Valentine’s Day—the sappy, stress-out-any-man-in-a-relationship day that the creators of chocolate and greeting cards had dreamed up.

Or so I once thought.

I smiled at the two most important girls in my life sitting next to me on the couch. Lily was busy sucking away at Holly’s breast. The butterfly necklace I had given Holly for Christmas sparkled in the sunlight streaming through the window.

“I’m going to pretend I’m not jealous,” I said.

Holly’s head jerked up from watching the hungry baby eat. “What are you talking about?”

“I had staked claim to those gorgeous breasts. They’re mine and no one else’s.” The smile on my face? One hundred percent smirk—even if the breasts weren’t one hundred percent mine. At least not for now. They were currently on loan like fine artwork in a museum.

“Lily might have something to say about that.” Holly yawned, which didn’t surprise me. She hadn’t slept much since Lily’s birth three days ago. When Lily wasn’t sleeping, she was eating.

And for something so small, she sure liked to eat frequently.

“Why don’t you have a nap once she’s finished lunch?” I said. “I’ll make dinner.” Which had been my plan all along.

“Are you sure?” Holly yawned again. “It’s not like you got much sleep last night either.”

“I got more than you did.” At least on the road, I’d get to catch up on my sleep. I was one of those lucky bastards who slept pretty much anywhere. Good thing too, with all the traveling the team did.

Lily pulled away from the breast, a drowsy, satisfied expression on her face. It wouldn’t be much longer before she was napping too.

“I’ll change her and put her down for her nap while you go and rest up.” I pushed myself off the couch, removed Lily from Holly’s arms, and carried her to her bedroom. “Hey, beautiful. What do you say Daddy changes you, then you sleep while I make dinner? Does that sound like a plan?”

I would have discussed the rest of my plan with her, to get her female opinion on it, but I didn’t want to risk Holly overhearing.

Holly and Lily had been home for a day now. And what was the number one thought parading through my head? No, not the one where I craved to make love to Holly—although it was certainly up there.

I was already wondering how I’d be able to go back on the road with the team. I couldn’t get enough of seeing my two girls.

I couldn’t get enough of waking up with Holly next to me.

Now, I know what you’re thinking—that all those times she and I had slept together during the past few months must have counted for something.

But they didn’t.

Sleeping together and living together weren’t the same thing.

Living with her was so much better.

Even if I had to learn not to be quite the slob I was before.

Okay, I’ll admit it, it was a work in progress.

Lily started fussing as I changed her wet diaper, so I did what had become a habit even before she was born—I sang “Unforgettable” to her. By the time I got to the second line, “Unforgettable though near or far,” she settled down and watched me as I continued singing.

Once she was changed into a clean diaper and sleeper, I wrapped her up in a pink receiving blanket and settled her in her crib.

How did I do? With the blanket, I mean. HDF Lesson #15 had been on the fine art of swaddling the baby in a receiving blanket.

Except wrapping a teddy bear was not the same as swaddling a squirming baby. Not even close.

Next, I did what all new fathers do…I watched as she fell asleep, then retrieved my phone and shot some more photos of her—for when I was on the road.

Did I have any pictures of Holly and Lily together? You’d better believe it.

After I stopped staring at Lily, I began making dinner. I’d already given Holly red roses that morning. I know, clichéd. But I was a man. What did you expect?

Since the meal didn’t need to go into the oven yet, I put it in the fridge for later and checked my social media sites.

Normally I didn’t read the comments. I doubted most players did. Or when they did read them, they skimmed to the ones from people they knew.

The last time I’d posted anything was from the day Lily was born. It was the photo Holly had taken. There were the expected comments about how cute she was. Naturally a given.

There were numerous comments about ovaries exploding because of how hot I looked holding a baby.

Did anyone else think that sounded painful?

And there were several comments questioning why no one had heard until now that I had a girlfriend…and questioning if Holly had trapped me into a relationship. If I ventured a guess, I’d say those comments came from puck bunnies.

The rest congratulated Holly and me on the birth of our daughter.

As I parked my phone next to Holly’s on the coffee table, hers vibrated and lit up with a text from Drew: Call me. Heard of a great job opportunity here. I think you’d be perfect for it.

“She’s got a great job here,” I muttered, even though he couldn’t hear me.

“Who has a great job?” Holly asked, startling me. When had she become a ninja?

“You do.” I pointed to her phone. “Are you looking for a new job?” In Australia?

She picked up her phone and sat next to me, then read the text and shrugged. “As far as I know I’m not. As far as I know, I still have one once I return from mat leave.”

“What happens if you don’t have a job?”

She placed her phone back on the coffee table. “I will, so let’s not talk about hypotheticals. Especially not when our daughter is sleeping.” She shifted her leg over mine and straddled me. “Especially when I just want to do this…”

She planted a kiss on my neck, then nipped the skin there. Instantly my cock grew interested, forgetting how Holly’s soft heat was off limits for a few weeks while her body recuperated.

I grabbed her hips, itching to rock her body against mine.

And the award for Best Restraint While Incredibly Horny went to…

All right—I didn’t exactly win it. I might have accidentally rocked against her the tiniest bit.

Honestly, that was just a tiny bit.

Her mouth continued its journey up my neck to my jaw. She nibbled the skin there too. A groan escaped my lips—a groan that was part lust, part exasperation at her teasing. Teasing when she knew that was as far as we could go.

As if guided by my groan, her mouth found my mouth, and her teeth gently tugged at my lower lip.

Eager to welcome her in, my lips parted.

Imagine you were stranded in the desert—and all you could do was fantasize about the tall glass of water you would finally drink once you were found. If you were found.

Kissing Holly was nothing like that. It was like being found, having the tall, cool glass of delicious tasting water…then falling into a lagoon—complete with waterfall—and drowning.

Drowning in the best possible way.

Our tongues slid against one another, reacquainting themselves…as if Holly and I hadn’t kissed for several days instead of several hours.

By the time our lips finally parted, our breaths were ragged. I shifted my head, my breath brushing the shell of her ear. Every part of me was alive with awareness. Every part of me—including the depths of my soul.

“I love you,” I murmured. Even though I had no idea of her feelings toward me, saying it felt right.

She jerked back, as if she had been stung, and stared at me through wide green eyes. “What did you say?” Her accent was thicker than normal. Thicker and sexier.

The corner of my mouth tugged into a smirk—instant defense mode. “You heard me.”

“I did. But I wanted to double-check, in case I misunderstood.”

“Fair enough.” I cupped my hand against her cheek. “Holly, I love you. Have for a while now. I was just too much of an idiot to tell you.”

She still stared at me, stunned.

Who here was expecting that reaction from her? For now, how about we pretend it didn’t bother me—that it didn’t feel like I had just laid myself bare? “The real question is, how do you feel about me?”

That was as far as I got. Holly’s mouth was on mine again, kissing me, telling me through actions, not words, how she felt about me. The kiss was everything. Tender. Demanding. Sweet. Hungry.

Now if only Lily hadn’t picked that moment to decide nap time was over. Through the baby monitor on the coffee table, she let out a little whimper. Before we could respond, it was followed by a full-out, her-lungs-were-one-hundred-percent-into-this wail.

With a sigh, Holly gave me a quick kiss and pushed herself off my lap. “Don’t go anywhere.”

I didn’t have a chance to tell her I’d get the little kiss-blocker. She danced out of my reach and headed for Lily’s room.

She returned to the couch a few minutes later with Lily in her arms and snuggled up against me. The little bundle with a light covering of red hair on her head peered up at us.

“So before you demanded to be part of this conversation,” Holly said to our daughter in a sweet, cooing voice, “your daddy was telling me he loves me.” She turned her beautiful emerald eyes on me. “And I was about to tell him I love him too. Have for a while now. But why wouldn’t I? He’s the sweetest, kindest man alive…who happens to look incredibly sexy in a hockey uniform.” She glanced back down at Lily. “But pretend you didn’t hear the last part. Okay?”

I laughed. “Good idea, or else you might have just scarred her for life.” I kissed Holly’s temple—which then became a slightly less tender kiss when she turned her head back to me and I captured her mouth with my own.

Lily made a small noise that sounded more encouraging than “Ewww my parents are kissing.”

We both glanced down at her, content.

Knowing that at this moment, life couldn’t get better.

Too bad the feeling wouldn’t last forever…