Morning, Dixie!”

“Holy crow! You popped!” I exclaim and grab Zoey in a hug as I walk over the threshold and into the house she shares with my brother. My arms barely make it around her now. “I’m going to have to side hug you from now on. Nugget is taking up too much space.”

“Don’t call him nugget!” I hear Jude bellow from the kitchen at the back of the house. “And why on earth can’t you eat a meal at your own place?”

Zoey rolls her eyes and ushers me into the house. I kiss her cheek excitedly and can’t help but pat her ever-growing belly. I start the never-ending battle against tears because every time I see this woman and my brother—and the bump they created—I get mushy. He had a horrible track record when it came to relationships, and even though I knew he had the potential to be the best boyfriend on the planet, he didn’t know it. Zoey, thankfully, made him see his own potential, and they’ve been madly in love with each other for a year now. The baby was unexpected and sudden, but I’ve never seen Jude so happy or grounded in my life.

I bounce into the kitchen. He’s leaning against the counter in nothing but a pair of sweats, holding what I’m guessing is a piping-hot cup of coffee. I sort of hug him, trying not to bobble his coffee. “Have you had a sip yet?”

“No.”

I wrap my hand around the mug and take it from him. He rolls his eyes but doesn’t fight me. Instead he walks over to the fancy coffee machine on the hutch next to the kitchen table and starts to make another. I smile victoriously as Zoey walks back into the kitchen and sits beside me. She leans forward and pushes the pink box of donuts toward me. “I knew you’d swing by this morning, so I had Jude make sure there were two maple bacon cream ones.”

I flip the box open and groan like I’m having an orgasm. It makes Zoey laugh and Jude shudder. I reach for the sugary, salty goodness. “You are the best.”

“You know bacon and maple on a donut is disgusting,” Jude laments as he lifts a new coffee to his lips. “Zoey is pregnant, so what’s your excuse for eating that?”

“Hush now” is the only answer I can come up with because it’s short, sweet and to the point and I just want to shovel more donut in my mouth. I groan again as I take a bite. Jude looks horrified. “And give me a lift to the arena.”

“Okay.” Jude sighs and pushes himself off the counter. “I’m going to go get dressed.”

He walks toward the hall, stopping to kiss the top of Zoey’s auburn head. She smiles serenely. I take another giant bite of donut. As we wait for Jude to get ready, we talk about the baby. She tells me she’s starting to have trouble sleeping and that she feels like she looks like a baby Beluga whale.

“You haven’t gained weight, you’ve gained baby. There’s a difference,” I remind her and grab her wrist to lift her arm. “Look at those chicken limbs. It’s all tummy and it’s all nugget. Did you find out the sex yet, or is Jude just using ‘he’ for the hell of it?”

Zoey smiles and reaches for her fancy green teapot and pours some more herbal tea into her cup on the table. “He still doesn’t want the doctor to confirm it. He’s just convinced it’s a boy because there are too many women in this family. Apparently he deserves a boy.”

I roll my eyes at that, but I’m smiling. My brother has always acted like having three younger sisters was a hardship, but deep down I know he adores us and wouldn’t trade us for all the brothers in the world, even though we live to tease him.

“So…how about you?” Zoey asks casually as she sips her tea. “How are things?”

I shrug. “Work is great.”

Zoey puts down her teacup. “So how is everything else? Besides work?”

I almost snort at that because there’s no “besides work,” and she knows that. She looks sad when she sees the expression on my face. I pat her hand. “I’m not looking for love right now, Z. I’ve got an empire to build. Between my career and the family stuff, it’s not a good time at all.”

She laughs. “There is no right time.”

“There’s a right and wrong time for everything,” I counter and stand up as I hear Jude’s feet stomping down the stairs.

“Sometimes what seems like the wrong time is actually the right time,” Zoey tells me, rubbing her belly. “Like getting pregnant by your teenage crush less than a year into your relationship.”

“Nothing about us is wrong,” Jude declares as he walks in and right over to Zoey, pulling her into his arms.

“You two are sweeter than this donut,” I reply.

Jude ignores me and turns to Zoey. “You have a full day?”

“Meeting a new client in the morning, paperwork at the office, then an open house later this afternoon,” Zoey replies and he kisses her forehead before using his thumb to tilt her face up so he can look in her eyes.

“Take it easy, okay?” Jude advises. “Text me the location of your open house, and I’ll meet you there afterward.”

Zoey nods and Jude gives her one more small kiss and then turns to me. “Let’s go, kid.”

I grab one more donut from the box and he glares at me. “Road donut.”

He rolls his eyes and takes a napkin from the holder in the center of the table and shoves it at me. “Do not spill those sprinkles in my car.”

“You are such a neat freak,” I declare as I follow him out the front door. “Hopefully your little girl is more relaxed. Like me.”

“It’s a boy,” Jude replies firmly as he slides into the driver’s seat of his Tesla. I open the door and jump into the passenger seat. Sprinkles leap from the donut and cascade around the car, mostly between my seat and the console.

Jude glares at me. I smile. “Sorry. You know kids are messy. You should get used to it.”

“You’re not a kid anymore. Stop eating my food, messing up my car and demanding I chauffeur you everywhere,” Jude grumbles and starts the engine. He pulls out into San Francisco traffic and I take another big bite of donut. I’m begrudgingly careful with the sprinkles this time.

“How are things going for the charity event Friday?” Jude wants to know. “Please say it’s not going to be some big, long thing.”

“Short and sweet,” I promise. “Cocktails and bidding. A little mingling. Should be over by ten.”

He looks relieved. I bite back a smile because thinking of the charity event makes me think of Eli. My phone buzzes in my purse, so I dig it out. I have ringtones for just about everyone, so the minute the first strands of Justin Bieber’s “Baby” start, it makes my smile grow.

“Who do you hate enough to give them that ringtone?” Jude asks.

“Never you mind,” I mutter, still smiling as I silence it and glance at the text.

Before I can respond, Eli sends a photo of his very naked, very sculpted torso lying in bed and the sheet clinging precariously low on his hips. Sweet God. He’s been texting me every day since I called him about the silent auction, every text more suggestive and flirty than the last, but this picture takes it to a new level.

“Donut!” Jude barks and I look at my hand, which is accidentally tilting the donut. Some sprinkles have landed on his gearshift. Oops. I quickly turn my phone screen down in my lap and pick up the sprinkles with my fingertips. I smear them onto my napkin and grab my phone again, making sure to angle it away from Jude, who has a habit of glancing over at stop signs or red lights, and quickly text him back.

I shouldn’t be asking him about his games, but for some reason I can’t help myself this morning. He answers just as I swallow down the last of my donut.

This boy. Oh boy…

“Who the hell are you texting with?” Jude voice is almost menacing. I glance up and find him wearing his best overprotective brother face.

“Nobody you need to know about,” I reply flatly, because I know if I say it’s work or one of our sisters he won’t believe it.

“Are you dating someone?” He says it like the idea is as likely as a UFO landing, which is mildly offensive.

“No.” I glare at him.

He turns to stare at me, arching an eyebrow and glaring at the same time. Damn it. Why can’t he be a dumb jock? “I’m just going to get it out of Sadie or Winnie. And if I can’t, Zoey will.”

“My sisters don’t know about any imaginary boyfriend, because he’s imaginary,” I explain. “As in he lives in your imagination.”

“You’re smiling like a cat on catnip, and your face is like glowing or something,” Jude says.

“Cats don’t smile. Even when they’re on catnip,” I reply, but his description is kind of on point. This ongoing, escalating text flirtation with Elijah Casco makes me feel pretty high. “Also, if I wanted to date someone, I don’t have to clear it with you. I don’t even have to tell you.”

“Who are you dating?” he demands, completely horrified and not even trying to hide it. “And yes, you do have to clear it with me. You’re the baby, and Mom and Dad would want me to look out for you since I’m the only one living here with you.”

I roll my eyes, huff and tip my head back. “Well, you won’t be the only one shortly. Soon the whole family will be here.”

He doesn’t answer that, but a cloud of darkness seems to fall over the car, as it always does when we talk about our family…at least since Dad was diagnosed with ALS almost two years ago. He’s been steadily declining in recent months.

Dad, Mom and my sisters are all still living in Toronto, where we grew up, but with Zoey pregnant, and Dad needing more help and a place to live that doesn’t involve stairs, like our family home, he decided he wanted to move here. My mom already quit her job and my sisters did too, because they want to be where my dad is. I am of two minds about the move. On one hand, it’s going to be great to have my whole family so close. I’ve missed them desperately and haven’t lived near my sisters since before college. On the other hand, I’m sad that it’s happening because it means my dad is getting sicker.

“You know there’s room for you in the new place,” Jude tells me for probably the tenth time since he bought our parents a condo in the city. “You can get rid of your apartment, save some cash and spend time with Mom and Dad.”

“Do you remember the last time Winnie, Sadie and I were under the same roof?” I ask him and give him a pointed stare. He’s fighting a smile, which means he remembers that we tend to fight like cats and dogs when we’re confined together for too long. “Besides, I’m a grown woman and I need my space.”

“You’re twenty-five and you spend more time monopolizing my Netflix and raiding my fridge than you do in your dorm-sized apartment,” Jude says as he turns into the parking lot attached to the Thunder Arena and waves his pass out his window in front of the automated gate. “That’s not being a grown woman, Dix. Just accept defeat and move back in with the ’rents. You can save money for a while, spend time with Dad and eat Mom’s cooking. And you’ll be within walking distance of your new nephew.”

“I’ll be twenty-six in a couple months. And shut up, jerk.”

It would be kind of cool to be just down the block from Zoey and Jude’s place, especially after the baby comes. Jude’s going to be an amazing dad—not that I’ll ever let him know. I’ll tease him relentlessly about everything he does, from diaper changes to burping, but I can’t wait to see him in action. If he loves this kid half as much as he loves Zoey, it’s the luckiest kid alive. And to be able to see my dad with his grandkid, who I know will be over at my parents’ new place every day, would be incredible.

Jude knows he’s getting to me—I can tell by the smug little smirk dancing across his annoying mouth as we get out of the car. I ignore him completely. “Remember, if anyone sees us, we carpool because I’m friends with Zoey.”

He nods dismissively. He doesn’t hate that I refuse to admit we’re related, but it’s definitely not his favorite thing. He thinks that people won’t judge me if they find out my brother is one of the star players on the team I work for, that it won’t look like nepotism. But I think it will.

Being a woman working for a pro hockey team isn’t the easiest job in the world to begin with—it’s filled with biases and people looking at you like either you don’t belong or you’re there for the wrong reasons. That’s why I love Ryanne so much. She not only owns a very successful company she built from the ground up, but she did what no woman has ever done—she bought a hockey team. She has constantly given talks about breaking down stereotypes and shattering glass ceilings. I knew from the moment I learned about her, when I was researching women CEOs for a paper in college, that I wanted to work for her somehow.

There weren’t a lot of women majoring in sports media at Ithaca and even fewer with a minor in sports management. I got a lot of misogynistic bullshit while I was there—stuff like how I was only doing it to date athletes. It didn’t help, I’m sure, that Jude was already making a name for himself in the NHL, and I happened to date a hockey player in college. Well, two actually. But two in four years hardly makes me a puck bunny. Still, I’d experienced enough double standard bullshit to know that when I applied to internships with the NHL, I should use my middle name, which also happened to be my mom’s maiden name, as a last name.

I’ve been working here for almost two years, and still the only people who know I’m Jude’s sister are the HR director and PR management. Oh, and Levi Casco. I still work extra hard just in case someone does find out.

“So you going to move in with the fam?”

“No.” I shake my head. “Maybe in the new year. Maybe. For now I need space.”

Justin Bieber blares from my cell again as if in agreement. Because the guy assigned to that ringtone is the reason I still need a place of my own right now. I can’t risk anyone finding out that we’re…doing whatever the hell it is we’re doing.

I pull my phone out of my pocket again and check the text message.

Jude walks closer, craning his neck to see my screen. In a flash I have both hands around the phone and the screen pressed into my chest. I glare at him. “I will gut you.”

He looks startled. “Okay! Jesus, Dixie, you’re wound tighter than a whore in church. What is up with you?”

“I need to get laid.” The words tumble from my lips before I realize who I am talking to. Best I can do now is try to blow this off as another attempt to annoy him and not the truth. But it is the truth. Jude gives me the typical look of disgust. “What?” I say. “Isn’t that what you’d tell one of the guys if they were bitchy? Go get laid? So I guess I need to get laid.”

“Why do you insist on breaking the boundaries that have existed for centuries between brothers and—” He stops midsentence and clears his throat. “Anyway, thanks for the baby shower ideas. I really appreciate it.”

I look up. My co-worker Trish Shaw is walking toward us. Jude noticed her in time, thankfully, and I’m sure she didn’t hear anything she shouldn’t have. I smile casually at my brother. “Glad to help. Let me know if you want any more advice. We love Zoey!”

Trish is beside us now, smiling. “Oh! You’re planning her baby shower?”

Jude nods casually. “Just asking Dix for some ideas. She knows Zoey well, and I’ve never planned something like this before.”

“We’d love to help, when you’re ready to throw it,” Trish volunteers. “Of course the Thunder girls will do something for her too. We’re so happy for you both, Jude.”

“Thanks, Trish,” Jude replies. “I’ve gotta go. Can’t be late for practice this early in the season.”

I watch him disappear through the players’ entrance. Trish and I veer right to the doors that lead to the staff side of the building. Trish started in July. I was on vacation, and when I got back she had “borrowed” my stapler, my pens and the extra phone charger I keep in my desk drawer. She apologized profusely and I acted like it was no big deal, but it made me instantly not like her, even though we have the same position and have to work pretty closely together.

She’s been nothing but a perfect co-worker ever since, and that’s why I still don’t like her. Perfect people are creepy. She reaches the door first and opens it for me, smiling brightly. I walk in and thank her, and she’s beside me again a second later. “So how well do you know Zoey Quinlin that Jude is asking for baby shower advice?”

“I’ve gotten to know her really well since they started dating,” I mutter. “I’d call her a friend.”

“We’re allowed to be friends with the wives and girlfriends?” she asks. She’s got an innocent tone, but it feels fake.

I push open one of the double doors and hold it for her as we enter the lobby where the elevators will take us up to our offices. “We work closely with them on charity events, so it’s not uncommon that we become close to them. It can actually make the job easier if they like us.”

“So we can be buddies with the wives and girlfriends but not the players?”

“We can be friends with the players. Just friends,” I remind her as we step into the elevators and she presses the button for four. The arena is state of the art and only five years old. Our offices are on the top floor of the building attached to the arena.

“It’s a good thing all the hot ones are taken.” Trish sighs and winks at me conspiratorially like we’re besties. God, it’s awkward. “If Levi Casco and Jude Braddock and Duncan Darby were single when I started working here, this job would’ve been much harder.”

Gross. That’s always my first reaction when someone finds my brother attractive. I can be a little more objective about Levi. I get that the tall, dark and brooding thing is an instant panty-remover for a lot of women, but considering he lived in my basement for three months when he was a teenager, I don’t see him as anything more than a pseudo-brother.

Trish yawns. It’s a huge yawn—her mouth is open so wide her hand can barely cover it—and she makes a weird noise while she’s doing it. She giggles when she’s done and puts a hand to her chest like Scarlett O’Hara or some such nonsense. “So sorry! I was here until almost eleven last night working out the last auction items for the event. Did you figure out all the travel details for the Storm players coming?”

“Yep!”

My skin starts to tingle at the mention of the Storm players. “They played last night, right?” She nods and struggles to cover another yawn. “How’d they do?”

“I’m sure Nadine will have the report ready for you when we get off this elevator.” Trish seems overly amused for a second and then she seems overly impressed. “I swear, Dixie, I have never met a person on the business end that’s as interested in the sports end as you are. I mean, you probably know more about the prospects on the farm team than the coaches.”

“I’ve always been a hockey fan,” I explain as the elevator doors open and we both step off. “Some of these guys may make it up to the team, and I like to keep an eye on them now so I’ve got a handle on their performance and personalities before I have to sell them to the press.”

Nadine is at her desk when we walk by. She’s the intern for our department, the job I started here with. She’s basically our slave, but if she works hard enough and well enough she’ll get a position like I did. She smiles and hands me the sheet she’s gotten in the habit of preparing for me. It’s clips from media articles and posts from the last twenty-four hours. Anything that mentions the Thunder or the Storm. I take the papers and smile. “Thanks, Nadine. How are you?”

“Right as rain,” she responds cheerily. “I’m almost finished with the programs for the auction.”

“Great! Send them my way as soon as you’re done,” Trish tells her and breezes by to her desk. It’s always a relief when she’s gone. I feel like an ass for thinking that, but then I catch someone else—like Nadine right now—with the same look of relief flickering across her face and I realize I’m not a judgy bitch. Or at least, I’m not alone in my bitchy judgment.

I move to my own desk, which is about two feet from Trish’s and separated by an opaque glass partition. Before my butt is even firmly in my seat, I’m flipping through the pages Nadine gave me and reading everything about the Storm game last night.

Elijah wasn’t the starting goalie, but they put him in halfway through the second period. Eli did okay. Not great, because he let in two goals in quick succession, but he blocked eight others. Well, that’s better than he’s been doing. Damn. I wish I could ask Levi what he thinks is going on with his brother, but he’d want to know why I’m so concerned, and I can’t explain that to him. He’s already keeping my identity a secret. He doesn’t need to keep my crush a secret too.

I met Levi when I was fourteen at Jude’s boarding school graduation. He had been Jude’s roommate and they’d quickly become best friends. Levi’s parents weren’t at graduation, just his older brother, Todd, who seemed like a bit of a doofus. When Jude explained Levi’s parents had disowned him because he was going to enter the NHL draft that summer instead of going to college, my parents offered to let him spend the summer with us. He was a quiet, reserved kid and rarely talked about his situation. I did hear him mention a younger brother, but he didn’t give details and I didn’t ask.

The attraction to Eli when I met him in that elevator was intense and out of nowhere. It was easy to dismiss him, and the feelings, as some weird chemical reaction. But now that we’re in contact again and he’s texting me all the time, I realize it’s not just chemical. I like him, which is even weirder because he’s brash and wild. I’m usually attracted to guys with a serious side, something Eli seems to have been born without. But we seem to just really click with each other.

I remember that he texted me about this weekend and I never responded. I grab my phone and pull up his message again. There’s a new one that’s just a bunch of question marks. I sent his itinerary this morning, so he knows I gave in on his request for an extra day, and that’s why he’s pushing me.

I quickly type him back: We can’t.

Then I put my phone down and turn on my computer. I bury my brain in work to avoid thinking about this man who has become the biggest temptation of my life.