He was the son of an A-list actor. He’d traveled the world, had more money than he could spend in ten lifetimes, and was the hottest player in the NHL. He lived recklessly, wildly—like only someone who’d never known a minute of insecurity could.
And yet he’d slept on the floor outside the bedroom of two orphaned little girls.
As he carried them upstairs for their bath, he’d never been sexier.
But before she became yet another star in his orbit, she had to remind herself he was a man who lived at a whole other level. She didn’t want to live at another level. She preferred the simple things. She appreciated all the things he took for granted.
She wanted normal.
But Cole didn’t do normal. If someone said they were having a party, he turned it into a screening of his dad’s latest movie or a catered pool party. Something small, real, and intimate was never good enough.
All of that was true, but tonight, she’d gotten a glimpse of another side of him. A deeply caring man with a sense of responsibility and innate leadership skills.
A man who’d slept outside the bedroom of two little girls.
And, oddly, that seemed the most dangerous side of all.
* * *
Normally, when Cole visited Calamity, his housekeeper stocked the kitchen. He tended to travel with a group of friends who wanted to take advantage of everything the area had to offer like rappelling, white water rafting, and hardcore snowboarding, and she knew exactly what to buy. But since he never came home during hockey season, and she spent winters in Arizona, this time, he was on his own.
Which meant he had nothing to feed four empty bellies.
When he’d picked up the girls yesterday, he’d gotten the car seats, so he supposed they could go out to dinner. But where did you take kids? What did they eat? Maybe they could just grab burgers at Wild Billy’s.No, that’s a bar. He could just see Hailey’s expression when they walked into a place with a mechanical bull and line dancing.
And fast food’s out of the question, right?
He was totally out of his element here. He’d have to ask her.
Hailey Casselton. Of all the people to be stuck in this house with... Man, he’d had a thing for her. With her long, wavy hair, lips that drew a man’s attention, and funky clothes she’d designed herself, she’d looked so different from the other girls who wore cowboy boots and jeans, rode horses and snowboarded. For all its billionaires and celebrities, at its heart, Calamity was a mountain town. Kids trained for barrel racing and bronco riding, worked the ski lifts in the winter, and a fun night out was a bonfire and kegger at Horseshoe Bend on the river.
Hailey was different. She had a sophistication that came from growing up in a big city. He hadn’t known how to behave around her, so he’d made the mistake of treating her like everyone else in a social situation—with banter and superficial conversations. His buddies joked, teased, and lobbed one-liners at each other, but she didn’t find him funny or charming, and she sure as hell didn’t want to spend time with him.
Hailey was real. She was smart, driven, creative—a whole mix of qualities that made him want her in ways he’d never felt before. Still, to this day, no one stirred him up the way she did.
She was special, and he knew without a doubt Lindsay had been right to name her guardian. Why the hell they’d chosen him, he had no clue. It had to be money. Hailey would raise them, and he’d provide for them.
Following voices, he found her in the bathroom. The girls played with cups and corks in the tub while Hailey sat on the toilet lid, typing on her phone.
She glanced up, relief easing the tightness across her forehead. “I talked to my boss. He’s okay with me working remotely here until January third.”
He breathed in the scent of lavender bubble bath. “That’s good.”
When she broke into a grin, his heart nearly exploded. She looked so pretty, her light brown hair a cascade of loose curls, those hazel eyes trained on him with so much excitement, like they were in this thing together.
And they were. But thank fuck he’d be helping from Boston because there wasn’t a chance he could live under the same roof with this woman and not want to touch her, talk to her, be near her. Water splashed onto her blouse, making the silky material cling to her plump, round breasts, and the low hum of arousal kicked in.
“Maybe we’ll get lucky, and the PI will find a family for them by then,” she said. “But whatever happens, I’m not going to worry about it till January. I’m going to take your advice and go one step at a time.”
She wasn’t businesslike anymore. She wasn’t anxious. And the relaxed version of Hailey dazzled him to the point that he couldn’t form a coherent thought.
Fortunately, Evvie handed Hailey a plastic cup, so she turned her attention to the little girl and didn’t have to witness a grown man standing there tongue-tied. Setting her phone down, she pretended to drink from it. “Mm. This is good. What is it?”
“It hot.” The three-year-old’s eyes were lit with mischief.
“Hot soup?”
Evvie nodded, her grin widening.