Mr. Charming, page 20
Marla purses her lips. “Hi, Tedi. They’re in the back.”
“Thanks.” I move to grab Tedi’s hand but stop myself. We start in, and I stop outside the glass window. “This is the pancake man. Bodhi’s favorite.” I search the area, but he’s not one of the kids watching.
“Oh fun.” She steps closer. “He does shapes.” She points, and I laugh.
“Come on.” I lead the way, and she follows. I’m going to have to work on this hand-holding rule. I don’t love having her behind me without me guiding her. That, and I just want to keep touching her.
We reach the table, and the usual crew is in attendance, but I tilt my head when I see Easton and Decker there. What the hell?
“Hey, guys,” Jade says. “So happy you could make it.”
Bodhi climbs off his chair and heads right over to me. “Where have you been? The pancake man already made mine.”
I ruffle his hair. “Sorry, I slept in.”
The adults at the table laugh.
Tedi makes the rounds, saying hello to everyone, and slides into one of the only two seats left at the table. Conveniently right next to one another at the end, across from Decker and Easton.
“How are you?” Tedi asks Decker.
“I still have my vision.” He eyes me. “I see you two have figured things out.”
Easton laughs, rocking back on the two rear legs of his chair.
Bodhi runs back over to his seat when Henry tells him he needs to eat. Such a drill sergeant that man.
I stand at the end of the long line of tables. “Let’s try not to make a big deal about this, but Tedi and I are…” I look down at her. “What are we doing again?”
“We’re taking things slow. Testing the waters.”
I nod. “Yeah. That. And we’re not saying anything else. So carry on with breakfast.”
I sit next to Tedi. I have no idea how I’m not going to put my hand on her leg or around her shoulders. How do I act as if the love of my life didn’t just say yes to giving us another chance?
The waitress comes and takes our order.
“So, you move fast,” Decker jokes to Tedi, and everyone at the table laughs.
She leans forward. “I’m assuming Decker told you all…”
Kyleigh shakes her head. “Easton was the tattletale. I do have to say, I called it. Right, Eloise?”
Eloise sips her coffee and nods. “Yeah. She called it at the game.”
“You knew he was my fake boyfriend?” Tedi asks, sounding surprised.
“I would’ve done the same thing.” Kyleigh kisses Rowan’s cheek. “It was either that or Decker was a horrible boyfriend. He never showed you any affection.”
Easton laughs again.
“What do you keep laughing at?” I ask him.
“My Grandma Dori would have been so proud of me.”
“Explain,” Tedi says.
“Decker told me before we ever went to the bar—”
Tedi’s head whips in his direction. “Decker! That was our secret.”
Decker shrugs. “You know I suck at keeping secrets, and I had to tell someone all the shit I was dealing with.”
“My grandma was a notorious meddler and matchmaker. It was actually easier than I thought.” Easton looks at the group. “Tweetie was staring at the two of them in the emergency room as if he wished the hot sauce had gotten in his eye so Tedi would kiss his boo boo. I just had to nudge him to consider that maybe they weren’t a real couple—or at the very least, that they were having problems. And then in the middle of the waiting area, I thought Tweetie was going to pummel Decker to the floor for breaking Tedi’s heart.” Easton looks at Tedi. “He was willing to step aside if you were happy. Not every guy would do that.” Easton raises his eyebrows and looks at me. “So, you can thank me by giving me your condo.”
I laugh, and Tedi looks at me with those eyes again. Soft and warm like in the past when I did something sweet and unexpected. But there’s no “I love you” sex coming my way this time. That’s okay. She’s worth waiting for.
“You want in The Nest?” Rowan asks. He flicks his gaze to Kyleigh, and something passes between them. I don’t like it. As if he’s going out just like Henry and Jade.
“No. I don’t want to move into The Nest. I want to move into one of your condos.”
“No baseball players,” Conor mumbles around his food. “Colts don’t live in nests.”
Easton rolls his eyes. “No shit, dumbass.”
“Kid ears,” Henry says.
“Sorry,” Easton mumbles.
“Maybe you could call it The Barn,” Henry says.
“Or The Stables,” I add.
“No, The Pen,” Rowan says with a laugh.
“Why don’t you three move out and we move in?” Decker says.
“Then you’d miss that Mexican restaurant near you. It’s so cute.” Tedi looks at Decker.
I turn to her. “I thought it was fake?” I wave my finger between the two of them, eyebrows drawing down.
“It’s been, what, two minutes, and he’s already jealous again. Run, Tedi.”
I throw a creamer pouch at Rowan, and he catches it.
“We met there when I asked him to be my fake boyfriend.” She smiles at Decker.
“Remind me to talk to you later,” I say to him.
Decker rolls his eyes. “Hey, I got so drunk I threw up. I took a puck in the face. And I got hot sauce in my eye. I think I was punished enough.”
“No good deed goes unpunished,” Easton says.
The whole table laughs.
“You really were a good sport. I would’ve backed out after the puck thing for sure,” Henry says.
Our breakfast arrives, and as Tedi takes a knife and fork to her pancakes, a thought occurs to me. If I don’t get another contract with Chicago, mornings like this are all over. It’ll be another team and another found family I’ll have to leave. Will I be able to handle it? Will I be able to not spiral again? For Tedi, I would, but I’d miss this. I’d miss them.
Tedi puts her hand on my thigh. “Aren’t you going to eat?”
I take her hand and put it on her lap. “No touching, remember?”
She shakes her head with a smile and goes back to eating her pancakes, joining in the conversation with my friends as if she’s been here since day one.
I finally realize only one thing matters. Wherever I go, Tedi has to be by my side. Everything else is just extra.
So I spend the rest of the breakfast thinking of ways to get us to that finish line.
Forty-One
Tedi
This is going to be so much harder than I thought. Especially since I’m around Tweetie the majority of my day since I still have to center the social media campaign around him.
I’m in the airport, waiting to board the plane. We’re running behind since there’s snow in Philadelphia, and we’ve been delayed for about an hour.
My brother’s name flashes on my phone screen, so I get up and walk away from all the players. “Hey, Toby,” I answer.
“Aunt Tedi!”
“Mason? Shouldn’t you be getting ready for school?”
“Daddy’s making me breakfast. Are you coming here?” The excitement in his voice warms my heart.
I asked if I could stay back one more day to spend it with my family and fly back the day after tomorrow, rather than with the team. Coach Buford said he was fine with whatever. I don’t really ask Bud anything if I can avoid it. Thankfully, he never travels with us.
“I’m coming. Just waiting for the weather to clear up by you, then my plane is going to take off.”
“Will you come to my school?” he asks.
“Buddy, we talked about this,” Toby says in the background.
“I’ll try. If this plane takes off, I’m there,” I say.
“What about Tweetie?” Mason is in first grade, so he’s too young to remember Tweetie and me as a couple, but it’s been talked about enough around him that he’s aware we had a relationship.
I lean against the wall and search out the man in question. He’s sprawled out on one of the seats with his friends, talking and laughing. As if he can feel my gaze on him, he looks up, and our gazes collide. A slow smile tips the corners of his mouth.
Damn, I’m in so much trouble.
I quickly turn my back to him. “Oh, Mason, they have to get to the arena, and then they take a nap and then they play again. I’m sorry.”
“After the game! Daddy said we’re going, and I can miss school tomorrow.”
I hate upsetting him. “They fly out right away. But you have me.”
“Oh.”
Toby laughs in the background. “Aunt Tedi is way more fun than Tweetie, trust me.”
I cringe. I haven’t brought my family up to speed on Tweetie, and they probably still hate him. Which would make it uncomfortable if I brought Tweetie to dinner tonight. I can just imagine my two brothers and dad with crossed arms, glaring all night.
“I told all my friends that I knew him and the other Falcons. Kyler said I was lying and said I was making up stories to be cool.”
I close my eyes, hating to hear my poor nephew upset. “What’s Kyler’s last name?” I ask, the protective aunt coming out.
“Tedi,” my brother sighs with a warning in his voice.
Whatever.
“Watson,” Mason answers like the good kid he is.
I rack my brain for how I can make this up to him. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll try to get some autographs, okay? And you can show those off.”
“Anyone can get autographs.”
“Hey, Mason, let’s thank Aunt Tedi. That’s a big ask. Now eat your breakfast.”
“I’m sorry…”
“Hey,” Toby gets on the phone. “Don’t worry about him. This Kyler is a real asshole. So are his parents.”
“I wish I could help, but I don’t think my bosses would appreciate me taking the team to a school instead of them resting before their game.”
“Don’t sweat it. You know he’ll be really excited to see you when you come. So…”
“Oh god, I don’t want to know.” I find a corner to tuck myself into, really hoping my brother isn’t about to give me bad news. There’s always that so and a long pause right before he tells me something bad.
“Do I have to remind you that you’re the older sister? You should be calling me with these things.”
“It’s not my fault someone messed with our birth order personalities.”
It’s a running joke that Toby is more like a firstborn and I’m more like the middle child. The only thing that worked out is that Theo is definitely the baby. If only by five minutes.
“Dad’s got a girlfriend.”
“Oh my god. You scared me. Good for him. What’s she like?”
I’ve wanted my dad to find someone and be happy for years, but he struggled after my mom left. Raised us and spent the rest of his time keeping his business afloat. By the time we were all out of the house, Toby had Mason and needed help with babysitting. Dad’s never taken any time for himself.
He blows out a breath. “She’s okay. A little overbearing, always trying to give me advice on Mason. Like because I’m a single dad, I don’t know what I’m doing. But she seems to make Dad happy. She’s an artist.”
“Sweet. Is she going to be at dinner?”
A big body presses against me from behind, and I look over my shoulder to see Tweetie. My eyes widen, and I step away, turning around and pushing him out of the small alcove I’m in. He laughs and doesn’t allow me to move him. The big brute.
“Nah, Dad told her that you don’t like new people.”
“He did not!” I keep giving Tweetie the death glare. He just laughs.
“He did. So it sucks for you. You can’t meet her.”
“I’ll change that.”
Tweetie tilts his head toward the waiting area and does a plane motion.
“Hey, Toby, we’re boarding, so I gotta go. I’ll call you when I land and get to the hotel. You’re picking me up, right?”
“Of course, I love taking the day off and being your chauffeur.”
Tweetie still hasn’t left, and I feel as though I’m half in and half out of this conversation with my brother.
“Please tell Mason I’m sorry again. I’ll find some way of making it up to him.”
Toby says something I don’t catch because Tweetie has moved me into a corner, his big body blocking my way. His head is beside my neck as he inhales, then moans.
“What are you doing?” Toby asks.
“Sorry. Gotta go. Love you.” I click End and push at Tweetie’s chest.
He chuckles, stepping back a bit. “Hey, you never said I couldn’t smell you.”
“You’re a beast.”
A wicked grin crosses his face. “One kiss.” He holds up his finger.
“Do I need to remind you of all the people out there? One being your coach, who I don’t think would be too happy about me screwing one of his players. Oh my god, I just realized I’m actually everything I was afraid to hire. I’ve done exactly what I tell all my employees not to do.”
“They’ll understand.” He inhales again and sighs. “I’m irresistible. You didn’t stand a chance.”
I shake my head, but I can’t fight the smile on my face. God, this man. “You’re sitting with your friends on the plane.”
His eyebrows draw down, and he pouts. “Nope. We have social media things to talk about.”
“No, we don’t.” I push him, and he stumbles back, still laughing.
“Half the trip I sit with you,” he says, but I shake my head. “Counteroffer?” he whispers in my ear and steps in line with me as I walk us back into the terminal.
“You have fifteen minutes, and we use it to discuss an idea I have.”
His head falls back. “I’ll take what I can get. So… who is Mason, and why are you sorry?”
It’s a reminder that although I feel as if no time has passed between us, it has. He doesn’t even know that Toby had a kid.
“Mason is my nephew. Toby’s son.”
He blinks a couple times, seeming to realize the same thing I just did. “And you’re sorry for?”
“I don’t want to tell you because if I do, you’re going to try to make something work.” I eye him. “Mostly to get in my pants.”
“Hey now, I’ve been respectable. Now what is it?”
“Nothing, but do you think you and maybe the rest of the Trifecta and Conor could sign some merch when we get to the hotel?”
He quirks his eyebrow and nods. “Of course. For Mason?”
I nod, not about to tell him about the little shit named Kyler who made my hit list a few minutes ago.
“No problem. The guys won’t care either. Mason will be at the game tonight, right?”
I nod and grab my bag, seeing the players lining up to get on the plane.
Tweetie walks over to his bag, and we fall in line as we walk toward the gate. I really hope people assume we’re talking business, because I don’t want news about us to get out until I can tell my boss, which I’m not about to do until I’m certain I’m prepared to give up this opportunity for Tweetie.
His hand falls to my lower back, and I circle around and give him a death glare, earning a laugh as always.
I don’t have it in me to complain about how much he wants to touch me, and he’s crazy if he thinks it’s not just as hard for me not to take him into that bathroom and fuck his brains out.
Forty-Two
Tweetie
I watch Tedi go to her usual seat on the plane as I plop down in mine. All three of my friends look at me. “What?”
They all laugh. “It’s good to see you smiling again.”
I nod, pulling out my phone and hoping that I get this handled before the plane takes off and I have to put it on Airplane Mode. Searching through my contacts, I find the right Toby. How do I know four Tobys? I really need to learn to put last names in my contact records.
Hey Toby, it’s Tweetie.
The three dots appear, and I really hope it’s not someone saying, “Toby who?” because he’s changed his number.
I know.
He’s just as much of a smartass as his sister.
I didn’t know if you’d still have my number stored.
I debated, but lucky for you, you’re a professional hockey player.
Thanks?
Tell me you’re not texting me to ask for my sister’s hand in marriage. Did my dad not respond or something?
“Who are you texting?” Rowan asks from across the aisle.
I glance at the window, seeing our plane is being de-iced again. Love flying in the fucking winter.
Why would you think that?
Because you two are demented, and now that she’s with the Falcons, I’m sure you’re going to give it a go again. Please tell me I’m wrong.
I think you should hear it from Tedi.
Don’t make me have to kick your ass.
If I hurt her, you get five good shots.
Deal. But really…
I’ll meet you today if you want to talk face-to-face. But I’m on limited time here. You have a son, huh?
You’re on a time crunch but you want to know about my son and how I’m a single dad??
So he and Carrie didn’t work out. I can’t say I’m surprised. She was so bossy and pushy. Their entire wedding, all she did was drag him around. He deserved better.
Mason, right? What did he ask Tedi to do today?
The three dots appear, disappear, and appear again before disappearing again. I look out the window to clock how much time I might have.
“Seriously. Who are you texting? Because I can see her, and she’s reading a book or something.” Rowan glares at me as if I really would be messaging another woman.
