Page 16

Chapter 15

Penelope

“I can’t believe you convinced me to leave my car at the arena,” I say as Taylor helps me off his bike.

Honestly, I don’t know what I was thinking. My plan when I walked into the rink to watch him train was to follow him in my car so we could have an honest civil conversation about childcare. Watching him lose it with his team, seeing the tension surrounding him, the stress, I don’t know, something pulled inside me, and all rational thought left me.

In the games I’ve been watching, I’ve seen a little difference in him; he’s more aggressive, angrier, and not to toot my own horn, but I’m beginning to believe it was because of me. I had an hour-long phone call to confirm those thoughts, which convinced me to bite the bullet and see Taylor.

“Hello?” I answer my phone as I keep my eyes on my son doing tummy time on his play mat, kicking his legs out, making me smile.

“Hi, is this Nurse Vine?” a female voice replies, and I frown.

“This is...” I confirm, and the woman sighs in relief.

“I uh know this is completely out of the blue, um, and uh, my brother is going to kill me for this,” she starts, and I tilt my head. “I’m not sure if you remember me, but you looked after my daughter Kaylah Evans…”

My mouth parts in shock.

Crap, it’s Taylor’s sister.

“Look, I know this is probably out of line,” she starts, but I cut her off, “No, it's fine. How is Kaylah?”

I hear the smile in her voice as she says, “She’s amazing, thank you,” and I smile.

“That’s good,” I say, “What can I uh do for you?”

She clears her throat and then states, “I’m calling regarding Taylor. He just left ten minutes ago for practice, but he told us what happened, and I uh... He’s been trying to find you since you disappeared after the night you spent together.”

Hudson coos, making me look at him, and I hear Hannah suck in a breath before she whispers, “I know you are probably trying to get your head together; I know you are trying to control your emotions, needing time, but he’s struggling. He has been struggling for months trying to find you, and the longer it took, the angrier he got. I don’t know if you’ve been watching the games on TV, but it has been affecting him. He’s been trying to find you, Penelope, and this last week, not hearing from you, while he understands, he’s struggling.”

I swallow hard and look at my son before I admit, “I’m not sure if I’m ready.”

While I’m not ready for Taylor's bulldozer, I know I can only take so much time, especially when time is short, and he has missed over a month with his son.

It doesn’t matter how stressed I felt or how my emotions played out over the situation. Taylor deserves to get to know his son, I was being selfish by keeping them apart all because I felt like I needed time. I think the call from his sister made me wake up and realize it wasn’t just me involved. It’s him and his family, so I pulled my big girl panties up and grabbed the passes, then packed up my son, handing him to my dad for the evening, not that he was too upset about it.

The man has always wanted a son and now has a grandson to spoil.

Taylor grins, and my stomach tightens as he replies, “And miss the chance of having you cling to me again?”

I roll my eyes, but a small smile plays on my lips as I mutter, “Smooth talker,” making him chuckle as he wraps an arm around my waist, I don’t bother moving away. Like at the arena, his grip is tight, so I know I won’t get far.

He guides me towards Charms café, twenty minutes from the arena, I narrow my eyes at him.

“Did you choose this place because it’s further away from the arena than Bull’s bar?” I ask as he opens the door and gives me his panty-melting smile, not denying it, and I shake my head and walk inside.

He will make it extremely difficult to stay friends and co-parent; I just know it.

The door chimes as we walk in, and the woman behind the counter gives me a professional smile. Still, as soon as she sees Taylor walking in beside me, her smile turns flirty, and she quickly fluffs up her black hair. Then she unbuttons at least three buttons on her top, showing her bright pink bra despite seeing his arm around my waist.

I can’t help my reaction as jealousy fills me, and the urge to punch the girl hits me so hard it knocks the wind out of me, making me tense.

“Hmm, good to know,” Taylor whispers in my ear as he moves behind me, wrapping his arm around my stomach, pressing his body up against mine, and damn my body for giving me away because, of course, I relax into him as his heat warms me.

Oh yes, this will be very difficult because our connection is there, and it is all-consuming.

I clear my throat and go to walk forward, but he tightens his hold, making me roll my eyes.

“Good to know what?” I reluctantly ask, already knowing the answer.

“That you're jealous of other women taking notice of me, I can work with that,” he rasps then kisses my neck, sending tingles all over me and making my core tighten.

Crap…

Taylor gently pushes me towards the counter when I don’t move but doesn’t let go of me, and of course, the woman doesn’t cover up; instead, she licks her bottom lip.

The fire that burns deep, I’ve never felt this feeling before. I want to smack her.

Double crap.

“Hi, you’re Taylor Evans, right?” she asks, fluttering her false eyelashes, and I narrow my eyes.

“I am. Can I have two lattes and two club sandwiches, please, brought over to the table?” Taylor says politely, and my jealousy kicks up a notch because the ass is not pushing her down. Okay, he doesn’t need to, he’s single, but still, it ticks me off.

Triple crap .

The woman bites her bottom lip as she twirls her hair in her finger, writes down our order, then rings it up and says, “That’s $15.89, but for you, if you take me to the back, it can be free.”

My mouth parts in shock.

She did not just offer her body for fifteen fricking bucks while he has an arm wrapped around someone.

Taylor snorts as he uses his other hand that isn’t wrapped around me and takes out a twenty, then says, “Keep the change,” before pulling me away from the bitch I’m going to hit really, really hard.

She narrows her eyes at me, and I narrow mine back as I fist my hands. Taylor whispers, “Down, firecracker,” and gently guides me to the back of the café, slides me into the wooden bench seat near the wall, and then slides in next to me, shocking me.

He smirks, “Can’t wrangle back in if you’re across the table from me.”

I open my mouth to refute his words, but two mugs are slammed down in front of us, and my patience with this bitch is gone.

I raise a brow at the snarky waitress and ask, “Does your boss know that you act this way all because your favorite hockey player has walked in with a woman?” Curious more than anything now because, well, Taylor hasn’t even looked at the woman or given her any indication that he wants her and yet she’s acting like I’m standing between them.

It’s quite pathetic, really.

Her eyes widen that I called her out and she looks at Taylor, eyeing him again as he picks up his mug and I continue, “Have you slept with him, is that your problem?” Taylor chokes on the liquid and I can’t help my grin.

He coughs, “No, I haven’t fucked her, and I never will!”

The woman growls and then stomps her foot before walking away but tenses when I say, “If you spit in my food, I’ll report you to your manager for your behavior.”

Taylor chuckles, and I look at him; his eyes take me in as he wraps his arm around the back of the bench seat, his fingers going straight to my hair, twirling it, sending shivers down my spine.

“I want to get something out now,” he starts, and I raise a brow. “Sonia and I were never together,” he confirms, and my mouth parts in shock and he smiles and continues, “She threw herself at me and Elena,” I cut in, “the she-witch,” and he chuckles but nods, “yes, she claimed I had to ‘date her’ to keep bad press away from the team after we won the Stanley Cup. I just wanted you to know I didn’t spend the night with you and then move on. I didn’t want to give you the impression that it meant nothing.”

I swallow hard, a lump forming in my throat, and I lie, “It doesn’t really matter; it’s your life,” when really the whole scenario, even though I was the one who left without leaving any form of communication, hurt, it really did, and even now I don’t understand why, or I do, I just don’t want to admit it.

“It does matter,” he states firmly, “because let’s face it, what we shared that night, it meant something I just,” he sighs, “I have spent months trying to find you, fuck, I ran after your sister in the streets a few months ago.”

“She said she felt like she was being followed so she quickly called a cab,” I gasp in shock, and he snorts.

“Yeah, I was pretty pissed because I was so close to catching up with her just so I could get in touch with you,” he admits, and I soften a little.

Avery said it was before Dad allowed us to be in contact again, and she was freaked out and wanted nothing more than to call me, but a part of me now is disappointed she got the cab.

“I know this is a lot,” he says, and I nod because it is. “I know your main priority is our son, but all I’m asking for is a chance to get to know you, to date you, and if it doesn’t work out, we’ll co- parent,” he rasps, ignoring the waitress bringing our food over as he gently puts my hair behind my ear and everything inside me pulls at me to say yes. To date him, to get to know him. Still, something is holding me back; I just don’t see what…

I swallow hard and whisper, “I’m sorry, but I don’t think that is a good idea. We need to focus on Hudson and letting you see him so you can get a bond.”

His eyes race between mine before he nods, then shocks me when he says, “Okay, let’s sort out child arrangements,” and moves away from me, grabbing his sandwich and damn, a part of me is disappointed that he gave up so easily, but I ignore the sharp pain in my chest. We spend the next few hours chatting about timetables, all while the disappointment consumes me.

Crap.

“Admit it, you love riding on the back of my bike,” Taylor says as he again helps me off near my car, and I shake my head, unwilling to admit it because, yeah, it’s not only a thrill, but freeing.

We spent two hours sorting out our schedules and even arranged for me to travel with his team to a few games so he could spend time with our son.

When I return to work, he’ll watch him when he isn’t at practice or away for games; otherwise, our boy will be put in an at-home daycare.

“I’m not admitting that,” I say with a grin, making him chuckle before he gets serious.

“Okay, then admit how disappointed you felt when I didn’t push dating,” he demands, and my mouth parts.

He… He played me; he wanted to see how I’d react if he backed down.

Damn…

“You played me,” I confirm, and he shrugs, not denying it as he crowds me against my car, my back hitting the metal as he runs his fingers into my hair and grips tightly before slamming his lips against mine. I gasp giving him the perfect opportunity to shove his tongue into my mouth.

My body gives me away, my mind blanking as I melt and kiss him back after a few seconds, our tongues tangling as my body lights up, electric shocks shooting through me as my heart pounds.

Taylor pulls back way too quick for my liking, which is bad, really, really bad, and he nods as we lock eyes and states, “I’m not giving up. You’re mine, and I’m yours,” he kisses me gently then rasps, “I’ll call you later,” then pushes back and leaves me rendered speechless and wanting more.

Double damn.

I smile as I gently partially close my bedroom door as Hudson sleeps and head back into the living area. My head is still a mess after my kiss with Taylor; he’s all I can think of.

I picked Hudson up from my dad on autopilot, letting him know it went perfectly fine before driving home.

He kissed me, and I lit up like a firework; everything in me knew I belonged to him, and it scared me.

Sighing, I sit on the couch as my phone rings, but I tense when I see Taylor's name light up.

“Well, he said he’ll call,” I mutter as I grab my phone and take a deep breath.

“Hello?” I answer, and he replies, “Hi, is this Penelope Vine?”

I frown and pull the phone back to double-check it is definitely Taylor's number, then put the phone back to my ear and say, “Taylor, you called me,” in confusion.

He chuckles and states, “My name is Taylor Evans, and I’m twenty-eight. I got your number from a friend after seeing you in a bar.”

Realization hits me, and I smile bashfully.

“What are you doing, Taylor?” I ask, already putting two and two together, and he says, “I’m starting over because after one night with you, I know I can’t live without you by my side, and I know that is scary because fuck me, I’m scared too. But, I’m not willing to hide away from this between us. The connection is stronger than it was all those months ago, and it’s something to hold onto. So, what do you say, Firecracker, can we get to know each other again?”

My mouth parts and my eyes tear up because deep down, I know I won’t say no to him, and that is terrifying.