Reaching up to cup her face, Elli blew her a kiss. “I love you more. But I also know you want that chocolate that is on top of the fridge, and you ain’t getting it.”

Posey puckered out her lips and looked at Shea, who shot a look at Elli, but she wasn’t looking. Reaching for the candy, he handed it to Posey and smacked her butt as she ran off, a happy little grin on her face. When Shea looked to Vaughn, he just laughed. “Want some awesome chaos in your life? We have kids to go around.”

Snorting, Vaughn shook his head. “Tricksie keeps me on my toes.”

Plus, it wasn’t like he had someone to even think of having a kid with. Ignoring that nagging feeling inside of him, though, he looked up as Quinn came into the kitchen, a too-big stick hitting Elli in the elbow as he passed.

Shaking her head, Elli laughed. “I forgot about you. Did you get lost?”

“I wanted the best stick for Mr. Vaughn to show me my wrister.”

Squinting at the stick, Shea threw his hands up again. “So you got the stick that I won the hardest shot with for four years? Go put that back, and get your own stick. Jesus, boy!” As Shea ushered Quinn out of the kitchen, Vaughn sat back, laughing as Elli dropped down into the seat in front of him. There was never a quiet moment in the Adler household, not even when company was there.

“Can we trade places? I’ll take the dog over all this.”

She was lying, but Vaughn went along with her. “I mean, Jenny is like all the kids put together.”

She scoffed. “He is not. He is the sweetest ever.”

“You don’t live with him.”

Grinning big, she leaned back in her seat, crossing her legs. Unlike in the office, she was wearing sweats and a big Assassins hoodie, her hair up in a wild bun. She reminded him of Brie. But just thinking of her had a sad smile coming over his face. He had wanted to be there when Rodney came home. But he wasn’t sure how Brie would handle that, so he stayed away, and he kind of regretted that. He had promised that their issues would never hurt Rodney, and in a way, he was letting them. He felt like an ass, but that was becoming a normal manifestation.

“Well, he’ll be my starter for the next couple weeks. You think he’s ready, right?”

Vaughn’s eyes widened. This was news to him. “What happened to Odder?”

She rolled her eyes. “I could gut that boy. He’s been off, we’ve all seen it. And when I asked him, he said he was fine, he’d do better. And he was. But come find out, he was going home in atrocious pain. Audrey called me crying, and I went over, yelling at him. We went to the team doctors, and lo and behold, he has an avulsion fracture in his groin. So he’s out for at least eight weeks, fifteen at the most, which means the play-offs are iffy.”

“Whoa, that sucks. Didn’t he have that last time?”

“Yeah, but it was just a tear. He’s hurt it more this time.”

“Man, that blows.”

“I know, I hate it for him. But he told me he was worried for his spot. I feel bad. Maybe I shouldn’t have brought Monroe in, but I need someone who could win me games when Tate needed a break or was down.”

“Yeah, I get it.”

Letting out a long breath, she shrugged. “Oh, well, problems of an owner.”

“Endless.”

“Yes, just like being a mother and wife to Shea Adler.”

Vaughn beamed. “You love it.”

“I do. More than anything,” she admitted, her lips curving in a sweet, satisfied smile. Smacking the table, she sat up. “You good?”

He shrugged. “I’m okay.”

“Good. I’ve been thinking about you a lot. Oh, and I talked to those folks at NateWay. They are all for coming to our buddy night prom, so I figured I’d pair you with one of the residents if you don’t mind.”

Vaughn’s heart jumped into his throat as he held her gaze. If he said yes, then his buddies would give him away at the party. He knew this. So with a shrug, he said, “Let me get back to you on that.”

“Sounds good,” she said with a nod. “So.”

He smiled. “So…?”

“Anything you’re wanting to talk about before we eat?”

He eyed her. “Why? What have you heard?”

She laughed. “Stuff, but I’d rather hear it from you.”

His smiled dropped. “What did you hear?”

“A rumor.”

He rolled his eyes. “A rumor?”

“Yup.”

“Am I being fined for this rumor?”

She laughed. “No, but it deals with Brie Soledad.”

He froze as he held her gaze. “What about her?”

“Well, we all saw you guys arguing about hockey on camera, and that she is more knowledgeable than you and she told you that. You gave her crap, of course, ’cause that’s what you do, and you told her to get on the ice any time of the day, and she told you to bring it.”

He had no clue where that rumor came from because he’d thought they had been alone when most of the conversation he was thinking of. But then, they did have that fight behind the bench. Crap, where was Elli going with this? “Yeah, she thinks she knows stuff.”

Elli smiled. “You know, she won her college’s Big Orange cup because she scored the winning goal. She actually scored the most goals in school history. To this day, she still holds the record.”

He didn’t know all of that, but it didn’t surprise him. She was amazing. “Oh, cool.”

Elli lit up. “So Russell and I were talking about cool things we can do, and that came up.”

“What came up?”

“A little on-ice competition between the two of you.”

“Me and Brie?”

“Yeah.”

“When?”

“As soon as possible.”

Looking down, he let out a long breath. It could be his chance to talk to her. He hadn’t seen her. She was avoiding him, and he was pretty sure she hadn’t even been home to her apartment. What would he say? But then, who was he to turn down kicking her ass on the ice? She may be good, but she wasn’t his kind of good, and he would love to see her out there.

It actually brought a secret little smile to his lips. If he knew anything about Brie, he knew she loved competition. So if he got her out there, maybe there could be a certain kind of wager. Yeah, that was a great plan.