Unexpected Daddy: A Bad Boy Hockey Romance Read online

  I wilt, automatically feeling guilty. She’s right, but that doesn’t make hearing it any easier. “Where are you going?” I call after her.

  “To drink my tea in my chair by the window. Then I’ll get you the number for Craig’s repair shop.”

  “But he said he’d call us when he knew where things were at with my car.” I follow her into the living room.

  “True,” She eases into her chair as smoothly as physically possible considering the state of her knee joints. “But unless I’m mistaken, your luggage is still in that car of yours, because I didn’t see it on the front porch. And I doubt you’ll want to be wearing my clothes.”

  “Shit,” I mutter under my breath, taking a seat on the couch across from her. “I didn’t think of my stuff until now.”

  “I know.” She grins devilishly again over the rim of her mug. “Too busy thinking about the cute mechanic.”

  “You’re relentless,” I chuckle.

  “And you’re transparent,” she retorts, her grin never wavering.

  ***

  Two cups of tea and way too many of the ginger cookies Aunt Nancy had me grab from the pantry later, I feel calmer and more relaxed than I have in ages. My aunt has always had that effect on me, with her easy conversation and comforting demeanor, and I’m thinking about how making the decision to move in with her might be the best decision I’ve ever made when she finally speaks again after a comfortable silence.

  “I’d better get you the number for Craig’s shop.”

  I shift my weight to pull my cell from my back pocket, waving it at her. “Just tell me what his shop is called. I’ll Google it.”

  “You know, that thing isn’t going to work well here. We’ve got dead zones all over the place,” she explains, eyeing up the phone like it’s the devil reincarnate.

  “This day and age, and there’s still crappy cell service here?” I look at her like she’s the devil reincarnate.

  “This day and age, and you’d want someone to get a hold of you at any time, day or night?” She’s skeptical, and I don’t have to ask if Aunt Nancy owns or wants a cellphone.

  “It’s a necessity,” I argue with a smirk.

  “It’s a damn pain, that’s what it would be, having one of those things attached to your hip twenty-four seven.”

  “Who’s the dramatic one now?” I chuckle. “I have three bars, so just give me his number.”

  Aunt Nancy leans over the side of her reclining chair and pulls a thick book from the shelf under the end table. The sight of it has me pulling myself up into a sitting position, my eyes bulging from my head.

  “Tell me that’s not a phonebook,” I say in wonder.

  My aunt’s brows furrow as she turns the pages. “What the heck else would it be?”

  I burst out laughing. “Oh my God, I didn’t even know they made those anymore!” I’m still unable to hold in my sporadic chuckling when I realize she’s got her finger on a spot on the inside cover. “His last name starts with C. What are you looking at on the inside cover?”

  Aunt Nancy turns the book towards me, and I see the words Craig’s repair shop scrawled inside in Uncle Doug’s handwriting. My heart twists slightly at the reminder that he’s gone, and I suddenly know why my aunt hasn’t gotten rid of the phonebook. Not only is it the old-fashioned way she prefers to do things, it’s a piece of her beloved husband she gets to keep.

  “Craig’s repair shop, huh?” I say softly, trying to make light of the moment. “Such an original business name.”

  “I don’t know what it’s actually called,” she says with a smile. “Never had to ask. Maybe you can find out when you talk to him.”

  “Relentless,” I mutter, shaking my head. I dial the number before she has a chance to say anything more. I’m about to hang up when a low, familiar voice answers on the other end.

  “Connelly Auto, Craig speaking.”

  Yeah, definitely an unoriginal business name. “Hey, Craig. It’s Megan.” I pause for a split second, but he says nothing. “Nancy’s—”

  “I know who you are, Megan,” he laughs. “I was just checking my cell to see what time it was. Took you a lot longer to call about your luggage than I thought it would.”

  I let out a long breath, trying to calm myself. “Very funny. You have a cellphone. I’m impressed.” I shoot Aunt Nancy a grin, which she rolls her eyes at.

  “Pardon?”

  “Nothing,” I chuckle. “Inside joke with my aunt. When’s a good time to come pick my stuff up?”

  “Can you wait another hour or so?” he asks. “I can drop it off on my way home.”

  My stomach flutters at the thought of seeing those dark eyes again. “Yeah, that’ll be fine. I appreciate it.”

  “No problem, Megan. I’ll see you and Nancy soon. Tell her I’ll be wanting some honey this time.”

  “What?” A blush floods my cheeks. Did he really just say what I think he said?

  I can hear Craig’s muffled laughter. “She’ll know what I mean.”

  He ends the call, leaving me staring dumbfounded at my aunt.

  “He says he’ll drop off my stuff,” I tell her, dazed. “And that he wants honey this time?”

  Aunt Nancy snaps her fingers, rising from the chair. “Shoot, that’s right! That boy’s never going to let me live that one down.”

  “What the hell are we even talking about here?” I stand, following her into the kitchen, so confused I’m not even sure I want to know what he was referring to.

  She heads straight to the cupboard and pulls a new jar of pasteurized honey from the shelf, turning to show it to me. “Honey,” she says, like I should know what’s going on. “He was here last week after helping me get my groceries from the car and into the house, and I made him tea but didn’t have any honey to go in it. That’s the way he likes it, Meg. You know, for future reference.”

  I throw my hands up in the air, surrendering. “Relentless!” I exclaim, exasperated.

  “What did you think he wanted, Meg?” she asks, a knowing smirking on her face. “C’mon, tell me.”

  The heat in my cheeks is flaming at this point, but I shake my head. “You know what? I don’t care what Craig Connelly wanted, Aunt Nancy, but I do know what I want.” I fix my gaze on her. “A drink.”

  My aunt shrugs her shoulders as though pondering that. “Hmm, well, maybe Craig will want one of those, too, when he gets here.”

  “Oh my God!” I scream, pressing my palms into my eye sockets. “You’re driving me nuts, you know that, right?”

  “Meg, my dear,” she says soothingly, coming up beside me to wrap one arm around me. “I’m just getting started.”

  Chapter Four

  Craig

  I know I shouldn’t be encouraging Nancy’s antics when it comes to her obvious infatuation with matching her niece and I up together. I mean, I know it’s not going to go anywhere, and I know I’m not interested in pursuing anything with anyone—Ellis, my ten-month-old son, doesn’t need women coming in and out of his life. Hell knows I’ve got enough I’m going to have to explain to him someday.

  But, damn it, Nancy’s constant attempts at making Megan see her point of view is downright entertaining, even if it is something that will never happen.

  I’ve got my cup of tea on the kitchen table in front of me, grayish steam billowing from it as I stir in a spoonful of honey. Megan is across from me, and Nancy sits to my right, clutching her own mug and leaning in so close that it gives the illusion she’s actually between her niece and me, her gaze bobbing from me to her and back again, watching and waiting hopefully for the moment we agree to her blatant matchmaking attempts and give in.

  Fortunately, Megan seems just as uninterested in the notion as I am, so I won’t need to be explaining myself to her. I don’t date, and I haven’t since the day I laid eyes on my son for the first time. He’s my world now, and there is no woman in this world who would understand that. After losing Ella the way I did—after she kept the pregnancy from me th
e way she did—I don’t trust anyone to put my son first the way he deserves.

  So, I have to steer clear of relationships. Of anyone who might complicate things even more than they already are. Ellis and I have settled into a pretty routine life since he was released from the hospital and I moved back to Cardon Springs and bought out Arnie Shelding’s auto repair business.

  Ellis and Connelly Auto are the only two things I need right now. But Nancy sure doesn’t seem to see it that way.

  “Will you be partaking in the men’s league this season, Craig?” Nancy’s hands are wrapped around her mug, watching me intently.

  “What men’s league?” Megan asks before I have a chance to respond.

  “There’s a local hockey team that is put together just outside Cardon Springs each year. Just a group of guys who enjoy the sport. Nothing fancy.” I turn to Nancy. “I doubt I will join in this year. I can’t be asking my mom to watch Ellis in the evenings, too, after having him all day while I’m at the shop.”

  “You just bring that little boy of yours here anytime you need someone to watch him for a bit, Craig. You know I’d love to have him here. And Lord knows I need to start returning some of the favors you’ve done for me since you moved home.” She reaches out and pats my hand gently.

  “I appreciate that, Nancy,” I tell her truthfully. “And you know damn well I don’t expect you to do anything in return for anything I’ve done.”

  “Good,” she beams widely, her eyes glinting with a hint of mischievousness. “You can do me one more favor and show my darling Meg around town. A little tour of sorts. Tomorrow, perhaps?”

  “Aunt Nancy!” Meg exclaims, her cheeks flaming a deep crimson red as she processes what her aunt just said. Her gaze snaps over to mine. “Craig, no. I’d never expect you to...I mean, I have to work at the Chronicle, anyway...I don’t even—”

  She stops stammering the moment I start to chuckle, lifting my hand in front of my mouth to stifle it. “You know I’m going to have to agree to show you around now that Nancy’s asked so politely, right?” I shift my eyes to the delighted looking older woman beside me. “I just had Ed Nelson cancel his appointment tomorrow afternoon. I can—”

  “I’m sure you’re swamped with other things you could—”

  “Megan,” I chuckle, leaning forward onto my elbows. “My shop is around the corner from the newspaper’s office. I’ve got to walk past it to pick up my mail anyway, so I can manage to steal away for half an hour and show you where everything is. It’s not a big town. Trust me, it won’t take long.”

  I don’t know why I want to. Maybe because Nancy is so insistent. Maybe because Megan is so against it. Or maybe it’s because she’s the only interesting thing to happen in this sleepy town in the ten months I’ve been back, someone else to get the good ole’ gossip lovers going instead of me and my dramatic reappearance.

  Maybe it’s purely because she’s sexy. I don’t know. Either way, I plan to show her around town tomorrow afternoon, hopefully have a quote for her about her car repairs, and then things can go back to normal. I can handle Nancy’s incessant innuendos, even if Megan can’t.

  “You don’t have to do this,” Megan says once more, this time more sternly.

  “I want to,” I reply, giving her aunt a wink.

  “It’s settled then!” Nancy claps her hands, the gavel being slammed down to announce the verdict is no longer in question.

  “This is ridiculous.” Megan hangs her head in her hands, shaking it like she can’t believe what just happened. “You’re so going to regret this, Aunt Nancy,” she whispers, not caring that I can hear her.

  Well, damn. I might be more than capable of handling Nancy, but it looks like Megan and her feisty streak could be a whole other story.

  Suddenly, Cardon Springs just got a whole lot more interesting.

  ***

  It rains the entire day, and even from my vantage point inside my repair shop with the garage door opened to help with air circulation, I can tell the dampness that hangs in the air and the raindrops that splatter on the sidewalk and streets are going to make the impromptu tour of this town a whole lot less appealing to Megan. In fact, with each ting, ting, ting sound that catapults onto the steel roof of my shop, I’m more and more surprised she hasn’t called to try to cancel our date.

  It’s not a date, I quickly correct myself. It’s the furthest thing from it, especially seeing the way she was so against even going through with it yesterday. I know it’s not a date. Hell, it’s barely a friendly meetup.

  That doesn’t explain why there’s a twist of nervousness in the pit of my stomach, though. Or why I’m looking forward to seeing her.

  I don’t know the woman, and I don’t know anything about her save for what Nancy has told me and the little bit I learned yesterday. But I want to know more, want to see her and find out what I can, and maybe that’s the reason for my twinge of uncertainty.

  I haven’t wanted to spend time with anyone else other than Ellis since the first moment I saw him. I haven’t wanted to try to be something to anyone else other than being a good father to him since that day all those months ago.

  So, what is it about Megan that makes me want to go to her now? It’s a foreign sensation to want to get to know someone despite knowing I can’t bring myself to trust them or let them in the way I once had the ability to.

  But Ella stole that ability from me, and she took it with her the day she died. In its place, she left me Ellis, and he’s the only thing that matters to me now. In a way, I blame her for what I’ve become—untrusting and alone—but in a way I can’t blame her at all. Ella died giving me the little boy who has become my world, and she used her last breaths to make sure I was united with him. For that, I will be forever grateful to her.

  The fact that I lost the only woman I ever truly loved, though? That will haunt me till the day I die.

  I push the thought away, back down into the deep, dark recesses of my mind where it’s stayed buried for so long. Sure, it resurfaces in my weakest moments, but I have the power to push it back down, to prevent myself from having to think about it too much. That’s how I get through each day. That’s why I can function so well and focus on my life with Ellis and on being everything he needs me to be.

  That’s why I’m just fine.

  Yeah, if only I believed that.

  I finish inputting the information from the work order for my current appointment into the computer and print the invoice out. Then, on a whim, I decide to call the Chronicle and make sure Megan’s still planning to meet up in about a half hour.

  “So, this is where the magic happens, huh?”

  I’ve got the phone in my hand, so the sound of her voice startles me, and I know my eyes must be wide when I snap my gaze up to look at her. “Megan. You’re early.”

  “I don’t think I’ve ever been late for anything in my life,” she says, her gaze still scanning the two-bay garage with interest. “In fact, being on time is just as good as being late in my books, so I’m always early for everything.”

  “Always?” I’m too aware of how good she looks in her black dress pants and pale yellow sleeveless top to say anything more. Her dark hair hangs loosely in wet tendrils, dripping darkened spots onto her shirt in front of her shoulders.

  “I was even born premature, so you know I’m serious when I say I’m always early,” she grins crookedly.

  “My son was, too.” The words fall from my lips without thinking. “Premature, I mean. Maybe he’ll be like you. Early for everything.” I rarely talk about Ellis to people unless others mention him first, so the realization catches me off guard and I clench my jaw tightly in attempt to hide my own surprise.

  Megan must notice, though, because I swear I see her eyes narrow slightly, watching me with an intensity like she’s trying to figure me out.

  Good luck, I think wryly.

  “Harold at the Chronicle told me to take an hour-long lunch break,” she says after clearing her throat. “I
wasn’t expecting more than half an hour, so I decided to come by and see where things were at with my car.”

  I lean forward onto the service desk, a makeshift cubicle in the corner of the lobby area of the building. There’s an actual office around the corner, but I still haven’t had a chance to sort through the boxes of stuff that were left from the previous owner. “I was just going to call you. Your car’s fuel pump needs replaced, along with a host of other things. You’re aware that car is pretty much unfit to be on the road, right?”

  “You’re supposed to be saying things that make me happy to see you, Craig,” she says, crossing her arms in front of her. “That was quite the contrary.”

  Relief floods through me when I see she’s actually showing the ghost of a grin on her lips. Jesus, I’d had myself convinced the woman was going to cry her pretty eyes out when I told her the bad news. “I’ll have to work on that, I guess.”

  “I’d say,” she agrees with a smile. She unfolds her arms, sighing. “So, what are we talking here for cost, Mr. Connelly? Is this like a-few-hundred dollars expensive, or like you’re-going-to-live-on-ramen-noodles-until-you’re-thirty expensive?”

  I burst out laughing, letting my head fall forward. “Wow, I’m a fan of your descriptions,” I admit, shaking my head in amusement. “That depends. How close were you already to having to live on ramen noodles?”

  “Damn.” She sighs again. “That bad, huh?”

  I’m not blind, or an idiot. I know from Nancy’s incessant chatter that Megan has fallen on some hard times lately, and there’s no way someone moves here from Dallas with only the stuff they have in their car to live with their aunt and work at the Chronicle unless she’s strapped for cash. The woman needs someone to cut her some slack for once. I know the defeated look in her eyes; I’ve wore it myself.

  I stand up, slapping my hands down on the desk. “You know what? Let me worry about your car, okay? We’ll work out a deal later. Something that will work for both of us. Sound good?”