Marek (Cold Fury Hockey #11)(40)

“That’s Zack and Kate Grantham with the cute baby,” Marek says as he nods at them. Kate straightens up and offers me a warm smile. I nod back at her.

“And this is Max Fournier and his fiancée, Jules.”

I look to the couple that Marek points to and smile. “Hi. Nice to meet you.”

Jules is so lovely with caramel-colored hair and the most beautifully warm, brown eyes. She immediately reaches a hand out to shake mine. “It’s so great to meet you, Gracen.”

“And this is Ben,” Marek says more to Lilly than to me as his hand reaches out and ruffles the hair of a little boy whom I had not noticed earlier standing beside Kate. He’s a good head taller than Lilly and looks a lot like Zack.

“All the kids are downstairs in the basement,” Jules says as she turns to me. “Coach Pretore hired a magician to entertain them this year, as we’re at record-breaking numbers for kids on this team.”

Kate laughs and nods at baby Caleb in her arms. “No kidding. Gray and Sutton also just had babies, and Stephanie is due in September.”

I’m immediately lost and overwhelmed again. So many names, and I don’t know any of them.

“How old is Lilly?” Jules asks me, I think in a generous effort to make me feel more included.

“She’ll be four in January,” I say as my hand goes to Lilly’s shoulder.

Jules grins. “My Annabelle is five and a half. She’s downstairs with my boys. I can take Lilly down and introduce her.”

I start to tell her I’ll come with her, but then Josie is standing there hugging me hard. “There you are,” she says exuberantly as I hug her back. Then she whispers in my ear, “Don’t you dare leave me. I don’t know anyone here.”

When I pull back, I ask, “Where’s Reed?”

“Grabbing some beers,” she says, jerking her chin over her shoulder. No one bothers to introduce themselves to Josie, so I’m going to guess she’s already met them, which means she definitely knows more people here than I do.

Still, it’s nice to have one person I can hang with so I don’t look like an idiot.

Jules inclines her head at Lilly. “Can I take her downstairs?”

I squeeze Lilly’s shoulder and she looks at me. “Honey, want to go downstairs and play with the other kids? Jules here will take you.”

She nods excitedly. “I want to go play.”

I look back to Jules. “Are you sure?”

She waves her hand at me in dismissal. “I’m positive. Plus there’s a lot of the moms down there. We’ll keep a good eye on her.”

“Okay then,” I say as I bend down and give Lilly a kiss on her cheek. “Be good, and if you need me, Jules will bring you back up.”

“Okay, Mommy,” she says, and then throws her arms around my legs for a hard hug. I stroke her hair and then I’m floored when she turns to Marek and flings her arms around him.

He’s equally as stunned and looks like someone just clobbered him over the head from her spontaneous show of affection. Before he can even get his arms to move to reciprocate, she’s released him and slipping her hand in Jules’s.

“I’m going with my girl,” Max says as he pushes past us and follows Jules and Lilly. “She’s better to look at than you lot.”

Kate giggles, and Zack doesn’t even acknowledge him. He merely takes Caleb from his wife, cradling him with such care it makes my heart flutter a bit. “Come on. Let’s go show this kid off.”

Zack gives me a smile and a nod. Kate gives an even bigger smile, and then they’re gone, melting into the crowd.

Marek turns toward me. His eyes cut to Josie briefly, then he asks, “Are you hungry?”

“Not really,” I tell him. We’d eaten dinner about an hour ago. Although Marek said there would be all kinds of great food here at this party, I ended up eating dinner with Lilly. I knew she wouldn’t be able to last until the party started.

“Want something to drink?” he asks, sounding almost gallant.

“Bottle of water would be great.”

“You sure you don’t want me to make you a plate of food?”

My eyes dart to Josie, whose eyebrows are lifted in surprise. My palms start to sweat, because I really figured Marek would ditch me the moment we walked in, but here he is being almost solicitous to me.

“I’m fine,” I assure him with a smile. “I’m sure I’ll be hungry a little later, though.”

“All right.” His return smile is genuine and reminds me of the younger, easygoing Marek I fell in love with. “Be right back.”

When he’s out of earshot, which is basically when he’s stepped only three feet away given all the noise, Josie leans into me and murmurs, “That’s interesting.”

“Weird,” I counter with a snort.

“He’s being nice. I find that charming, considering the way he used to treat you.”

“Probably because we’re in public,” I say dryly.

“Well, I’m really glad you’re here,” Josie says in a surprisingly unsure voice. “Because this is a little overwhelming.”

“That it is,” I agree softly.

Within just a few moments, Marek is back followed by Reed, who surprises me by giving me a friendly hug.