A Secret for a Secret (All In #3)(19)

“Definitely not going to complain.” Stevie grins. “Right, Queenie?”

“Right,” I mutter, and I try to keep my focus off Kingston, but every time I peek over at him, he’s looking right at me.

For the next twenty minutes I don’t do much in the way of note taking, mental or otherwise, since I get sucked into a conversation about preseason exhibition games and who they’re most worried about playing this season.

“Geez. What’s up with King today?” Violet asks. “That’s the third puck he’s let in since I got here.”

I elbow Stevie in the side, hoping she’ll keep her mouth shut about her hypothesis. “He’s distracted.”

“Seriously. Did someone swap out his milk for Red Bull? He keeps looking over at the bench every four seconds. Did Alex give him crap or something?”

“Not sure,” Stevie says with a shrug.

“Well, let’s hope he’s not playing like this during the season, or defense is going to have their work cut out for them,” Violet mutters.

I have the urge to defend him, but that would be suspect, so, like Lavender, I keep my mouth shut.

My dad and Alex grab Kingston as the rest of the guys are getting off the ice at the end of practice. They have a very brief conversation, during which Kingston nods and kneads the back of his neck constantly, before he, too, disappears down the hall and into the locker room.

Lavender and River are busy putting the crayons back in the box.

“When I was your age I used to do the exact same thing.” They both pause and look up. For the first time, I get a good look at Lavender’s face. She looks a lot like Violet, but her eyes are a piercing icy-blue color. I motion to the box poised in her lap. “I always put the colors back so they made a perfect rainbow. Drove my dad batty because it took forever. He didn’t understand how important it was for every crayon to be in its rightful place.” I wink, and a sweet yet mischievous smile lights up her face.

Once the crayons are taken care of, Lavender and River carefully put everything into her backpack, apart from her coloring book, which she hugs to her chest.

We stop at the vending machines, and the twins get to pick out a snack, and then insert the coins and press the buttons. Lavender’s expression is gleeful as she chooses a bag of rainbow candies and then watches the coil unravel. Before anyone is allowed to open their snack, they all have to use hand sanitizer.

“There’s my beautiful wife and my amazing children.” Alex swoops down and picks up Lavender. “Did you have fun?”

Lavender squeals and giggles when Alex smothers her little face with kisses. She loses her grip on her art book, but it’s nabbed out of midair before it can hit the ground.

“Nice save, King,” Violet says.

“Thank you, ma’am. I mean, Mrs. Waters. I mean, Violet.” He turns to Lavender and gives her a smile that nearly liquefies my panties. “Did you drop something important, Miss Lavender?”

She nods and then buries her face in her dad’s neck, but she peeks out a few seconds later and gives him a flirty smile when he holds out her coloring book.

She takes it from him, hugging it to her chest again, still wearing that huge grin.

“What do we say, Lavender?” Alex asks quietly.

A few seconds pass before she murmurs a barely audible “Tank you” in the sweetest voice I’ve ever heard in my life.

“Good girl,” Alex says, and he kisses her on the cheek before he sets her back down. She beelines it right to her brother, and they take each other’s hand. He’s scowling at Kingston, which is pretty damn cute.

“Hello, Stevie.” Kingston lifts his hand in an awkward wave and slowly, almost reluctantly, addresses me. “Hi, Queenie. I’m sorry you had to witness my poor performance on the ice today.” He shoves his hands in his pockets as his face turns bright red.

Alex claps him on the shoulder. “It’s one practice, King. Nothing to worry about. You on your way to see Jake?”

“Yes, sir,” he says to his feet.

“Don’t be too hard on yourself. We all have bad days,” Alex reassures him.

“As long as they’re not when we have a real game against another team.” King nods in our direction. “Ladies, have a lovely evening.” And then he hightails it down the hall toward my dad’s office. Which incidentally is also where my office is.

Stevie and Violet exchange a knowing look, and Vi smirks. “I expect we’ll be seeing you at our Wednesday Night Movie Club soon.”

“What’s Wednesday Night Movie Club?”

“It’s when all the hockey wives and girlfriends get together to watch movies. Like a book club but a lot less work and a lot more eye candy.”

“But I’m not a hockey wife or girlfriend.”

“Yet.” Violet’s smirk grows wider.

“Right, okay. We’ll see about that.” I clap my hands together loudly, startling myself. “I have some paperwork to finish up, so I should really go!” And just like Kingston, I bust my ass down the hall.

“Might as well cancel any Wednesday night plans you have starting now!” Violet calls after me.

I push through the door to my office, shaking my head. Kingston can barely look at me without bursting into flames. Besides, there’s the whole “no dating players” rule I have no intention of breaking.