Tending Tara (Alaska Blizzard Book 8) Read online

  He could probably call Logan or one of the other guys to go out tonight, but he wasn’t in the mood for a bar. Too much drinking slowed him down on the ice, and he needed to be at the top of his game, even if he only played once in a while. If he wanted another team to pick him up, to make him a starting goalie, he needed to be epic every time he got on the ice.

  Impulsively, he grabbed his phone and texted Miikka.

  DONOVAN: How’s Tara?

  MIIKKA: Okay. She’s here at our house. We’ll take care of her today.

  DONOVAN: Well, tell her I said hi.

  MIIKKA: Come for dinner. It’ll be good to have extra company. Charli says six o’clock. Okay?

  Donovan hesitated. He liked Miikka and Charli, and hanging out with them was always a good time. With Tara there, it would be a thousand times better. Miikka tended to be funnier than hell, and Tara was as gorgeous as she was sweet. And with Miikka and Tara being from Finland, Miikka’s English was sometimes hilarious. Tara had some kind of degree in English, and she spoke the language almost perfectly, but Miikka had barely spoken at all until he’d met Charli last spring. Now he could communicate well, even if he didn’t always use contractions and sometimes threw in Finnish words that confused everyone. He was a hell of a hockey player, though, and a great teammate, so Donovan hadn’t minded the language barrier.

  He hadn’t known what to expect when he’d heard Miikka had a sister, but it hadn’t been the red-haired goddess with the stormy blue eyes. He’d had a crush on her since the first time they’d met, though at the time she’d only been visiting. Now that they knew each other better, he liked her even more. Except he was trying to get traded, so there was no point in starting anything.

  Right? Right.

  He reminded himself he was probably going to be traded the whole way over to Miikka and Charli’s house that night. You didn’t have a casual hook-up with your teammate’s sister, and you didn’t get serious with a girl five minutes before you got traded who knows where. Too bad his libido was totally ignoring this sage advice.

  He’d already been through the basic stages of grief regarding his marriage. He’d mourned for a while, then he’d gotten wild and sowed some oats. Depression set in for a while after that, and he was fully into the acceptance side of the process now. And starting to get lonely. There were women everywhere, but he wasn’t going to make another mistake. He’d known Jane, his ex, didn’t want to be married to a professional athlete, and she’d balked big-time when he’d been traded to the Blizzard. In the end, she’d refused to come with him, and he’d gotten tired of being alone.

  Being divorced was no fun at all. Some of the guys he knew around the league used it to their advantage, hooking up with different women in every city they visited. Donovan had done it for a few months, but that wasn’t his scene. He might not be ready to get serious with anyone yet, but it would be nice to have regular sex with someone who wasn’t a stranger and go out on dates here and there. Mostly, he was tired of having nothing to do on his days off.

  Hockey took up a lot of time, but not all of it, and most of his buddies were married or engaged now. It felt like the perfect time for a fresh start, but his agent hadn’t had any luck finding him a new team yet. Plus, his contract was for a butt-load of money, and he wasn’t willing to take a pay cut. It would happen, though; it was just a matter of when and where. Hopefully, somewhere farther south, like L.A. or Nashville, where winters were milder.

  Despite Miikka telling him not to bring anything, Donovan stopped at a liquor store to buy a bottle of wine. It was the polite thing to do, and he felt like a glass or two anyway.

  “Hey, Donovan!” Charli opened the door with a smile. “Come on in.”

  “Hey, Charli.” He handed her the bottle of wine as he walked in. “I brought red wine even though I don’t know what you’re making.”

  “Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and corn,” she said. “I think that should be fairly easy for Tara to chew.”

  “Perfect.” He nodded at Miikka, who gave him a grin.

  “Welcome.”

  “Thanks for inviting me.” Donovan turned just as Tara was coming down the stairs, and he lifted a hand in greeting. “Hey, Tara.”

  “Hello.” She smiled, and those blue eyes of hers flashed like lightning.

  “How’s the jaw?”

  “Not too bad. I took some prescription ibuprofen and was able to nap. I just took another tablet now, so I should be able to eat without any trouble. Doctor Newman said it should be no big deal.”

  “I’m glad you’re okay.” He paused, giving her a playful grin. “You’re gonna have to up your game, though. I mean, if that happened to me during a game, I would’ve been back on the ice ten minutes later.”

  She rolled her eyes. “If the doctor had been on hand for me the way he is for you when you play, perhaps I would have.”

  “That’s fair.” He chuckled and let her walk in front of him as they went toward the kitchen. She really did have a smokin’-hot body, and he took a moment to check out her ass as he followed her.

  Knock it off, he mentally warned himself.

  Like that ever worked.

  “I wanted to say thank you for distracting me this morning,” Tara said to him, accepting a glass of wine from Charli. “I wasn’t sure how much it was going to hurt.”

  “It’s not fun,” Donovan said, also taking a glass of wine from Charli. “Thanks, Charli.” He turned back to Tara. “Since I’ve been through it, I figured I’d do what I could to help.”

  “I’m not usually a wimp,” she said softly.

  “You’re not a wimp at all,” he protested. “You’re badass. I can’t imagine most women would just go back to the locker room and let a doctor they’ve never seen before pop their jaw back into place.”

  “Well, it’s the team doctor,” she said, though a faint smile played on her lips. “I imagine he must be good to work for the Blizzard.”

  “He’s amazing, but he also doesn’t coddle us. He usually yanks out a tooth and sends us back on the ice. I don’t think we’ve had a dislocated jaw since I’ve been with the Blizzard, though. It’s a totally different thing.”

  “I’m all right,” Tara said. “And everything worked out in the end. But thank you for being there with me.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “Everyone hungry?” Charli asked. “Let’s eat.”

  They sat at the small table in Charli’s small but newly renovated kitchen. She’d owned this house before she and Miikka got together, and they were slowly fixing it up with the intention of putting it on the market, but they didn’t seem to be in a rush.

  “Oh, this is awesome,” Donovan told Charli. “I don’t get home-cooked meals very often.”

  “I’m glad you’re enjoying it.”

  “I’m glad I don’t live here,” Tara said, shaking her head. “I would get fat living with you, Charli.”

  “You play hockey, run, and work out a lot. You’d be fine.” Charli grinned at her sister-in-law.

  “You don’t live here?” Donovan asked Tara. “Why did I think you did?”

  “While I’m waiting for news about my visa, I work for Gage and Laurel as a nanny, even though they only need me two days a week. The rest of the time I help Kane and Hailey with the twins, and once in a while, Sergei and Dani with Niko, but I live with Gage and Laurel.”

  “You work for three different families?” he asked in surprise.

  “Yes, but it’s nothing official, just a way for me to earn some money while we figure out the visa situation. Obviously, I work more when the team is on the road and much less when you’re in town. We’re trying to find a routine because Kane and Hailey’s nanny isn’t coming back after Christmas—she’s moving to Las Vegas to be with her family.”

  “Will you work for them full-time once she’s gone?” he asked.

  She shook her head. “Now that the twins are older, they’ll go to daycare when Hailey is at work, and I’ll help evenings and weeken
ds when she has special events.” Hailey worked in the Blizzard’s sales department.”

  “How long do you plan to stay?”

  Their eyes met, and something Donovan couldn’t quite read flashed behind hers. Then she shrugged and smiled. “I don’t know. It was difficult to find a job teaching English in Savonlinna, and after breaking up with my boyfriend of many years, I thought I needed a change. So here I am, thanks to Miikka and Gage. Hopefully, there won’t be any issues with the visa, but we’re still waiting.” Gage Caldwell owned the Blizzard and was married to Coach Caldwell.

  “Sorry about the breakup,” Donovan said politely. “How many years were you together?”

  She grimaced. “Seven.”

  “I got divorced earlier this year, so I understand.”

  “You two are so depressing,” Miikka interjected, eyeing Donovan and Tara. “Let’s talk about something happy.”

  “When are you having babies and making me an auntie?” Tara demanded, wiggling her eyebrows.

  “Soon?” Miikka said, glancing at his wife.

  Charli merely smiled and took a sip of water.

  Water.

  Holy shit. Miikka and Charli were probably having a baby.

  3

  Tara narrowed her eyes slightly, looking at her brother and sister-in-law. They’d said they wanted to wait a year, and they’d just gotten married this past August, so it had only been two months or so.

  “We’re going to the movies tonight,” Miikka said, not missing a beat. “You guys want to go with us?”

  “What are you going to see?” Donovan asked.

  Baby talk went by the wayside, and they talked about the new action-adventure movie coming out, so Tara nodded. “Yes, I’d like to go. I haven’t been to a movie in the U.S. yet.”

  “Okay, I’m in.” Donovan leaned back in his seat, pushing his plate away. “That was really good, Charli. Thank you.”

  “Any time.” Charli got up to start clearing the dishes, but Miikka put a gentle hand on her arm.

  “You cooked. I’ll clean up.”

  “Don’t be silly.” Tara got up. “I’ll clean up since you guys took such good care of me today. Go relax.”

  “I’ll help.” Donovan stood up, too.

  “If you bring me the dishes,” she told him, “I’ll rinse them and put them in the dishwasher.”

  “I’m going to go change,” Charli said. “I’ll be right back. Thanks, guys.”

  She and Miikka left the room, and Tara started rinsing dishes and utensils. Donovan brought everything over to the counter next to the sink, watching her curiously.

  “Do you not wash dishes?” she asked, looking up.

  “Not if I can help it.” He laughed, his eyes crinkling in amusement.

  “We never had a dishwasher when I was growing up, and I didn’t have one in my apartment when I moved out, but my parents have one now. Miikka renovated the whole house for them, and it’s so nice. I think he gets a kick out of renovation.”

  “It’s kind of cool when you watch those shows on TV,” he responded, “but I don’t have a lot of time for that kind of thing during hockey season. And honestly, I don’t want to spend my summer doing that much work. I want to relax, spend time with friends and family.”

  “We all have different ways of relaxing,” she said, scrubbing the pan the meatloaf had been in. “But I agree—I don’t want to work that hard on my days off.”

  “What did you do for work in Finland?”

  “My last job was working in a fancy clothing boutique, but it’s not really what I want to do, so I eventually quit.”

  “What do you really want to do?”

  “I thought I wanted to teach English, but it’s been hard to find a job, and now it feels like I don’t want to do that, either. I guess that’s why I’m here, to take a little time to sort it out. I like teaching, but the jobs I’ve had in the past didn’t make me happy.”

  “Nothing wrong with that. I honestly don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t play hockey.”

  “I think Miikka would be a teacher,” she said, closing the dishwasher and wiping the counter. “He loves children.”

  “Do you?”

  “Yes, but not like him. He would play with our younger cousins all day, every holiday, he never tired of it. I enjoyed it, too, but eventually I lost my patience.”

  “I’m with you. Not a lot of patience for the little ones.”

  “You guys ready to go?” Charli came into the kitchen.

  “Yes. Let’s do it.”

  “Give me two minutes to freshen up,” Tara said.

  The movie theater was crowded, but they found four seats together in the middle of the back row. Charli and Tara stayed in the seats while the guys went to get drinks and popcorn, even though they’d already eaten.

  “I’m too full to eat,” Tara protested.

  “But popcorn at the movies is a thing,” Charli said. “And this is your first movie in the U.S.”

  “But popcorn and candy is also a thing at the movies in Finland.” They looked at each other and burst out laughing.

  “Fine,” Charli said, “but sharing a tub of popcorn with a hunky hockey player in the U.S. is more fun than in Finland. Fight me.”

  Tara snickered. “Okay, since the only hockey player I ever shared popcorn with in Finland is my brother, I’ll let you win this one.”

  Miikka and Donovan were back just as the lights went down and the previews started. Donovan was on one side of Tara, Charli on the other, and she couldn’t remember the last time she’d gone to the movies on a Saturday night. Had it been with Saku? Maybe not. Her ex-boyfriend wasn’t the kind of guy who could ever sit still. They rarely even watched movies at home, much less at a theater. It had probably been with her youngest brother, Leon. He was only nine, a late-in-life surprise to Tara and Miikka’s parents, and they all doted on him. Of everyone she’d left behind in Finland, Tara missed Leon the most. She missed her parents, too, but it was different with Leon. He was still so young, and now both of his older siblings were a continent away.

  “It’s been a long time since I went to a movie,” Donovan said, mirroring some of Tara’s thoughts.

  “I was just thinking about that,” she told him. “I think I took my little brother last winter. My ex wasn’t much for movies, and my friends and I didn’t go very often.”

  “I like them,” he said. “I just don’t have a lot of time off. My ex-wife and I would go when we lived back east, but we stopped going out on dates a long time ago.”

  “Why?” Tara asked softly.

  “I don’t know.” He shrugged a little. “She hated being married to a professional athlete, and after a while I started to resent that.”

  “But weren’t you a professional athlete when you met?” Tara asked in confusion.

  He chuckled, though it was without humor. “Yeah, don’t get me started on all that. We were together six years, and while I loved her once, by the time we divorced, there was nothing there at all.”

  Tara was about to respond, but the movie was starting, so she let it go and reached for her bottle of water, taking a sip. She hadn’t spoken about her breakup with Saku to anyone but Miikka and their mother. She’d been somewhat humiliated to find out that not only had he been cheating on her, but he’d also married Miikka’s long-time girlfriend, Jaana, within months of the breakup. Miikka hadn’t known about it, and she’d been reluctant to tell him, but she’d eventually come clean. Now it felt like a long time ago, even though it had been less than a year.

  She unconsciously reached over to grab some popcorn at the same time Donovan did, and the backs of their hands brushed together. The warmth that shot through her caught her off guard, and she quickly pulled her hand away, letting him go first.

  They were just friends, but he was sexy and laid-back, which were both traits she really enjoyed in a man. She’d been with Saku for so long she’d almost forgotten what it was like to be out with a good-looking, interesting man. Saku w
asn’t bad looking, but he’d stopped being interesting long before the actual breakup. There had been a few dates since the breakup, but no one like Donovan. This wasn’t actually a date, and she didn’t think he was interested in anything beyond friendship, but it was a nice reminder that she was still a woman with feelings and needs. She’d forgotten some of that.

  The second time their hands touched in the popcorn box, Tara didn’t move, curious what he would do. He didn’t move, either, and they playfully vied for dominance. Tara managed a quick peek in his direction, but he was focused on the movie, so she quickly snapped her gaze back to it.

  It became a game after that, digging their hands into the popcorn at the same time, playfully nudging the other out of the way or plucking a kernel from the other’s fingers until they were snickering under their breath.

  “If you want to hold my hand again,” he murmured against her ear, “you just have to ask.”

  She elbowed him in the ribs. “Watch the movie.”

  She pretended to be annoyed, but deep down, she wouldn’t have minded holding his hand again. Saku hadn’t liked holding hands, even when they were new and totally in love. Ironically, that was one of the things she was looking for in a man, someone who didn’t mind showing his affection, and she couldn’t help but wonder if Donovan was one of them.

  The movie was good, and the four of them talked about it as they left the theater.

  “Tonight was fun,” Tara said to the group. “Thanks for distracting me from the crappy morning I had.”

  “How’s your jaw?” Charli asked her.

  “Sore but not bad. I might take something for pain before bed, just so I can get a good night’s sleep, but I think I’m okay.”

  “Well, we have a morning skate tomorrow, so I should get going,” Donovan said. “Thanks for dinner, Charli, and I’m glad you’re feeling better, Tara.” He held out his fist to Miikka. “See you at practice?”

  “See you tomorrow.”

  “Bye, Donovan.” Tara smiled at him before getting into Miikka’s SUV.