Awk-Weird (Ice Knights, #2)(13)

“I want to be more involved than just an occasional visit. I want to be its parent, too.” He had no idea where this was coming from. Babies were not in his game plan. They weren’t part of his routine. Still, the words kept coming, and he meant every one. “We’ll parent this baby together.”

He and Tess just stared at each other, both of them obviously wound up to a breaking point, as his declaration hung in the air between them along with an epic shit ton of uncertainty, anxiety, and a sliver of hope. None of it was part of his daily routine or his life schedule he had planned out right down to retirement. After that, it was like the old-time maps—a blank spot with “dragons be there” written in a fancy font.

“We have months to figure this all out,” Tess said, turning away from him so she stared out the front windshield again. “I just came by to tell you.”

Maybe he was supposed to be offended by that, put off. Instead, the abruptness of it only served to cut through the tension inside him, and he laughed. “You want me to get out of the car now so you can leave, don’t you?”

She nodded, her death grip on the steering wheel back in place. “I’m gonna be a good mom.”

That’s when it hit him. Tess had to be as freaked out as he was right now. They’d used condoms. Three of them. Still…he looked down at her belly…they were going to have a baby.

He reached over and covered one of her hands with his. “You’ll be a great mom.”

She let out a shaky breath. “Thanks.”

The tightness in her shoulders seemed to evaporate, and she relaxed back against her seat. Their eyes locked, and for a moment, he couldn’t help but be pulled by that initial something that had drawn him to her at the wedding. There was something about Tess that piqued his interest above the neck and below the belt. And they were having a baby. Together. Mysteriously, that didn’t seem as scary as it had seemed only a few minutes before.

Of course, that’s when Petrov’s Range Rover pulled into his driveway. He and Christensen were not going to let the golf thing go.

“Sure you don’t want to come inside?” he asked. “We don’t have to tell them if you don’t want.”

Tess let out a brittle chuckle. “You tell who you want—your friends, family, Marti, whoever—but I’m not really up for peopling with strangers right now. Just remember the first three months can be a little iffy.”

He was just processing how in the hell he was going to tell people—including the woman he was supposed to have kids with…eventually…someday—when her statement made his brain take a left turn sharp enough to leave the smell of burned rubber hanging in the air. “What do you mean?”

Her jaw tightened and she looked away from him again. “Miscarriages are common.”

The urge to reach over and lay his palm flat against her stomach even though he knew it wouldn’t protect the baby was nearly overwhelming. Life was chaos. He just had to figure out how to control it enough to protect this little guy or little girl for the next eighteen-plus years.

That would be easy. He just needed to make a couple of minor changes to his routine, that was all. Totally doable. A snap. Like taking a puck from a baby.

How hard could it be?

…

The fact that Cole wasn’t in handcuffs or at the indoor golf simulator—or in handcuffs at the indoor golf simulator—was pretty amazing right now. Instead, he was sitting poolside behind his house with Petrov and Christensen, who had the mile-long stares of people who had fucked with the wrong guy.

“Shit, man,” Christensen said. “I didn’t think. I just grabbed them from the box in my closet and handed them out at the wedding as a joke. I didn’t mean—” He blanched. “How many babies am I responsible for?”

“Only one we know of for sure,” Petrov said. “You didn’t use one, did you?”

Christensen glared at Petrov. “I’m in a dry spell.”

“That’s what they call being too much of a prick to get laid these days.” Petrov grinned as he gave the other man shit. “Good to know.”

Thankful for the two-man floor show that meant he didn’t need to say six words when he was having trouble putting three together, Cole just sat back and stared at the retractable cover of his heated pool. It had an Ice Knights logo on it and had been a gift from the team when he’d hit a contractual goal milestone last season—well, they’d given him the cover and a one-million-dollar bonus.

“Have you told Marti yet?” Christensen asked.

Cole’s brain—which had been barely functioning—stuttered to a full stop. He hadn’t even thought about Marti until Christensen brought her up. What in the hell was wrong with him?

Marti was the woman he’d marry someday. They’d been each other’s first just about everything and sure, they broke up more than they made up, but they’d always be there for each other, constants in each other’s lives just like they’d always been since they were teens.

She’d said just that when they’d broken up the last time.

Being with her was part of his master plan; he had it in ink on his mental schedule. And he’d forgotten about her—utterly, completely, without even a trace—until just now.

“Told Marti?” Petrov tossed an empty water bottle at the other man. “One, he just found out literally an hour ago right before we got here that he was gonna be a daddy. When would he have had time to tell Marti? Two, why should he tell her? They’re not together and haven’t been for almost a year.”