her lips shut and tossed her hair over her shoulder.
The pain that flickered in her black rimmed eyes almost made me feel sorry for her. Almost . But she’d gotten herself into this mess, just like every other flavor of the night did with Gage.
I’d known him before he became the famous NHL bad boy he was now, but he’d always been an honest man. He’d never let a puck-bunny think she was anything more than that, and there was only one woman in the entire world who owned his heart, and that was Lettie.
In a bracelet-jingling, heel-clacking mess, the girl stomped out of the kitchen and slammed the front door to the house a few moments later.
I swallowed the tiny bit of jealousy that stung my insides--I did not envy the bunnies--I merely hated how they now had a piece of him I’d never had but fantasized about for years. It wrote my plaguing curiosity over what Gage would be like after dark and between his sheets, as nothing more than the crush I’d had on him since we were kids. Of course, those feelings had never left me, only grown stronger...but I credited it to the fact that outside of Jeannine and Paige, he was the best friend I’d ever had.
I slipped Lettie’s sunny-side-egg onto her plate next to the muffin, shoving my feelings down in the locked box where they had always been and would always remain. Gage hadn’t trusted another woman since Helen left, and I knew he’d never look at me as anything more than his best friend or his daughter’s nanny. And I adored Lettie, so crossing the professional line that was firmly in place wasn’t an option even if by some small chance he flirted with the idea. Which he didn’t.
I took Lettie’s plate and a sippy cup full of milk to her table. She quickly put her crayons in her prized black bucket with the Seattle Sharks logo on the front and scooted it to the side.
“Thank you,” she said while grabbing her tiny fork and stabbing at the egg greedily.
I kissed the top of her head and went back to the stove. Gage liked his eggs fried, so I put a few drops of olive oil in the skillet and cracked four of them open. Sipping on a glorious cup of black coffee, I tried to let the puck bunny’s maid assumption roll off my back, but after the hundredth occurrence, it had started to turn my stomach sour.
It was bad enough that my two best friends either ran a Fortune-five-hundred company or earned Michelin stars at her brand new restaurant. Now I had to deal with the puck-bunnies Gage brought home constantly mistaking me for nothing more than his maid?
I sighed and flipped his eggs over.
Screw that. I loved Lettie—she claimed my heart the first night she fell asleep on my chest when even Gage hadn’t been able to soothe her from the night terror she’d awoken from. And though taking care of her wasn’t my life’s ambition—I was still figuring out just what the hell I wanted to do—being her nanny was more rewarding than any job I’dever had, and now I had the perk of living with her. She was the coolest little girl on the planet and knowing I had her love was worth more than a six-figure paycheck, though Gage did pay me well, and probably more than the average rate.
We had history, and when his mom had decided she wanted to travel more—making it where she could no longer watch Lettie while Gage was traveling with the team—my mom had come to me with the job opening. And since I was still stuck checking the unemployed box on my life’s application, I jumped at the opportunity.
I supposed when I had something as precious as Lettie for a profession, it didn’t matter that the bimbo-bunnies thought I was just a servant in Gage Manner. I knew the truth.
“She gone?” Gage’s voice cut through my thoughts as he rounded the corner and I gripped the spatula a little harder.
Hot damn. Why did he have to walk around shirtless eighty percent of the time he was home?
“Yes,” I snapped, unable to take my eyes off his broad chest or the thin, intricate
The pain that flickered in her black rimmed eyes almost made me feel sorry for her. Almost . But she’d gotten herself into this mess, just like every other flavor of the night did with Gage.
I’d known him before he became the famous NHL bad boy he was now, but he’d always been an honest man. He’d never let a puck-bunny think she was anything more than that, and there was only one woman in the entire world who owned his heart, and that was Lettie.
In a bracelet-jingling, heel-clacking mess, the girl stomped out of the kitchen and slammed the front door to the house a few moments later.
I swallowed the tiny bit of jealousy that stung my insides--I did not envy the bunnies--I merely hated how they now had a piece of him I’d never had but fantasized about for years. It wrote my plaguing curiosity over what Gage would be like after dark and between his sheets, as nothing more than the crush I’d had on him since we were kids. Of course, those feelings had never left me, only grown stronger...but I credited it to the fact that outside of Jeannine and Paige, he was the best friend I’d ever had.
I slipped Lettie’s sunny-side-egg onto her plate next to the muffin, shoving my feelings down in the locked box where they had always been and would always remain. Gage hadn’t trusted another woman since Helen left, and I knew he’d never look at me as anything more than his best friend or his daughter’s nanny. And I adored Lettie, so crossing the professional line that was firmly in place wasn’t an option even if by some small chance he flirted with the idea. Which he didn’t.
I took Lettie’s plate and a sippy cup full of milk to her table. She quickly put her crayons in her prized black bucket with the Seattle Sharks logo on the front and scooted it to the side.
“Thank you,” she said while grabbing her tiny fork and stabbing at the egg greedily.
I kissed the top of her head and went back to the stove. Gage liked his eggs fried, so I put a few drops of olive oil in the skillet and cracked four of them open. Sipping on a glorious cup of black coffee, I tried to let the puck bunny’s maid assumption roll off my back, but after the hundredth occurrence, it had started to turn my stomach sour.
It was bad enough that my two best friends either ran a Fortune-five-hundred company or earned Michelin stars at her brand new restaurant. Now I had to deal with the puck-bunnies Gage brought home constantly mistaking me for nothing more than his maid?
I sighed and flipped his eggs over.
Screw that. I loved Lettie—she claimed my heart the first night she fell asleep on my chest when even Gage hadn’t been able to soothe her from the night terror she’d awoken from. And though taking care of her wasn’t my life’s ambition—I was still figuring out just what the hell I wanted to do—being her nanny was more rewarding than any job I’dever had, and now I had the perk of living with her. She was the coolest little girl on the planet and knowing I had her love was worth more than a six-figure paycheck, though Gage did pay me well, and probably more than the average rate.
We had history, and when his mom had decided she wanted to travel more—making it where she could no longer watch Lettie while Gage was traveling with the team—my mom had come to me with the job opening. And since I was still stuck checking the unemployed box on my life’s application, I jumped at the opportunity.
I supposed when I had something as precious as Lettie for a profession, it didn’t matter that the bimbo-bunnies thought I was just a servant in Gage Manner. I knew the truth.
“She gone?” Gage’s voice cut through my thoughts as he rounded the corner and I gripped the spatula a little harder.
Hot damn. Why did he have to walk around shirtless eighty percent of the time he was home?
“Yes,” I snapped, unable to take my eyes off his broad chest or the thin, intricate
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