Puck Pact: A Marriage of Convenience Hockey Romance (East Coast Series)

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Having Aarya in Giuliana’s life only to rip her away at the end of our agreement.

She’s so excited to show her new friend around her room, talking a mile a minute, telling her a story about each item she holds up.

Aarya goes along with it like a trooper, but I can see the uncertainty in her gaze. This is new for her, and it’s not lost on me that this isn’t the lifestyle she wants. The only reason she’s in this is for the money.

A fact I need to remind myself of whenever we’re together.

Yet she’s here. She showed up with dinner knowing I’d need someone to lean on after that circus of a press conference. She did it of her own free will. And I can’t pretend like that doesn’t mean something to me.

Giuliana digs under her bed, attempting to pull out the trunk of old toys, and that’s when I step in. “That’s enough for tonight, Giuls. It’s time for you to take a bath.”

Her bottom lip juts out. “Five more minutes?”

“No more minutes. It’s a school night. Now say goodnight to Aarya.”

Her eyes fill with tears, but she blinks them away. “Goodnight, Aarya.”

“Hey, don’t be sad.” Aarya crouches down beside her. “I can come back another time.”

Giuliana makes herself at home sitting on Aarya’s knee as if she’s a human chair. “Come back on a weekend so I can stay up later.”

Aarya chuckles. “Why don’t we have a movie night? You can pick out your favorite Disney princess and I’ll bring popcorn and snacks.”

Giuliana’s eyes light up as she flings her arms around Aarya’s neck and squeals.

Aarya pushes off the ground and sets Giuliana on her feet. “Go take your bath and do your homework. Make sure you listen to your father so we can have that movie night soon.”

“Okay!” Giuliana marches right past me and into the hallway.

I shake my head as I laugh. “Sorry about that.”

Aarya waves me off. “Don’t apologize. I’ll get out of your hair now.”

I step in front of her so she can’t leave the bedroom. “Thank you.”

For being here. For indulging Giuliana. For somehow knowing I’d need a friend.

She lifts her eyes to mine. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

My fingers tangle with hers, giving her hand a gentle tug to move her closer to me.

“Fuck, you want a hug, don’t you?”

I hike a shoulder, a smirk playing on my lips. “You don’t have to. I know you don’t like them.”

“I’ve met my hug quota for the month in just one day today.” She heaves an exasperated sigh, and then without another word, she slides her hands around my waist and wraps them around my body.

I melt around her, engulfing her in my embrace. Resting my chin on top of her head, I can actually feel the tension leave my body as I inhale the deepest breath I’ve taken all day.

“Giuliana’s life is about to change tomorrow,” I say. “I don’t know how to prepare her for any of this.”

“Maybe you can’t prepare her, but you can guide her through it.”

She’s right. I can’t control what happens to us, but I can control how I react. Be there for Giuliana to hold her hand through this.

I lift my hand to cup her face, skating my thumb over her cheek, letting my touch say what my words can’t seem to do justice. Regardless of the hardened mask Aarya keeps in place, she gave me a peek at the real woman underneath it today. I hope one day she’ll be able to take it off completely for me.

“Daddy,” Giuliana calls. “The water is getting high in the bath tub.”

“Jesus,” I mutter. “I should get in there.”

“Go. I’ll see myself out.”

Before I bolt out of the room, I pull Aarya back in to me and press my lips to her forehead.

After the bath, I run the comb through Giuliana’s wet curls. “There’s something I need to talk to you about.”

Her big round eyes flick to mine in the mirror. “Am I in trouble?”

“No, not at all.” I lean in and press a kiss to her pudgy cheek. “Something happened at work today, and it’s important so I wanted to tell you.”

Her little body straightens on the sink counter as she squares her shoulders. “I like when you tell me about work.”

My face softens. “Well, that’s good because I’m going to be talking to you about work a lot more now.”

“Really? Why?”

I section her hair into three parts, preparing for a French braid. “I’ve tried to keep you away from all the people with cameras who are always taking pictures of me. And because of that, I haven’t been able to take you many places the way Annie does. I was trying to protect you, because you’re the most important thing to me in this world. You know that, right baby?”

She nods.

“But I think by keeping my work life separate from my home life, that hasn’t been very fair to you. And I really want to take you out to places like all the other moms and dads do with their kids.”

Her eyes widen. “Like Aarya’s art gallery?”

I laugh. “Yes, like the art gallery. Or the park. Or Chuck-E-Cheese. And I want to bring you to the stadium when I have a game so you can see all the behind-the-scenes stuff.”

She bounces on her bottom, shaking left and right. “Yay!”

Once I steady her, I use my pinkies to hold each strand of the braid as I twist each piece of her hair over the other. “But those people with the cameras, sometimes they can be very rude and not respectful of our personal space.”

“The pepperoni?”

My head tilts back as I let out a loud laugh. “The paparazzi, yeah.”

“Why are they so rude, Daddy?”

“They get paid for taking photos of us, so they try to get as close as they can to get a good shot. But it can be loud, and the camera flashes a lot. I took Aarya out to dinner the other night, and they were there.”

Concern etches her features. “Was Aarya scared?”

“No, and I was there to protect her, so everything was okay.” My fingers move down her braid. “I’m going to be hiring a security team to keep us extra protected too.”

“Will the pepperoni hurt us?”

“No. They just get close and it’s hard to walk around them to get where we’re going.”

Her nose scrunches. “Their parents have to teach them some manners.”

I chuckle. “Yes, they do.”

“So, does this mean we can go to Aarya’s art gallery tomorrow?”

I pull the hair tie from around my wrist and twist it at the end of her braid to secure it. “You really like Aarya, huh?”

She nods vigorously. “You never have friends over the house, especially pretty ones like Aarya. And she doesn’t treat me like I’m a baby. I like her.”

Warmth spreads out from my chest. “Me too.”

She turns her head from side to side and checks out her hair in the mirror, and I suck in another deep breath before dropping an additional piece of information on her.

After racking my brain about how I’m going to explain why Aarya’s living with us, I landed on the safest lie.

“Aarya’s apartment is undergoing construction, and she needs a place to stay for a while. Since you like her so much, I wanted to ask you if it’s okay if she comes to stay with us for a while in one of the guest rooms.”

Her mouth falls open and her eyes dart to mine. “Wait, really?”

I nod. “Would you like that?”

She squeals her ear-piercing squeal, and she flings herself off the counter. “Yes!”

I laugh as she jumps into my arms. “You really have to stop jumping around with this broken arm, you little spider monkey.”

“Are we going to decorate her room for her?”

“No, I think we’ll let her decide how she wants her room to look.” I shoot her a wink. “But I do have another idea I think you can help me with.”