When almost everyone had finished eating, most of the women got up to help Tessa clean up the kitchen but told Dani to relax. Vlad and Toli disappeared and before he realized what had happened, Sergei and Dani were alone with Zakk, except for a few of the kids, who were in the pool.

Zakk narrowed his gaze on Sergei and then cut over to Dani. He let out a huff and shook his head. “This feels like a set-up,” he muttered.

“Sergei and I are dating,” Dani said quickly.

“And I’m the last to know?” Zakk scowled. “I thought we were closer than that, Dani.”

“We are. But you’re overprotective sometimes and, honestly, I’m not a child. Sergei is your best friend’s brother and I didn’t want everything to go to hell.”

“I wanted to tell you in person,” Sergei added. “I told Dani I’d call you but it felt too high school-ish, so I thought I’d wait until I could tell you face-to-face.”

“So you’re in love with my sister?”

A muscle in Sergei’s jaw twitched as he struggled to come up with a response.

“We’re not in love, Zakk. We’re dating. It’s barely been a month.” Dani wouldn’t look at him and Sergei felt like a jerk.

Zakk turned assessing green eyes, exactly like his sister’s, to Sergei. “My sister is your summer hook-up then?”

“No!” Sergei grunted in frustration.

“What? No!” Dani spoke at the same time, folding her arms across her chest. “Stop it, Zakk. We don’t know what we’re going to do; we’re just taking it one day at a time. It’s new.”

“I’m crazy about Dani,” Sergei interjected quietly, though his heart was racing and his stomach was threatening to revolt. “But she’s got big plans that are going to take her far away from Alaska, so we’re not rushing into anything. Down the road, when she’s done the things she wants to do, we’ll reassess.”

Where the hell had that come from? Jesus, he was losing his mind over this girl and her brother’s unrelenting stare had reduced him to a nervous teenager. What. The. Fuck.

“I know you’re a grown woman,” Zakk said, looking at Dani. “But you’ll always be my little sister and there will never be any guy, any relationship, any situation where I’m not concerned about your well-being.”

“And I love you for that, but you have to trust that Sergei and I know what we’re doing. Please don’t embarrass me, Zakk. All of our friends and family are in there probably tripping over themselves to see what’s happening and that’s not fair—no one did that to you when you got your late coach’s widow pregnant before you were even in a relationship.”

Zakk scowled but grudgingly nodded. “You’re right, and you have my word I won’t embarrass you.” He turned to Sergei. “But I need your word that you’re going to take care of my sister, in whatever way works for the two of you.”

“Of course.” Sergei held out his hand and Zakk shook it.

“So, you don’t need my word on anything?” Dani asked dryly, eyeing them. “I mean, I’m in this relationship, not the two of you.”

Sergei chuckled as he leaned over to kiss her. “Sorry. You have my word I won’t piss your brother off.”

She smiled but her good mood had been spoiled; she suddenly wanted to just go back to their easy life in Anchorage.

---

Dani came awake to warm lips nuzzling her neck and Sergei’s erection pressed against her back. She smiled in her sleep, wiggling closer to him and basking in his warmth. To her surprise, he pulled away after lightly squeezing her breast.

“Rise and shine, birthday girl.”

She opened one eye. “It’s my birthday and I have to get up at…” She frowned at the clock on the nightstand. “Eight twenty in the morning?”

“Birthday shenanigans begin now.” He slid off the bed. “Put on workout clothes.”

“Not only do I have to get up early, I have to work out?” she gave him a dirty look. “You’re not very good at this birthday stuff.”

He laughed. “Actually, this isn’t my doing—this is Toli and Zakk’s gift.”

She frowned, but he’d already pulled on shorts and slipped out of the room. She couldn’t imagine what surprise they had for her that included exercise but knowing her brother, it was epic. He’d given her an SUV for her twenty-first birthday and last year had flown her and Sara to a resort in Hawaii for a week. Excitement built up as she brushed her teeth and pulled on bike shorts, a sports bra, and a T-shirt. Zakk had to have something big up his sleeve if he’d enlisted Toli’s help, so she grabbed her purse and hurried downstairs.

Toli and Tessa were making waffles, Raina, Alex and Niko were eating, and Sergei had just poured a cup of coffee for her. He put a little cream in it and handed it to her, since he knew exactly how she liked it.

“Happy birthday!” Tessa sang out.

“Happy birthday!” Toli echoed.

“Happy birthday, Auntie Dani.” Raina grinned at her with a mouth full of waffle.

“Haffybirdy,” Alex chortled, waving.

“Happy birthday, Mommy.” Niko gave her such a sweet smile her eyes grew a little misty.

“Thank you, everyone,” she replied, walking over to kiss all three of the kids on the tops of their heads.

“Sit down and eat,” Tessa said with a grin. “They have quite a morning in store for you.”

“Do I get to know what it is?”

“Not till we get there.” Sergei gently pushed her into a chair. “It’s your birthday, and one of my gifts to you is to spoil you.”

She smiled up at him. “Okay. Can I help Niko cut his waffles?”

“Nope.” Tessa winked at her. “I’ll do it.”

“Fine.” Dani sat back and sipped her coffee, chuckling as Sergei got a plate of waffles for her and Toli topped off her coffee. “I could get used to this,” she said.

“Eat up,” Toli encouraged. “We have to get going soon.”

---

Within twenty minutes they were on their way to whatever the surprise was. Dani knew right away they were headed to the Sidewinders’ arena but she wasn’t sure what that could mean. Even if Zakk had booked ice time for them, she didn’t have equipment or anything, so it had to be something else.

Toli nodded at Sergei as they parked. “Take her inside. You know where to go.”

“Yup.” Sergei took Dani by the hand and they went in through the players’ entrance as the security guard waved them by.

“Happy birthday, Ms. Cloutier.”

“Thanks, Ralph.” She waved back and followed Sergei. “Sergei, tell me what’s up.”

“No.” He squeezed her hand. “You’re going to love it, so just go with it.”

He led her back towards the locker rooms and she frowned. It was eerily quiet, and even though it was summer, she’d expected her brother to be here. She paused in the hallway, looking at Sergei. “I’m not being pranked, am I?”

He shook his head. “No chance in hell, honey. I’m all about a good prank as long as it isn’t something hurtful, but not on your birthday. Promise.”

“Okay.” She let him pull her forward and he stopped in front of the team’s locker room.

“Happy birthday, sweetheart.” He stepped aside and she walked into the room. She’d only taken two steps before she faltered and then stopped completely. Her vision blurred with tears and she couldn’t manage a single word as she stared at the scene before her.

At least half of the Sidewinders were in the room, standing in front of their usual lockers, even though the team cleaned everything out at the end of every season and they wouldn’t officially come back to work for more than a month. Sara was there, too, also wearing a jersey, using the locker next to Zakk’s.

Lonnie Finch came out from the back holding a jersey with the back facing out. It had “D. CLOUTIER” printed across the top. “Happy birthday and welcome to the Sidewinders, Dani.” He handed her the jersey. “And to officially welcome you to the team, your brother and Toli asked if they could borrow my arena, my team and my staff.” He made a face, as if annoyed, but she knew better. If he’d been annoyed, this wouldn’t be happening, so she merely waited for him to continue. “Today you’ll play as a Sidewinder in a private charity exhibition game for a group of underprivileged children. I’ll need you to sign this one-day contract to play for the team.”

Dani’s mouth fell open.

“I already signed mine,” Sara said lightly, grinning at her. “Hurry up so we can play!”

“I, um, okay.” Dani took the pen someone handed her and blindly signed the contract.

“It’s time to rock and roll.” Head Coach Brad Barnett came into the room and looked around. “You all look pathetic and tired. Except Dani. Happy birthday, sweetheart—why are you crying? Okay, are we gonna play some hockey or what?”

Dani still hadn’t moved, except to sign the contract, and was staring at everyone.

“Since it’s not appropriate for me to wear another team’s jersey,” Sergei came up behind her, “I’m going to coach the second team, and Coach Barnett and I are going to choose teams the old-fashioned way.”

“I, um, okay.” Dani nodded and looked at Coach Barnett. “I know it might throw things off balance, but I want my brother on my team—we’ve never played a real game together.”

“Works for me.” He nodded back.

Dani walked over to her brother and threw her arms around him. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” He hugged her tightly before looking at Toli. “This was actually Toli’s idea—I came up with the charity game part.”

“Thank you all.” Dani turned to her brother’s friends and teammates, many of whom were her friends, too. “You don’t know how much this means to me.”

She got a bunch of high fives and hugs while Sergei and Brad flipped a coin to decide who would choose for their team first.

“Let’s do this!” Brad said with a grin. “I won the toss so I pick first and I take Dani and Zakk.”

Sergei grinned back. “I’ll take Toli and Vlad.”

“The Russian connection!” Brad laughed.

“Hey, don’t start without me!” Eighteen-year-old Anton Petrov came barreling into the room, a huge smile on his face.

“You’re late, son!” Toli said to him.

“You left without me!” Anton shot back, sinking onto the nearest bench.

“I choose Anton,” Brad said, looking right at Toli, who stuck his tongue out at him.

“Fine,” Sergei interjected. “I take Karl. We’ll leave you the old man.”

“Hey!” Rob Rousseau, the team’s thirty-nine-year-old back-up goalie gave Sergei a sour look but they both laughed.

Sergei and Brad made a show of choosing the perfect members for their teams.

“That’s it, gang,” Brad said, rubbing his hands together. “My team will wear home jerseys and Sergei’s team will wear away jerseys. The away team can head over to the visitors’ locker room and we’ll get ready to rumble. Remember, this is modified rules—no checking, no roughing of any kind, especially you boys that like to goof around.”

He eyed Toli and Zakk, who raised their eyebrows as if asking, “Who? Us?”