by Kat Mizera
“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 be what he thought it was.
Could it?
Thoughts suddenly racing, he pulled out his phone and opened the calendar on his phone. 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 January twentieth. 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?
January twentieth.
Congratulations! Your due date is October thirteenth.
He’d slept with Donovan’s sister, Peyton, on January twentieth and she was in labor on October fucking twelfth.
He wracked 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.
Nine months later she was having a baby.
This couldn’t be a coincidence.
Could it?
He downed his beer and asked the bartender for a shot of whisky.
“Are you doing shots without us?” Logan asked, coming up beside him.
“Yeah.” Ryder downed the shot without looking at his friend.
“You okay?”
“No. Not even a little.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I…” He and Logan were close, but this was personal and had to do with more than just him. He had to talk to Peyton but she hadn’t given him her number.
Which meant he had to tell Donovan.
Shit.
He swallowed and looked across the room. “I have to take care of something,” he told Logan. “I’ll explain later, okay? Give me a few.”
He walked toward Donovan, who was laughing, his arm around his wife.
“Hey. You got a minute?” Ryder asked him.
“Sure.” Donovan turned to him in surprise. “What’s going on?”
“Can we, uh, talk in private?”
“Okay.” Donovan followed hm out to the lobby of the hotel. “What’s up?”
Ryder met his friend’s eye. “It’s been nine months since we helped her move out of her apartment in Chicago and get away from her ex.”
“Yeah, so?” Donovan frowned. “Why does it—” He cut off abruptly, his eyes narrowing. “Are you fucking kidding me? Did you sleep with my sister?!”
“After we got her settled at the hotel, she was still pretty shaken up, so I asked her if she wanted to get a drink… one thing led to another.” He swallowed hard. “I wanted to see her again, after, but she told me she doesn’t date hockey players, especially not her brother’s teammates. She wouldn’t even give me her number. And I swear to you, I had no idea she was pregnant.”
Donovan shook his head. “She’s stubborn about the hockey player thing. She dated one of my teammates in high school and he hurt her, so that was it for hockey players in her love life.”
“Who did she tell you the baby’s father was?” Ryder demanded after a minute.
“She wouldn’t tell us much of anything. She told us she was with someone else the day after they broke up, but she never told us who the someone else was. Now I know why.”
“I’m sorry, Donovan. I swear, we were careful.”
“Then it’s probably not yours.” He put his hands on his hips and stared up at the ceiling. “Which is kind of a bummer because that means it’s Troy’s kid, and none of us want him to be in the baby’s life. We’ve all been hoping it would turn out to be the other guy’s kid, no matter who it was.”
There was an awkward silence.
“I need to talk to her,” Ryder said quietly. “She and I absolutely need to have a conversation.”
“Yeah, for sure. But give it a couple of days, okay? Let me talk to her first and—”
“No. This is between me and her. If this was my mistake, it’s also my responsibility.”
Donovan looked like he wanted to protest but finally nodded. “All right, but still, give it a few days. She’s in labor now, so it’ll probably be two or three days before she’s home and up to a serious conversation like that.”
“Will you just send me her contact info?”
“Yeah.” Donovan pulled out his phone. “I’m serious, though—don’t do anything to upset her until she’s had a few days to recover from the delivery. I get that you want to know if it’s yours, but she’s had a rough year and a few more days won’t matter.”
“I’m not going to upset her,” Ryder said defensively. “But we have to talk.”
Donovan sent him a text. “That’s her cell number.”
“And address.”
Donovan frowned. “Why do you need her address?”
“So I can send her flowers, dumbass. She just had a baby, whether it’s mine or not.”
“Oh. Right.” Donovan sent him another text and Ryder stared at it for a second before stuffing the phone in his pocket.
“Can we keep this between us for now?” Ryder asked. “There’s no need for anyone to know we slept together unless it turns out to be my kid.”
“Agreed.” Donovan stared at him like he had something else on his mind but seemed reluctant to say it.
“What?” Ryder asked. “Whatever it is, just say it.”
“Were you into her or was it just sex?”
“I’ve been into her since the first time I saw her,” Ryder admitted. “But she always had a boyfriend, she’s my buddy’s sister, and then when I finally had a shot, she blew me off, said she wasn’t interested in anything beyond a one-night stand.”
“Good to know.” Donovan turned and walked back into the bar.
Ryder stared after him in confusion. Why the fuck was it good to know that he’d been into Peyton and she’d blown him off? Shouldn’t Donovan be pissed at him?
It felt a little like the twilight zone all of a sudden, and Ryder didn’t have a clue what to do next.
He might be a dad.
He and Peyton might have made a baby.
And she hadn’t told him. Warned him. Nothing.
It might not be yours, a little voice whispered inside of him.
“Sonofabitch,” he muttered, running a hand through his unruly hair.
“You okay?” Logan asked, coming up to him. “You look kind of freaked out.”
“You have no idea.”
“You, uh, want to talk a
bout it?”
“Not yet. But thanks.” He turned and headed for the elevator. He wasn’t sure if he was going to throw up, cry, or laugh, but whatever happened in the next few minutes, he needed to be alone.
About the Author
USA Today Bestselling author Kat Mizera was born in Miami Beach with a healthy dose of wanderlust. She's lived from coast to coast, and everywhere in between, but home is wherever her family is.
A devoted mom and wife to her wonderful and supportive husband (Kevin) and two amazing boys (Nick and Max), Kat loves to travel the globe with her adventurous, hockey loving family. Greece is at the top of that list. She hopes to one day retire there, spending her days writing books on the beach.
Kat is former freelance sports writer who now writes steamy hockey romance about her favorite fictional teams, the Las Vegas Sidewinders and the Alaska Blizzard. The library of novels she's penned also include sexy contemporary stories about baseball stars, alpha sex club owners, special forces heroes, rock stars and royalty. Regardless of genre, her books about bad boys with hearts of gold will steal your breath, rock your world and melt your heart.
WHERE TO FOLLOW KAT:
WEBSITE
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Also by Kat Mizera
Las Vegas Sidewinders:
Dominic
Cody’s Christmas Surprise
Drake
Karl
Anatoli
Zakk
Toli & Tessa
Brock
Vladimir
Royce
Nate
Sidewinders: Ever After
Jared
Dmitri’s Christmas Angel
Ian
Sidewinders: Generations:
Zaan
Tore
Anton (coming 2022)
Alaska Blizzard:
Defending Dani
Holding Hailey
Winning Whitney
Losing Laurel
Saving Sara
Chasing Charli
A Very Blizzard Christmas
Tending Tara
Calling Cassie
St. Louis Mavericks (with Brenda Rothert)
Hard Fall
The Royal Trilogy:
Nowhere Left to Fall
Nowhere Left to Run
Nowhere Left to Hide
Royal Protectors:
Sandor
Cocky Protector (book 1.5, part of the Cocky Heroes Club series)
Xander
Axel
Dax (A Royal Protectors/Sidewinders crossover novel)
Rock Hard:
Play
Pause
Rewind
Fast Forward
Inferno:
Salvation’s Inferno
Temptation’s Inferno
Redemption’s Inferno
Tropical Inferno (formerly “Tropical Ice”)
Romancing Europe:
Adonis in Athens
Smitten in Santorini
Lucky in Lugano
Other Books:
Special Forces: Operation Alpha: Protecting Bobbi (Susan Stoker’s Special Forces World)
Special Forces: Operation Alpha: Protecting Delilah (Susan Stoker’s Special Forces World)
Brotherhood Protectors: Catching Lana (Elle James’s Brotherhood Protectors World)
View Kat’s entire collection of books at www.KatMizera.com
