1
Normally after a rough game in the middle of a two-week road trip, Ryder Kingston went up to his room and to bed. Tonight, however, he’d dropped off his things, changed out of his suit into jeans and a T-shirt, and headed down to the bar. It was probably going to be a long, fun night, but tomorrow was a travel day so he could nap if he had to.
Playing hockey against a good friend and former teammate was part of the game, but it was still tough. Meeting up afterward and having a chance to catch up, though, was awesome. Donovan Legori had been the backup goalie for the Alaska Blizzard before getting traded to Buffalo, and it had been months since they’d seen him. They’d all been tight, so his trade had been hard, but many of them kept in touch.
Donovan was married to the sister of one of Ryder’s teammates, so she was at the bar too, as they waited for the rest of the Blizzard to arrive.
“Hey, man.” Donovan came over and shook Ryder’s hand. “How’s it going?”
“Good! How’s life in Buffalo?”
“I think we’ve finally settled in.” He glanced over at his wife, Tara, and she got up to hug Ryder and kiss him on the cheek.
“Hey, Tara.”
They chatted for a few minutes before settling at a handful of tables they’d pushed together in the back of the hotel bar. Tara jumped up when her brother Miikka came in, running to hug him, and there was a lot of excitement as they all reconnected again.
Ryder’s roommate and closest friend on the team, Logan Pelletier, came in grinning from ear to ear as he hugged both Donovan and Tara.
“I have a surprise for you,” he told Tara.
She made a face at him. “Unless that beautiful wife of yours is here, I don’t want it.”
Logan’s eyes twinkled as he grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her around. She let out a yelp and then a squeal of delight as Logan’s wife, Cassie, came running forward. The two women hugged and laughed and hugged some more.
Ryder leaned back in his chair, smiling at his friends. Logan and Cassie had just gotten married over the summer so Logan had surprised her with a plane ticket to join them on the team’s first road trip of the year. Since they were playing Buffalo, and Tara had been her best friend in Anchorage, he’d flown her out for a few games. Cassie didn’t know it yet, but she’d be spending a few days with Tara in Buffalo before meeting Logan in New York City and then flying home.
“It’s good to see you, man,” Donovan said to him. “What’s new?”
“Nothin’.” Ryder shrugged. “Just doing my thing. I’m sure Cassie told Tara I got a dog and now my entire life revolves around her?”
Donovan laughed. “Yeah. I think everyone in the league knows about you and the Bernese mountain dog from hell.”
“Aww, that’s not fair. She’s a little wild sometimes, but she’s super sweet. You’d love her.”
“I’m sure I would.” Donovan nodded.
“She’s a lot better now. I did some hardcore training with her in the off-season and she’s settling down. Thank god, because she was freakin’ exhausting.”
“Heard she cost you a girlfriend, though,” Donovan teased.
Ryder rolled his eyes. “Nah. Cindy was cool but she doesn’t like dogs at all, and when she met Coco, it was pretty much over. We tried to get past it, but neither of us was budging, so it was moot.”
“Well, I’m sure your bed is never cold.”
“Not usually, no.”
They grinned at each other.
“Tara!” Danielle Petrov, the Blizzard’s assistant trainer, who was married to another one of Ryder’s teammates, came running in and there was more hugging and laughter.
Ryder ordered a beer, watching the festivities around him and enjoying the moment. He hadn’t liked Anchorage at first and having a female head coach as well as a woman assistant trainer on the bench had been hard to get used to. Now he couldn’t imagine it any other way. Coach Caldwell was a badass coach and former Olympic champion, and Dani was amazing, both on and off the ice. They were integral parts of the organization. And friends. Though Laurel Caldwell was his coach, she was also someone he could talk to. That meant something in the pro sports world.
“So Tara has this friend,” Donovan was saying to him. “She’s gorgeous. Smart, fun to hang out with, has a good job so she’s not a gold-digger. You want me to invite her up to the bar? I think you’d like her.”
Ryder hesitated. “We’re leaving in the morning, and I live a six-hour flight away. You think it’s a good idea to meet someone I’m not going to be able to spend time with?”
“How will you know if you don’t try?” Donovan asked. “I mean, if you hit it off, you could get to know each other long distance and then make a date to meet up again in the future. Might be good for both of you.”
“I don’t know, man, I think—” He was cut off as Donovan’s phone started to ring and he frowned.
“Hang on, that’s my mom.” He pushed the button. “Hey, Mom…what’s up? What…holy shit!” He was quiet for a few seconds, listening. Then he nodded. “Yes, of course. Give her our love and tell her I can’t wait to meet my new niece or nephew!” He hung up and grinned at Ryder. “Peyton’s in labor! Let me go tell Tara.” He hurried in the other direction, leaving Ryder staring after him in shock.
Something uncomfortable twisted in his gut and he couldn’t breathe for a few seconds. He was no mathematician, but women were pregnant for around nine months and January to October was…nine months.
He followed Donovan to where he told Tara and Cassie the news.
“I didn’t even know she was pregnant,” he blurted out.
“Yeah, she found out about a month after she broke up with Troy.”
“You mean that asshole she was living with when we moved her out of that place in Chicago?”
“Yup.”
Donovan turned back to Tara, and Ryder wandered over to the bar.
Fuck. This couldn’t mean what he thought it might.
Could it?
Thoughts suddenly racing, he pulled out his phone and opened the calendar app. They’d played Chicago the night he and the guys had helped her move out of her apartment, and it had been around mid-January, before the All-Star break. Sure enough, the game against Chicago had been on the twentieth of January. He closed the calendar and opened an internet browser, typing in what he wanted to look up.
Pregnancy due date calculator.
A bunch of sites came up and he tapped on one. He scrolled through the options.
Date of last menstrual period?
No fucking idea.
Date of conception?
The twentieth of January.
Congratulations! Your due date is the thirteenth of October.
He’d slept with Donovan’s sister, Peyton, on the twentieth of January and she was in labor on the fucking twelfth of October.
He racked his brain trying to remember a broken condom, but there hadn’t been anything out of the ordinary in that department. Well, except for some of the best sex of his whole fucking life, but Peyton had been clear that she wasn’t interested in dating a hockey player, much less one of her brother’s friends. He’d been a little frustrated by that, but he’d respected her wishes and hadn’t pursued her even though he’d thought about her a lot since then.