I shifted uncomfortably in my seat as Mr. Barnes, the family lawyer I’d retained, looked over the paperwork Jessica had left me.

Hannah was shopping with Ivy, who was hopefully using her common sense and my black card to outfit my niece with whatever she needed. Hannah had been with me for ten days now, and I was painfully aware of what her wardrobe lacked.

As much as I hated trusting Ivy with Hannah, I knew she had great fashion sense, and would never do anything to hurt Hannah. Besides, it gave me a much-needed few hours to meet with Mr. Barnes and figure out just what the hell I was going to do.

“And you still can’t reach your sister?” Mr. Barnes asked, rubbing his thumb along the smooth, dark skin of his chin. He peered over his glasses at me, raising his eyebrows.

“Her phone is disconnected, her social media is shut down, and she didn’t leave a forwarding address with her landlord. I even broke down and called my mother. No one knows where Jessica is, or even what Joe’s last name is. She may as well be a ghost.” Even the private detective I’d hired had come up short so far. It wasn’t that I wanted Jessica back, even though Hannah had cried the last few nights as reality sank in. What I wanted was to find her so she could sign over legal custody of Hannah to me.

“Well, I’ve got good news and bad news.” Mr. Barnes leaned back in his plush, leather office chair, tapping his fingers on the armrests. “The bad news is that document she signed isn’t worth shit. It’s not a legal document. It’s not witnessed or notarized. She may as well have written it on a cocktail napkin for all the good it will do you in court. Legally, you have zero right to Hannah.”

My stomach sank, worry filling my belly with the weight of concrete. “Where’s the good news? And if I don’t have a legal right to Hannah, then who the hell does? She doesn’t have anyone else.”

“Is there a father in the picture?”

“No, and there never has been. I don’t think Jessica even knows who it is.” In everything but biology and the fact that I still led a quasi-bachelor lifestyle, I had always been Hannah’s father.

“Well, that’s going for you,” Mr. Barnes noted. “The good news is that her social worker should give you the chance to foster Hannah. Being that you’re her biological uncle, and you have no other living relatives besides your mother, you would be the logical choice, and in my experience, DSS prefers to place children with family.”

That concrete in my stomach turned to molten lava at the mere mention of putting my niece into foster care. Growing up, Jessica and I had spent a fair amount of time in the system between my mother’s spurts with sobriety, and there was zero chance in hell I was putting Hannah through that.

“Why do we have to call a social worker?” I questioned, my temper rising in the pitch of my voice. “What the hell good are they going to do? I’m not even willing to risk that Hannah goes into one of those homes. I’m more than capable of caring for her both emotionally and financially. Why the hell do we have to involve the county?” My fingers dug into the arms of my chair.

“I understand where you’re coming from, but the legal side of this is crystal clear.” Mr. Barnes took off his glasses and rubbed the skin of his nose where they had rested. “I don’t want to involve DSS anymore than you do. But the truth is, you don’t have the legal authority to take care of Hannah. You don’t have a power of attorney, and for all intents and purposes, this child has been abandoned by her mother. Regardless of the fact that you are ready and willing to care for her, and are most likely the best environment for her, you can’t have her seen by a doctor or even enroll her in school. In the eyes of the court, you have something we call standing, but no real legal rights. If you want to keep your niece, we have to do this by the book. There is no skirting the system when it comes to kids, and the longer you put this off, the harder it will bite you in the ass when you’re standing in a courtroom.”

I looked past Mr. Barnes to the Seattle skyline. I’d been born here, raised here, and had been lucky enough to have hockey pull me through both high school and college at UW. But I was also intimately acquainted with a foster system that did great things for kids, until it didn’t. Someone’s experience with the system was as unique as their DNA. There were cracks I was unwilling to let Hannah fall through. Mr. Barnes was right. If Hannah was in a car accident this very moment, I couldn’t even sign her consent for treatment.

I didn’t just need moral authority. I needed legal ground.

“We have to call DSS,” I said, my voice a hundred times more calm than I felt. I was desperate to keep Hannah wrapped in a bubble, safe and loved. It was so fucking ironic that the very thing I needed to keep her safe was the one thing that could take her away from me.

Mr. Barnes nodded. “I agree, and I’ll be with you every step of this process. We’ll make sure she ends up with you.”

I wished I felt as certain as he sounded, but the man literally had my life— Hannah’s life—in his hands.

“Sarah,” he spoke into his intercom, “get me Shea Lansing on the phone would you?”

“Sure thing,” his secretary answered.

“I’ve known Shea for five years, and she’s as fair as they come.”

“What about discrete? The paparazzi would have a field day if they knew what we were going through, and I refuse to have Hannah’s face plastered on those fucking tabloids. I know she wouldn’t care now, but one day she would, and the shit they post on the Internet never dies.” I had to protect Hannah’s future just as much as her present.

“I hear you loud and clear. We’ll make sure this doesn’t get out.” He looked me straight in the eye, his intention and honesty nearly palpable. There was a reason Gage trusted this guy with Scarlett’s case, and Barnes had earned my trust vicariously through Gage.

A moment later, Sarah rang through that Shea was on the line, and Barnes picked up the phone.

The two exchanged pleasantries, or at least I assumed since I could only hear his side of the conversation. Then he got down to business, briefly describing our situation. It was almost surreal, having to hand my personal life over to be decided by another person.

“Now as you can see, this young lady needs the protection of foster care, legally that is. However, her uncle is capable, willing, and very adamant that he retain guardianship of the minor.”

Barnes nodded, listening to whatever Ms. Lansing was saying.

“I understand that, but we’re coming to you in good faith that she’ll be allowed to stay with her uncle while you run those checks. I think we can both agree that it’s far more traumatic for a child this young to be placed in respite care, rather than left with a suitable family. Also, there are special considerations in this case.” Barnes locked eyes with me as he continued. “We’re talking about a Seattle Shark. Something this high-profile and this private needs to be handled with the utmost care and consideration, which was why I called you directly, Shea.”

Knots formed down my throat, and every muscle in my body tensed, waiting for her answer. Logically, I knew this was the only way. Emotionally, I was kicking myself for not heading for a border with Hannah just to be sure that no one could take her.

“Okay, I see. I’m sure he’d agree to an emergency home study and background check.” Mr. Barnes looked at me with raised eyebrows.

I nodded. “I’ve already had a background check for some of the volunteer work we do with Sharks. So that should be easy.”

“He says he’s more than willing, and he already has a completed background check, so that should be easy for you to access. Today at 4 o’clock?” He looked at me expectantly, and when he read the confusion on my face, elaborated. “Shea will need to come over to your house. She’ll need to see that it’s suitable for Hannah and that you can provide for her, and have a safe and nurturing environment to raise her in.”

My eyes flew wide with panic. Shit. That was in what, three hours? I had three hours to turn my bachelor pad into the fucking Brady house? Not that it was trashed, or dangerous, but I also didn’t think DSS would appreciate my closet stash of sex toys or the kegerator I kept in the third bedroom with the beer pong table.

Noting my shock, Barnes addressed Ms. Lansing again. “Can we do tomorrow? I think this is all catching him a little unaware, and you guys do have a tendency to sift through underwear drawers.” He chuckled but considering the things I knew were in my underwear drawer, I didn’t find it fucking funny. “Oh, I see. No, of course we wouldn’t want her taken into respite over the weekend, so if this is your only appointment, he’ll take it. I’ll send over all of his personal information, and the minor’s so you can get the ball rolling on his paperwork. Thank you, Shea. I owe you one.”

Barnes hung up the phone and gave me a wry smile before digging out a piece of paper from the file cabinet next to his desk. “Looks like you’d best be getting home. A word to the wise, they like food in the pantry, a clean kitchen, and nothing funny under your bed. You hear me?”

Thank God everything was in the closet.

“I hear you.”

“Get to it, then give me a call and let me know how everything went.”

I said my thank you’s, took the paper he was offering me, which was a guideline on how to prep for a home study, and was already on my phone before I left the office.

“Eric, it’s Connor. I need some help, and it’s all hands on deck.”

Family was a concept I didn’t understand, not really. Sure, I had Jessica, when Mom was sober, or there was a foster family willing to take us both in, but I’d always known the only person I could depend on was me. But, as my Shark friends flooded my small apartment, family was the only word that came to mind.

“I’ve cleaned the beer out of the fridge, and Bailey has stocked both your pantry and fridge with food,” Gage reported. As the Shark with the most kids, I trusted that his wife knew what DSS would look for when it came to healthy food. I had a feeling the lone box of frozen GoGurts wasn’t going to hack it.

“Beer pong table is gone,” Lukas called out as he and Eric hefted the table through my living room and out the door that Chloe held open. “It’s going to look great in my apartment!”

I felt a pang of loss like he wasn’t just carrying out a beer pong table, but the last of my recklessness. The kegerator had already departed, as had any bottle of liquor on the premises.

“This list doesn’t say you had to get rid of that,” Pepper said, stepping back as Rory and Warren carried in a white desk and headed back to where my beer pong room was being transformed by Paige, Rory’s wife.

“I’m not taking any chances,” I told her, straightening the pile of magazines on the coffee table I kept meaning to read. Oh, who the hell was I kidding? Like I had time for that crap. I took the stack to the recycling bin and let it fly.

“I totally get that. Okay,” Pepper’s finger drifted down the list, making sure we’d covered all our bases. “Wait, do you have any guns in the home? Are they in a safe?”

“No guns,” I told her.

“It’s a logical question,” Eric interjected from the doorway. “We keep them on the ranch for hunting and the wolves and stuff.”

“Right, but I don’t do a lot of hunting wolves in Seattle, so we’re in the clear. No guns in the house.”

“Except these sweet babies,” Lukas answered, kissing his biceps as he walked back in the door. “Oh come on,” he said to me. “Don’t you want tickets to the movie?”

“Movie?” I clarified.

“You know? The gun movie?” he tried again.

The guy was killer with his English, but man his slang needed work.

Eric clapped him on the back. “It’s show, buddy. Tickets to the gun show.”

“Whatever.”

A smile tugged at my lips despite the strain I was under, and I turned as Ivy walked out of Hannah’s room.

Damn, she was beautiful. Her hair fell in soft waves that begged to be fisted, held tight, and her blue sweater clung to every curve that her skinny jeans may have neglected. She was a walking, talking wet dream, her curves made for sex and her mouth built for kisses. Too bad she was a goddamn nightmare in reality. I’d never understand someone who could betray their sister the way she had.

I would die for Jessica.

I would kill for Hannah.

It was obvious that Pepper and Eric had forgiven her, but I didn’t need to hear or understand her reasoning. Trust was something I didn’t give easily, and she’d already shown herself unworthy.

“Okay, all of her new clothes are put away. The books we picked up are on the shelf in her new study room, and I re-braided her hair. She’s curled up with your iPad while we finish, but I think she’s ready.” She gave me a shaky smile, and I instantly felt like the asshole I was.

She made it so damn hard to hate her.

Or maybe it wasn’t really hate. Maybe it was a simple case of self-preservation in the form of assholery.

“Thank you,” I told her and meant it. “I couldn’t have done this without you. Everyone, really. But, especially you.”

Her cheeks tinged pink and her smile was a punch to the stomach. “What else can I do?” She asked Pepper.

Pepper scanned down the list. “Head to Connor’s bedroom. If you two handle that space, we can get the study finished up.”

Ivy and I took our mission seriously and headed toward my bedroom.

“What do you want me to look for?” Ivy asked, her gaze sweeping over the room.

“Anything that would send up a red flag that I can’t raise a kid,” I answered.

“Other than the fact that you’re an asshole,” she teased over her shoulder as she approached my bed.

“Right. If you find any documentation or a giant flashing sign that reads ‘ Connor is an asshole,’ please let me know.” I tried like hell to keep my face stern, but couldn’t help the slight tilt to my lips.

“It…It looks like you in here,” she said softly, taking in the masculine furniture and deep blue accents.

“That’s because it’s mine,” I stated the obvious, unwilling to let myself soften toward her.

My first order of business was pulling the large, black storage box from my closet and putting it on my bed. I popped the lid and immediately tossed a small throw blanket on top to cover the majority of the contents. I wasn’t a sadist, or even deep into any BDSM lifestyle, but yeah, I enjoyed my sexuality and had no problem enhancing it when my partners were up for a change of pace.

“Anything sketchy, toss it in the box.”

“You don’t mind me going through your things?” Ivy asked.

“Not in the least. Having someone else in here might get awkward,” I admitted, throwing a box of condoms and a couple tubes of lube from my nightstand into the box.

Ivy’s eyes widened as she watched, then she busied herself in my dresser, where I knew she’d only find clothing. “And it’s not awkward having me in here?”

“Nope.”

“Why is that? Not worried I’ll find your porn stash?”

If she only knew that she was my mental porn stash. I couldn’t count the number of times I brought myself to orgasm either by myself or with a partner, imagining Ivy’s face, her hands, her soft, wet lips.

“I don’t have a porn stash,” I answered honestly. Man, this was getting too intimate, not just because she was exploring my personal space, but because I knew it would be all too easy to slip under the spell she so naturally cast on every other guy. “Besides, in order for it to be awkward, I’d have to give a shit what you think, which I don’t.”

I almost regretted my words when her back shot ramrod straight.

“If you were looking for a sign that you’re an asshole, there it is,” she shot back, pointing a finger at me.

“Never pretended to be anything else, Princess.”

She scoffed and switched from my dresser to the other nightstand, while I checked the closet over again, hoping I’d remembered to put my sex swing in the box. That was definitely not the kind of play equipment DSS would be hoping for.

“Seriously?” Ivy called out, holding out two sets of fur-lined handcuffs. “How cliche are these? Fur-lined?”

I grinned, unable to feel even an ounce of embarrassment. “One, they’re not cliché. Two, I happen to like my headboard, and the women I have sex with.”

She blinked at me. “How well could you possibly like them if you have to tie them down to keep them in bed with you?”

Challenge accepted.

I crossed the room to where she stood, and she retreated until the backs of her thighs hit my bed. I watched, hypnotized by the movement of her throat as she swallowed in nervousness. Then I took one set of the cuffs and hooked it to the convenient cut out in my headboard, keeping my eyes locked on hers as the metal clicked into place.

“It’s not about force,” I told her softly, invading her space, watching for her first sign of unease or distress. All I saw in those blue depths was curiosity, challenge, and what I was almost afraid to acknowledge as a spark of desire.

I held the still open cuff in one hand, and reached out for her with my other, leaving my palm open to await her decision.

“Then what is it about? Having a woman at your mercy?” Her chin lifted. I couldn’t help but wonder what she was really like in bed. Did she bring the fiery temperament or that crackling energy? Or was she timid underneath all that smooth skin?

“It’s about trust. Trusting your partner to see to your pleasure. Not to take theirs out of your captive body, but to relieve you of the responsibility of giving back. It’s about giving, Ivy, not taking.” God, just the thought of having her handcuffed beneath me, her body writhing as I gave her orgasm after orgasm was enough to get me hard.

She placed her wrist on my palm, and I gently closed the other cuff around it, making sure it wasn’t too tight.

“The fur keeps the cuffs from marking your delicate skin,” I whispered as I ran my thumb along the line where cuff met flesh. “Giving yourself over to your partner is the ultimate intimacy. It means you have faith that they’ll take care of you, that you’re comfortable enough to know they’ll keep you safe, and willing to let them push your boundaries.” Her lips parted, and our eyes held, the moment more sensual than any I’d ever experienced during sex. “It’s not about being submissive, or even giving someone else their fantasy. It’s about being worshiped, stroked and tended to, until your limp with pleasure. If you think these are cliché,” I said as my thumb ran up the bare, sensitive skin of her forearm, and back down to the cuff, “then you’re having sex with the wrong people.”

She swallowed again, her pulse racing in her wrist. “And if I’ve never let anyone tie me down?”

A smirk played across my face, and I reached into the open nightstand drawer to retrieve the key. “Then like I said, you’re having sex with the wrong people.”

I unlocked the cuff and turned away after grabbing its partner off the bed. In the dresser mirror, I saw her sag against the bed, momentarily feeling a euphoric high that something as easy as my words got to her.

It only seemed to fair seeing as she got to me without even trying.

“Ten minute warning!” Pepper called out. I threw the cuffs in the box and snapped the lid shut. “Everybody clear out!”

I took a deep breath, grateful for the momentary distraction I’d had in Ivy.

“I’ll take your box of debauchery,” she told me, bracing the box on her hip. “As soon as you’re clear, I’ll bring it back. I hate to think you couldn’t push your boundaries,” she said with that bright, sweet smile she gave when she was dishing out a little sass.

I held open the bedroom door, and she walked through it.

“Like I said,” I called out to her back. “The wrong people.”

She looked over her shoulder, all hint of teasing gone. “Isn’t that what I’m known for?”

Ouch.

But...well, yeah.

Everyone met in the living room, and Hannah skipped out, her hair in a braided crown around her head. Damn, Ivy was good.

“Thank you all,” I told them, emotion clogging my voice.

“It’s what family is for,” Gage answered, his arm around his wife. “Come on over after, and we’ll fire up the grill for a little impromptu Sharks’ barbecue.”

“Seems only right considering you just provided all the liquor,” Warren added with a nod.

I gave everyone my thanks again, feeling lighter as they made their way down the stairs.

“Are you ready for this?” I asked Hannah as we waited for the woman who would decide our fate.

“Yep.”

“Nervous?” I sure as hell was. I’d never been one to leave my fate in someone else’s hands.

“Nope. You’re Uncle Connor. It will be okay.” She slipped her little hand in mine, and I swore I grew on a cellular level, filling into all the hollow places I’d yet to mature into.

For her, I would grow. I would say goodbye to any semblance of my bachelor life and welcome the responsibility that came with being Hannah’s.

For her, I would move the world.

For her...I would answer the damn doorbell that just rang.

Because of her...Shea Lansing, I was in desperate need of a beer. Or six.

I took the bottle of water Pepper offered me as I entered Gage’s backyard. Hannah kissed me on the cheek and ran off to play with the other Shark kids, leaving me solo with my shell-shock.

“Everything go okay?” Eric asked, walking over with his little sister, Faith.

She’d just transferred to UW and wasn’t even legally able to drink the beer her brother was holding.

“Yeah,” I answered. The conversation was on repeat in my head. Could I support her? Could I raise a child in the NHL lifestyle? Was I ready to take on the responsibility of parenting? How had I been raised? What were my thoughts on discipline? How often did I drink? Date? Would Hannah be put in daycare since she’d already been held back a year from Kindergarten since Jessica simply hadn’t gone to the effort of enrolling her?

“I think he’s in shock,” Lukas muttered from where he’d appeared at my side.

“What happened with your niece?” Porter asked, walking over with Ivy.

“I filled him in,” she explained, her face tense with worry. “What did she say? Is Hannah ok?”

My first impulse was to snap at Ivy, push her away so she didn’t wear me down with her sweetness only to turn her back when it was convenient. But she adored Hannah, and that was genuine panic in her eyes.

“She’s mine for now,” I told them.

There was a collective sigh of relief.

“Thank God!” Pepper exclaimed.

“What does ‘for now’ mean?” Ivy asked, her gaze darting to where Hannah played on the giant wooden castle.

“It means the initial interview and homestudy passed, and now we have to go through the legalities. They have to try to find Jessica, but in the meantime, I have guardianship.”

“But not custody?” Ivy clarified.

“Nope. She’s officially a ward of the state until they can clear everything up,” I seethed, more than a little bitter that the process was a long one. “But, she isn’t at some random foster home, so I’ll take it as a victory.”

“What do you need? How can we help?” Gage asked.

“I don’t even know,” I answered truthfully. It hadn’t quite sunk in just how much I’d changed my life in the last ten days. “I know I don’t want her with strangers, but there’s practices and games.”

“I’ll fill in,” Ivy immediately offered. “I’m a writer, so my schedule is super flexible. Whatever you need. Whenever you need it.”

Damn, there she went, making me like her again. If I wasn’t careful, I’d be just as enamored with her personality as I was her body. Now if only she were trustworthy—

“Me, too,” Faith offered, nodding her head and sending a tangle of red curls bouncing. “I’ll check my school schedule, but I bet between Ivy and me, we can cover it.”

“Agreed,” Ivy chimed in. “She’ll never be with a stranger, and you’ll never be alone in this.”

A murmur of agreement went through our little group, but I couldn’t seem to pry my eyes away from Ivy. Had I underestimated her? Wrongly judged her? How could someone so good with Hannah, so open and honest with her emotions hurt the people she loved most?

How could someone like her fall for Crosby’s bullshit?

Gage announced that dinner was done, and we shuffled off toward the buffet Bailey had set up.

I looked over at Lukas and followed his line of sight...straight to Faith’s ass.

Oh, fuck me. That guy was a wheeler, just as smooth on the ice as he was off. He fucked anything in a skirt, and sure, left them with a smile, but never more than once.

“Not a good idea,” Porter chimed in, obviously noting the same thing I had.

“What?” Lukas asked with an exaggerated shrug. “She’s a beautiful girl.”

“Girl being the keyword. She’s barely twenty. No,” I told him in as stern a voice as I could manage.

“You never hook up with a teammate’s sister.” Porter enunciated every word.

“But if she’s—”

“No!” We both snapped at the same time.

“Fine. Don’t shop where you eat. Got it.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Porter mumbled before walking off.

“What? Did I get it wrong again?” Lukas asked.

“You know what? Not even going there...and neither are you.”

“Jesus, you’ve been a guardian for all of two hours and you already sound like a damned father.” He rolled his eyes.

I grinned at his unintended compliment.

“Hell yes, I do.”