, and I risk a glance at her. I’m touched to see tears streaming down her face as well.

Finally, Gray pulls away and wipes at the tears. She laughs as she looks at me with a watery smile and says, almost in wonder, “I have a sister.”

“And I have another daughter,” I say, beyond thrilled, and happy and fulfilled. But then to lighten the mood I add, “I’m too old for this shit.”

“You are not too old for this shit,” Gray chastises as she punches me lightly on my shoulder.

“I feel it,” I grumble, tapping my fist against my chest. “I almost had a heart attack reading that.”

Gray snorts. “You’re the youngest sixty-year-old I know.”

“I’m sixty-one,” I point out.

“Bruce Willis is almost sixty-one and he’s out filming action movies and dating hot young women, Brian,” Georgia offers. “I think he should be the standard. There are many, many hot, vibrant men out there in their sixties.”

“Oh, how about Pierce Brosnan?” Gray suggests as she looks from me to Georgia.

“And Denzel Washington,” Georgia adds.

“Kevin Costner,” Gray says with a girly sigh.

“Liam Neeson,” Georgia sighs dreamily.

They both look at each other, and almost simultaneously say in dramatic fashion, “Richard Gere.”

“Okay, enough,” I say with a laugh as I turn away from both of these women who are enjoying themselves a little too much. I grab a bottle of red wine I’d pulled from the cellar earlier and hold it up. “Want to stay for dinner, Gray?”

She shakes her head. “No, thanks. I’m not about to impede on your ‘date,’?” she says, holding up sarcastic air quotes. “But maybe we can all go out and celebrate. There’s a game tomorrow night, so night after next?”

“Sounds good to me,” I agree as I start to open the wine. “I’ll call Lexi tonight and tell her the results, but first, we celebrate with a glass of wine.”

“I’ll pass,” Gray says, then turns to Georgia. She puts a hand out. “It was really nice meeting you.”

Georgia bats Gray’s hand away and wraps her up in a hug, which she immediately succumbs to with a twinkling smile at me over Georgia’s shoulders. Gray even gives a thumbs-up sign to me surreptitiously and I grin back at my daughter.

One of my two daughters.

Hot damn, this is turning into a great night, and by the way Georgia and I were kissing before Gray’s arrival, I’m betting it will continue to get better.





Chapter 20


Lexi


“Thank you for taking the night off,” Roman says as he holds his glass of wine out toward me.

I pick mine up, tap it against his, and smile with a tilt of my head. “It’s definitely not a hardship to take a night off to spend with you.”

We both take a slow sip as we stare at each other across the empty plates and low-flickering candles. Roman got back from his West Coast trip last night and asked if he could spend tonight with me. It meant giving up my regular shift—not a big deal—as well as the tips from my singing—I’d make it up with an extra shift over the weekend, but that’s all okay. While this is still very new between us, I was surprised how much I missed him when he was gone. We talked as much as our schedules allowed, and texted when we had stolen moments, but it wasn’t the same as being with him.

So he asked me to take tonight off, and after some mad scrambling to find someone to cover me, I was on my way to Roman’s house. I stopped and picked up Italian, and he had the candles going and the wine opened when I arrived.

I was very impressed, and told him so.

He told me he was just trying to impress me so he could get in my pants.

Then he pulled me into his arms and gave me a long, warm hug with his arms holding me tight.