By the time the meeting wrapped up at quarter to eight, Kaira was cranky and listless and had kneed him in the kidneyseventeen times. Rowan didn’t know how she managed to do that; weren’t the kidneys supposed to be in the back?
“Can we get ice cream?” Kaira asked as Rowan settled her back in her car seat.
“Not tonight.” She needed a bath and then bed. She was going to be late for bedtime as it was.
Kaira pouted. “But I want—”
“No,” Rowan said firmly. He’d been at work since just before nine that morning. They were not making any stops on the way home. “You had a treat for dinner. It’s time to go home and get ready for bed.”
That cued a pout, but no tears, at least.
She did kick the back of the passenger seat all the way home, but at least she wasn’t behind Rowan.
Bathtime was the usual fight. Kaira splashed water all over the bathroom, and Rowan wasn’t cleaning it up. Let Jordy pay someone to clean the mold off. Then Kaira wanted to stay up to watch the end of the hockey game. She wanted to stay up to talk to her dad once he got off the ice. She wanted a third bedtime story.
Rowan wanted a drink and twelve hours by himself where he didn’t have to talk to anyone.
Finally Kaira fell asleep and Rowan retreated to the den downstairs, just for that extra level of insulation between himself and the nearest human being.
So of course, after only one episode of his favorite library documentary, his phone rang.
JORDY PULLEDoff his tie and rubbed his temples.
The Shield hadn’t played badly, but they’d lost 3–1 in a lackluster fashion, and he felt vaguely embarrassed that the team hadn’t been able to match Florida’s energy.
Jordy took off his jacket and sat on the edge of his hotel bed. He wished he could tiptoe into his daughter’s room and watch her sleep, maybe kiss her downy head. The older he got, the more he hated road trips. In the beginning, he’d enjoyed the travel and excitement of new cities. Now that he was in his thirties and with a six-year-old at home, each anonymous hotel room blurred into the next, and every missed day with his kid felt like another moment or memory he couldn’t recover. Somehow his baby had grown up into a school-age child, and Jordy didn’t know when that had happened, but he worried it was while he was sitting in hotel rooms across the continent.
And maybe he was being maudlin.
He rubbed his face again and sighed.
The past week had been long and stressful, partly because of the impending trade talk and partly because his plans to bring up the possibility of a relationship with Rowan got derailed. As much as he wanted a future with him, it wouldn’t be fair to put his feelings on Rowan—to ask him to make a choice between long distance or giving up his job. That was, of course, if Rowan was even interested in long-term. Telling Rowan about his feelings when he couldn’t offer him stability and when Rowan was still living in his home felt selfish.
Besides, Jordy was a defenseman. He couldn’t leave his own heart unprotected. He knew how much it would hurt to hear Rowan say no after Jordy laid his heart on the line.
All week he’d done his best not to think about it, not to overstep. And if that meant no more scorchingly hot, possessive sex in his bedroom? Well. Pinning Rowan facedown to his own bed and grinding into him so slowly that Rowan was sobbing by the time he came wasn’t terrible. At least he was living up to their no-strings bargain.
Jordy pulled his phone out of his pocket. He had new texts from his parents and sisters, wishing him luck and condolences on the game, but nothing from Rowan.
He glanced at the time—just after ten. Rowan would probably be awake. Jordy could call him, hear his voice, get stories about Kaira’s day. By the time he hung up, he’d be in a much better mood. Besides, he doubted he’d be able to sleep without hearing Rowan’s voice or hearing his baby was safe and sound.
The phone rang three times before Rowan picked up.
“Jordy.” There was something in Rowan’s voice Jordy couldn’t decode, but he felt better hearing it anyway.
“Hey, Rowan.”
“What’s up?” Rowan asked, voice clipped.
Jordy hesitated, not sure what to make of it. “Just checking in, wondering how my peanut is doing.”
A long beat of silence stretched down the line before Rowan said, “She’s fine.”
“Okay. What’d she get to up to today?”
“You want a full recap? You know you’ll be able to get that from in her in the morning.”
Jordy paused, breathed. It might not be heinously late, but clearly it was late enough that Rowan didn’t want to play telephone between father and daughter. That was understandable. “You’re right. I’m just missing her today.”
