Legend, page 10
For a moment, I don’t think she’s going to answer me and it hits me…maybe she doesn’t feel the way I do. My stomach tightens and I almost prepare to recant everything I just said to her.
But then she steps into me and lays a hand on my chest, right over my heart. Her smile is soft, those full lips barely parting. Her eyes tell me part of the story, but her words do the rest. “I like you too.”
I put a hand at the back of her neck and force her up on her tiptoes to kiss me. She does and it’s soft but not lingering.
When I release her, she asks, “Where we going?”
“To your and Lucy’s room. We’re going to collect Charlie then you’re both going to come with me to my room.”
“But don’t you have a roommate?” she asks.
I shake my head. “Erik but he always buys a room for him and Blue to stay together.”
Our rooms are on the third floor and Lucy greets us with a quiet, “Hey” after she opens the door.
After Lucy gives me a rundown of the past five hours I’ve been gone—apparently, Charlie peed, pooped, slept, and ate—we collect her and head down to my room.
Oftentimes we have no choice about our accommodations, but in this instance, I put in a request to team services for a room with a king bed. No one batted an eye at this request because it was common knowledge that Erik didn’t stay with his assigned roommate which would be me. It was not common knowledge that I would have Pepper with me so I’m assuming they just thought I like a roomier bed.
Charlie wakes up as we are starting to get ready for sleep. I had stripped off my clothes down to my boxers. Pepper grabbed my white dress T-shirt that I had worn under my suit. She’s wearing it and a pair of white panties and she looks sexy as fuck.
I prepare a bottle of formula and sit in a chair by the window looking out at the lights of downtown Winnipeg. Charlie pulls on the bottle hard with one little hand pressed curled tight into a fist and the other latched onto my thumb. She stares up at me with solemn eyes and I can tell she recognizes who I am. She knows I’m her dad and that I will protect her from all the dangers in this world.
“You’re such a good little girl,” I murmur to her. “You have got me so wrapped around your little pinky and I’m pretty sure there is nothing you couldn’t ask for that I wouldn’t give you.”
True words, spoken straight from the heart, and not an ounce of self-consciousness that I can say these personal things while Pepper sits cross-legged in the middle of the bed and watches us. I glance up at her and our eyes meet. I like the soft look in her eyes as she regards me.
“How do you think Lucy is doing?” I ask her. I had spent a good deal of time with Lucy the last few days, but I wanted Pepper’s opinion as well.
“I think she’s wonderful. She’s got a natural maternal touch with Charlie. She’s very gentle and she’s also conscientious. Seems to have a good head on her shoulders.”
I glance back down at my daughter and see that she’s almost finished with the bottle. I look back over to Pepper and give her a sly grin. “Perfect. Then you and I are going out on our first real date on New Year’s Eve. Erik and Blue are throwing a party at their house. We’ll have Lucy babysit and stay the night so we can party the night away”
Peppers eyes go round and her mouth forms a little O of surprise. “A date?”
I throw Pepper a look that says she should be smarter than what she’s acting like right now. “Yes, a date. It’s usually what a man and a woman do when they want to spend quality time together.”
She narrows her eyes at me. “Who says I want to spend quality time with you? Maybe I just like hanging around Charlie.”
“My palm is itching to put you in your place right now, but I can’t be doing those things in front of Charlie.”
Pepper laughs at me and leans back on the bed. She crosses one slim leg over the other and puts her hands behind her head. She stares up at the ceiling and says in a voice filled with faux wonder. “Wow. A real date with Legend Bay. I don’t know if I’m ready for such a thing.”
I can’t help but snort.
Charlie is finished with her bottle and I pull it from her mouth. I rearrange her so that her tummy is to my chest and I pat her for a burp.
“Promise me you’ll wear something sexy,” I tell Pepper, referring back to our discussion of our first date.
“I make no such promises,” she purrs, but then with a mischievous smile she taunts me in a silky voice, “but I guarantee you will have a smile on your face before you go to sleep.”
Laughing, I push up out of the chair and walk back and forth across the hotel room while I wait for Charlie to burp. “You’ll be smiling too. Guarantee it.”
“Then I’ll go on a date with you,” she concludes with a satisfied nod of her head.
Charlie gives a little burp and I pull my chin inward to look down at her. She’s got a little bit of formula coming back up. I don’t have a rag with me so I just wipe it off with my thumb.
“My parents are coming in next week to meet Charlie,” I tell her Pepper. I’ve asked her on a date and she’s said yes. Might as well plug ahead. “It’s only going to be for one night. My dad’s going to make it a working trip and trade the Phoenix route with another pilot.”
“That’s nice,” Pepper says. “I know your mom has got to be anxious to meet her first granddaughter.”
That’s an understatement. I have to send my mom at least twenty pictures a day of Charlie or else she won’t let me rest. My dad, on the other hand, I’m not quite sure how he feels about this whole thing. Normally, when we talk, we kind of do it as a group phone call and mom dominates much of the conversation.
“Will you have dinner with us that night?” I ask her.
“Sure,” she says hesitantly. “I mean, do you want me to meet your parents?”
I shoot her an exasperated look. “Well, you are my favorite nanny after all.”
She purses her lips and rolls her eyes. “I just mean…Do you want to set up any type of expectation with them?”
“What do you mean?”
Pepper shrugs. “I don’t know. I just feel like you and your parents are all in overload. Your introducing their new granddaughter who is quite a surprise to everyone. Do you really want to throw a girlfriend in on top of that?”
Charlie lets out another burp and then yawns. I’ll need to change her diaper before she falls back asleep, but I want to finish this conversation first.
I walk over to the edge of the bed and sit on it. Pepper pushes up and scoots closer to me. I look her dead in the eye. “Let’s just make this clear. You are my girlfriend. You and I are sleeping together, we talk, we share secrets, and we like to hang out. Neither one of us is doing this with other people. That makes us dating. Not only that, you have been an integral part of Charlie’s life since she came to me. That means you have been an integral part of my life. So, yes, I want you to meet my parents.”
Pepper doesn’t say anything for a moment but then she leans in and her eyes drift over to Charlie. She tilts her head and places her lips on Charlie’s shoulder, giving it a soft kiss. When she looks back to me she says, “Thank you for recognizing how special Charlie is to me. That means more to me than you calling me your girlfriend.”
I’m the one that tilts my head now just enough so I can brush my lips across Pepper’s. “You’re still my girlfriend though, okay?”
“Okay,” she says, and in this moment, all my other worries aren’t worries at all. I feel like everything will be just fine.
Chapter 14
Pepper
Erik and Blue know how to throw a party. Nearly the entire team—along with spouses, girlfriends, or just friends—descended en masse to ring in the New Year. Luckily, Erik’s house is really big and spread out among the main floor and the basement entertainment area, so it doesn’t seem overly crowded. There’s even spillover onto the outdoor patio area because even though it’s in the mid-forties at night here, Erik and Blue have set up several tall outdoor heaters to accommodate.
About fifteen minutes ago, Erik started walking around the house urging everyone into the great room which was large enough to squeeze the group in standing capacity as we were getting close to midnight. I made my way up the stairs with Legend, who has pretty much been glued to my hip all night. We’d been playing pool in the billiard room on the basement level.
When we reach the main floor, he leans over and whispers, “I’m going to hit the restroom. I’ll be back soon.”
“Okay,” I murmur and because I’d be a fool not to, I accept the brief kiss he places on my mouth. If anyone had any doubts if Legend and I are a couple, they were dispelled tonight.
I turn around, intent to scout an easy place he can find me and see Blue standing by the fireplace with Brooke. I’ve come to really like both women in the short amount of time we’ve known each other. While I had met both women at Dave & Buster’s that one time, I really got a chance to get to know them at the game in Winnipeg last night. Legend had arranged for me to have a ticket next to them and the three of us just really clicked. Blue is from Phoenix, like me, although I’m a few years older than her, so we have that in common.
As I walk over to the women, I’m offered a flute of champagne by a waiter and I grab two so Legend is ensured a drink when the clock strikes midnight.
When I reach the women, Blue asks, “You sure seem like you’re having a good time with Legend tonight.”
Brooke grins in agreement but says, “Excuse me a minute. My dad’s over there and I need to tell him something.”
We both watch as Brooke walks away but Blue leans toward me and asks in a teasing voice. “Speaking of good time…where is your man? Don’t want to miss out on a New Year’s kiss.”
“Bathroom,” I tell her and then ask, “How many people do you think are here?”
“Three hundred?” she hazards a guess and I think she might be right.
While she and I have talked a few times tonight as everyone mingled around, I had not gotten a chance to ask her, “Does Coach Perron normally come to team parties like this where people are sort of cutting loose?”
I had to ask because as the night wore on, a lot of the players and guests were getting pretty ripped. A few of the rookies are really hammered and sometimes were making scenes with obnoxious jokes or loud arguing crassly with each other. Each time, one of the veteran players calmed them down and Erik collected car keys so the drunks couldn’t drive.
Blue looks over at Coach Perron and Brooke as they stand chatting together.
“I think it’s a little odd he’s here,” Blue says with a shrug. “But what do I know. I’m new to this hockey life.”
I giggle and nod in understanding. “Totally get that.”
Blue’s smile dims a little. “I’m a little bummed Tacker didn’t come. I keep hoping he’ll come out of his shell a bit.”
“Legend texted him a few times tonight to check on him. He said he was enjoying a book and a few beers and wished us all a great time.”
Blue looks around and sidles in closer to me. She lowers her voice and says, “Part of me just wants to drive over to his house, kidnap him, and bring him back here. You know, force him to have fun.”
Chuckling, I give her a show shake of my head. “I have it on good authority that he would hate it. After Legend’s third text checking on him tonight, he texted back and said that he appreciated the worry but that he’s never been a New Year’s Eve party type of guy.”
“Really?” Blue says with her nose wrinkling. “How can someone not like New Year’s Eve.”
The corners of mouth turn down a little. “He’d said in the text that he wasn’t the type even when his fiancée was alive.”
I get a sad smile back from Blue. “Well, then I guess we’ll just have to accept that Tacker will never be a social butterfly.”
Blue looks around again and then leans in to where she’s practically whispering in my ear. “Okay, before Legend gets back…tell me the scoop. How are things going?”
I look at her with my brows knit together. “Um…you and Brooke asked me this just last night at the Winnipeg game.”
Blue smirks back at me. “No, we asked you generally how Legend was doing with a new baby, and the role you were playing and we were just mildly curious about the fact he brought you to an away game when he has a nanny, and you told us you two were dating. But that, my dear Pepper, is not ‘the scoop.’ I want to know the real private stuff. Like how did you two go from enemies to lovers? And who broke first? And most importantly, how’s the sex? Is it good? Because Legend looks like he’s a legend in the sack, know what I mean?”
I blink at Blue for a moment, mostly trying to digest that long-winded flurry of questions. She just stares back at me expectantly, as if I dare not leave out a single juicy detail.
I look around, ensure no one is standing close enough to hear, and reply softly, “I think the attraction was always there between us but you know there was a barrier because Legend was such an ass toward me since he moved in. But once he needed me—after that first night Charlie showed up—that all sort of melted away and I guess we were able to act on that attraction.”
“And?” she prompts, waving her hand for me to spill more details.
“And what?”
“The sex,” she demands. “Tell me about the sex.”
I cock my eyebrow at her and give challenge. “You first…tell me about the sex with you and Erik.”
“What do you want to know?” she asks with a confident smile. “I’m your girlfriend now. We have hockey boyfriends. Technically that means we can share sex details.”
“It does?” I ask her with a laugh.
“Absolutely,” she replies. “Now what do you want to know about us? Like just sex, or about oral, or if he’s into anything kinky like—”
“There you are,” Legend says from behind me as he snakes an arm around my waist. He takes one of the champagne glasses out of my hand and looks at me, then to Blue, and back to me. “What were you two talking about?”
“Nothing,” I say.
“Sex,” Blue says at the exact same time.
Legend cocks an eyebrow. His eyes come to me, back to Blue and then to me again. “Sex, huh?”
“We were sharing secretive details,” Blue says, just to egg the situation on.
“No, we weren’t,” I assure him, not because I’m embarrassed but because I don’t know if he will be.
Legend gives me a sly smile and bends to whisper in my ear. “I don’t care if you tell her details. I’m confident enough in my skills that I know you’ll only be saying good stuff about me.”
I pull my chin inward and my expression is skeptical as I regard him. “Seriously?”
“Seriously,” he replies, again sounding like he doesn’t have a single doubt in the world.
“Fine,” I say and then turn to Blue. “Let’s get together for lunch this week sometime. We have so much to talk about.”
She grins back at me. “Deal.”
Suddenly, a shrill whistle pierces the air around us and I realize that the great room is almost full. Shoulder to shoulder, standing-room only as everyone crowds in.
I look over and find that Bishop—who is standing with Brooke and Coach Perron—is the source of the whistle. The conversation starts to die down, and Bishop calls out to silence the others still chatting. “If I can have everyone’s attention a moment…”
Finally, the chatter dwindles to almost complete silence, and everyone is staring at Bishop.
He smiles as he looks around the crowd. “Okay, first…let’s everyone thank our hosts tonight, Erik and Blue. This party is spectacular.”
Bishop pauses while everyone hoots and hollers. Erik somehow miraculously appears by Blue’s side and Legend slaps a hand on his shoulder and squeezes.
Pushing his hands in a downward motion, Bishop motions for silence. When he gets it, he takes on his role as assistant captain. “I can’t think of a better group of people that I’d like to be around to celebrate the end of what has been a trying year for most of us. We started the year with one team, and then went to an expansion team. It’s been hard but I think it’s safe to say the hockey world has been shocked by how fucking great we are.”
More cheers, whistles and a few “fuck yeah’s.”
When it quiets, Bishop grins and nods. “We’ve got the ability to take that Cup this year so I’m just asking everyone to keep playing the way we’ve been playing. We’re a team and frankly…we’re fucking awesome.”
This time the cheering goes on for a while until Bishop has to whistle above it to get people to quiet again. He points at the huge TV that is tuned into one of the New Year’s countdown parties. “Okay, everyone…we’ll follow the countdown on that TV, which looks like we have about two minutes, but the reason I’m up here talking isn’t about thanking our hosts or pointing out how great this team is.”
Everyone sort of looks around and murmurs in confusion, but Bishop has something up his sleeve. I can tell.
Or rather, something in his pocket.
I’m stunned when he reaches in and pulls out a black, velvet box that’s clearly the shape and size that would hold a ring.
People gasp and a few laugh, but none is as stunned as Brooke.
The look on her face is classic. Her dad—who by the look on his face knew all about this and thus is the reason why he’s here at this party—takes a few steps back so this moment is only between them. Bishop turns and faces Brooke and speaks clearly so everyone can hear what he has to say.
“Brooke,” he begins as he drops to one knee. A few women in the room give an audible sigh. “I gave you this ring once and you gave it back to me once our fake engagement came to an end.”
I look up at Legend, and he’s grinning at the couple. One night in bed, Legend had told me all about Brooke and Bishop’s fake engagement because they got busted fooling around and the coach—her father—caught them. Brooke told an immediate—and really bad—lie, claiming they were engaged. At some point, Legend had told me, Bishop’s widowed mom found out what was happening and got in on the charade, loaning her own engagement ring for Bishop to use.
