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“What is it, Ky?” I asked, finding him in the hallway.

“Will you lay down with me?” he asked, giving me a mournful look.

“I would, but I have to help AJ get to sleep,” I said. A wail from the baby’s bedroom sounded to back me up.

“It’s dark here,” he said. “I’m scared.”

I needed to clone myself, but that wasn’t an option.

“Do you want to lay on the floor of AJ’s room with me?” I asked. He nodded and followed me in.

The night passed in a haze. I was up and down and back and forth to the bathroom with Kyler or to the kitchen to make AJ a bottle. I hadn’t slept more than a few minutes at a time when I saw daylight beginning to illuminate the house. My eyes slid closed.

AJ’s babbles woke me up and I raised my head from the floor. It was so heavy. When I looked into his crib, he was standing on the mattress, holding onto the rails and grinning at me. I smiled back. I’d been fatigued before, and I’d just have to suck it up.

But when I stood and looked into the crib, my mouth dropped open with shock. AJ was standing in his own smeared diarrhea, which had apparently leaked out of his diaper.

I covered my eyes with my hands. The past 24 hours had dealt me more human waste than anyone should have to clean up in such a short period. But what could I do? I picked AJ up and wrapped a blanket around him, taking him to the bathroom down the hall that I’d helped Kyler shower in yesterday.

When I walked into the bathroom, Kyler looked up at me glumly from his spot on the toilet. I tried not to laugh, but this weekend was turning comically bad.

By the time I had everyone cleaned and Melody and AJ fed, it was after nine. I was worried about Kyler getting dehydrated, and I needed to get him some liquids that would help without upsetting his stomach.

It was time to admit I needed help. I went to the list Kate had left on the counter, scanning it. I was not calling her parents, who would probably tell Kate about this and ruin their trip. I didn’t even know their housekeeper, Mimi, and I felt awkward calling her. There was only one name on the list I knew – Niko. I was too tired to even be annoyed by the idea, so I dialed his number right then.

Niko

When Sadie opened the front door to Ryke and Kate’s house, I knitted my brows together with concern. She had dark circles under her eyes, a stain on her t-shirt and a little guy who looked sick resting his head on her shoulder.

“Hey,” I said softly, stepping inside and closing the door.

“Did you get the stuff?” she asked. “How much was it?”

She reached toward a long, dark wood table with her purse on it. I gave her a quick glare of annoyance.

“You’re not paying me. What’s going on here?”

“I’m babysitting. Ryke, Kate, Luke and Dell went to California for the weekend. Kyler got sick yesterday morning right after they left.”

“Is that what that smell is?” I asked.

“Yeah. There’s puke on the couch and carpet. And now AJ’s getting sick, too. I didn’t want to leave the house with the kids, so thanks for bringing the Pedialyte over. It’s a big help.”

“What can I do to help?” I took my coat off and tossed it over a chair.

“You don’t have to do that. It’s not pretty, trust me.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m not leaving you here alone like this.”

She gave me a hopeful glance. “Well, if AJ will let me put him down, I need to start some laundry. And it would be amazing to take a shower.”

“You want me to start the laundry?” I asked.

“Maybe. Yeah. There’s stuff in the washing machine that needs thrown in the dryer and the stuff in the basket needs washed. The laundry room is through the door by the big pantry in the kitchen.

“Got it,” I said.

Ryke and Kate’s house was the opposite of my slightly cramped bachelor pad apartment. My place was nothing fancy – just a place to crash when I wasn’t traveling. But this house was incredible. Vaulted ceilings, fancy fireplaces and an enormous gourmet kitchen. The play equipment I could see through the kitchen window was bigger and nicer than the parks I’d played at growing up, and it was just for two kids.

It took me a few minutes to figure out the bells and whistles on their washer and dryer, which were digital. Finally the clothes started spinning, and I headed out to the living room, where Sadie was dressing AJ.

“You want me to get Kyler some of that stuff I brought over?” I asked.

“Sure, thanks. He’s upstairs in one of the guest rooms.”

When I found Kyler and gave him the drink, he wanted me to stay and talk hockey. The poor kid was pale and looked tired. Definitely not the bundle of energy I was used to. I hung out with him until he fell back asleep, and then went back downstairs and played games with Melody.

Despite her obvious exhaustion, Sadie had endless patience for the kids. She was trying to give them all one-on-one attention, but there wasn’t enough of her to go around. AJ just wanted to be in her arms, so everything she did, she did while holding him.

“I’m gonna order some Italian food from a place that delivers,” I told her when dinnertime rolled around. “And you’re gonna go get a shower.”

She arched her brows skeptically as I reached for AJ.

“It’s time for him to eat,” she said. “I need to warm up a bottle.”

“I can do it.”

She looked at me like I was crazy. I could understand why she doubted my abilities, given what little she knew of me.

“I’m the oldest of four,” I said. “I know what I’m doing.”

This time when I opened my arms, she reluctantly passed AJ to me.

“I’ll be really quick,” she said. “His bottles are in the fridge. You just plug in the warmer and when it heats up, put the bottle in and wait for the timer.”

“When do I add the vodka?”

She glared at me and the bags under her eyes made me feel bad for teasing her at a time like this.

“I got it,” I said, taking AJ. “Have a nice shower.”

I called in a dinner order, popped the bottle into the warmer and helped Melody put a movie on in the living room. I was carrying him back to the kitchen for the bottle when an explosion from his ass warmed up my arm.

“What the hell, dude?” I muttered, looking at him. “You just shit your pants, didn’t you?”

Nothing I couldn’t handle. I found his bedroom — no small feat in this enormous house — and laid him down on the floor. But I wasn’t prepared for the mess inside that diaper. The smell alone made my stomach revolt. I reclosed the diaper and considered. Save it for Sadie?

“That wouldn’t be nice, would it?” I asked AJ, who just stared back at me with big eyes.

I decided there was only one way to clean him up – the shower. Holding him out in front of me, I rushed to an open bathroom and let the shitty diaper drop into the trash can so I wouldn’t have to touch it. I hosed AJ off in the stream of bath water and wrapped him in a towel.

I was good with kids, but had never put on a diaper. I grabbed one and left AJ wrapped in the towel. By the time we got to the kitchen, he was crying. The light on the bottle warmer was green, so I pulled it out.

“Make sure you test that before you give it to him,” said Sadie, who was standing at the kitchen sink.

“I got this, woman,” I said, tipping my head back and squeezing the bottle nipple so a few drops fell onto my tongue. “Maybe a little too warm. It can cool while you put this diaper on him.”

Sadie arched her brows with amusement. “You know that’s breast milk, right?”

“What the fuck?” I wrinkled my face in shock.

I had to wash away the aftertaste of milk from my teammate’s wife’s boob. Handing AJ over to a smiling Sadie, I found a bottle of water in the fridge and drank half of it.

“I thought only newborn babies drank breast milk,” I said. “And since when do you put it in the fucking refrigerator where people don’t know that’s what it is?”

“It’s in a bottle, so …”

“Let’s pretend this never happened,” I said, shaking my head. “I can’t get his diaper on.”

“You don’t have to stay. It’s Saturday night, you must have plans. I feel a hundred times better now that I got a shower.”

“I’m staying. You look exhausted, and I can help tonight. And I’m gonna have a steam cleaner delivered so I can get the stains up from the carpet and couch.”

Sadie’s expression of relief and gratitude didn’t match her words. “You really don’t have to.”

The doorbell rang and I turned to go answer it. “That’s dinner. And I’m staying.”

While we ate lasagna, Sadie bounced AJ on her knee. I already liked this woman, but seeing her sweet, vulnerable side piqued my interest even more. She smelled so good and looked so tired that I wanted to take her to bed so she could fall asleep next to me. Preferably after spending some time underneath me.

But it wasn’t meant to be. We took turns with AJ in the night, me sleeping on his floor while she slept in a guest room, and we kept busy with the kids from the time they woke up Sunday morning. By the time I got all the carpet cleaned, it was almost time for the parents to come home and relieve us.

“Thanks for your help,” Sadie said as we did puzzles on the floor with the kids. “I’ll make an effort to be nicer to you.”

“I like you the way you are. Just take back saying you’re glad you never slept with me and we’ll call it even.”

She glanced at me, obviously trying not to smile.

“I still think it’s best that it didn’t happen,” she said. “But maybe we can be friends.”

Now I was the one trying not to smile. This was the first time a woman had ever wanted to be just friends with me. I nodded and held Sadie’s gaze.

“Yeah,” I said. “That’d be a good start.”

The women at the bar were on me like flies on shit. One was grabbing my bicep while another hugged me. I was making my way to a table in the back of Lucky’s for a post-game meal, following Luke, Dell and Sadie.

“Nicola!” a third woman squealed. “It’s the new guy!”

“Uh, it’s Niko,” I said, glancing at Sadie. This wasn’t as cool as I’d imagined. I just wanted to sit down, take off my suit jacket and get some dinner. I was fucking starving and wrung out from a hard game.

“Are you Russian?” the squealer asked. A hand reached for mine, fingers threading themselves between mine. I was surprised to see it belonged to Sadie.

“Let’s sit down, baby,” she said, tugging on my hand.

“You’ve got a girlfriend?” One of the woman gave me a pissed-off glare. “I heard you were single.”

“No, this is my girl,” I said, pulling Sadie closer. “She’s gonna feed me before our marathon tonight. She’s insatiable.”

I winked at Sadie, and her narrowed eyes told me not to push my luck. I drew her hand up to my lips and kissed her knuckles before leading her to the table our friends were sitting at. She dropped my hand like it was on fire as soon as we got there.

“You owe me,” she said.

I winked at her. “You’ll have to wait 60 days to collect your payment.”

She shook her head as I sat down in the chair next to her.

“How about a night with no obnoxious comments?” she said. “That would be payment enough.”

“Don’t take it personal, Niko, it’s that time of the month,” Luke said.

“What?” Sadie’s eyes bulged at him. “It is not!”

“Is too,” Luke said. “You and Dell are all in tune or whatever. She told me.”

Sadie’s expression as she turned to Dell was indignant. Damn, she was pretty when she was pissed.

“Christ, you told your husband when my period is? That’s kind of a violation.”

Dell gave Luke a dirty look. “I didn’t tell him like that, and I didn’t think he’d announce it in a bar.”

“Hey,” I broke in. “If it’ll put a smile on your face, Sadie, no obnoxious comments tonight. Thanks for having my back when we came in.”

I wanted to get to know her better, and it wouldn’t happen if our every encounter ended with her angry.

She nodded, and the tension dissipated as drinks were delivered to the table. Shots of vodka were passed around to everyone.

“To Niko,” Ryke said, raising his glass. “You’re one of us now.”

Everyone threw back the shots and there were several grimaces as the empty glasses were set back down.

“I don’t think I’ve ever done a shot of straight vodka,” Kate said, shaking her head.

“It’s Niko’s drink of choice,” Luke said, looking at me. “You want another one, man?”

I shook my head. “We’re traveling in the morning. I don’t want to be hung over on the road.”

The truth was, I didn’t want to be hung over at all. I couldn’t afford anything that might compromise my performance. Since getting to Chicago, I’d been eating well, sleeping eight hours a night and rarely drinking.

My phone buzzed with a text and I pulled it from my pocket. The message was from one of my younger brothers, Lyov.

Lyov:
Great game! Mom and Pop both cried when we saw you on TV. Proud of u, asshole.

My eyes burned as I thought about my family gathered around the small, boxy old TV in my parents’ living room. Russian expletives had probably been flying all over the place. I’d staked out a spot on the worn-out brown carpet of that very room to watch my first hockey game on TV as a kid.

I wrote back to Lyov and said thanks, exhaling deeply to clear my mind and get it back to the here and now.

“Let’s make some rounds,” Luke said, rising from his chair. “Lots of people to meet.”

“Not until I order some food,” I said.

“I’ll order for you,” Sadie offered. “What do you want?”

I met her eyes, surprised. “I’ll have a ribeye, medium. And mashed potatoes.”

“Got it. Go meet your adoring public. Your pretend girlfriend will save your seat.”

Luke arched his brows at me as we left the table. “Pretend girlfriend?”

“Yeah, she saved me from the chicks who mobbed me when we walked in. She’s a great girl. Wish I wouldn’t have blown it at your wedding.”

He nodded slightly. “Don’t go there with Sadie.”

“She can’t stand me, man. It’s not happening.”

Luke gave me a skeptical look. “I see you working on her. Don’t do it.”

He was dead serious — I could hear it in his tone and see it in the tense set of his jaw. I rubbed the unshaven scruff of my cheek, considering. Did I want to push this issue or not? Yeah, I’d been trying to soften Sadie’s attitude toward me, and I wanted to know why it was such a problem for Luke.