Chapter Twenty

The park was a twenty-minute drive from the clinic, and we were both glad of the Jeep's AC. We chatted loudly and over each other about the doctor's lack of urgency, the blood results, and The Vipers' chances of lifting the cup. Theo seemed reenergized, bright, the future was his again and he'd grabbed it. It was heartwarming to witness.

When we parked up in the shade, I felt my shoulders relax. The park was beautiful with lots of old trees, flowering shrubs, and it was set around a large lake with a splashing fountain in the center.

"There's a coffee shop on the other side of the lake, we'll stop there," Theo said, pulling on his baseball cap again. "That okay?"

"Yes, cool with me."

We set off along the winding path, dipping in and out of the dappled shade. We spotted a great egret fishing on the shoreline, his long elegant legs moving stealthily as he stalked his prey. A woodpecker tapped in the distance, and a cloud of yellow butterflies hung around a shrub covered in deep-purple flowers.

I decided to bring something up that had been on my mind. "Who is Carrie?"

"What?" He glanced at me.

"I overheard you and Ben, you mentioned Carrie. An ex?"

"Er, yeah, she is, was."

"Yours or Ben's?" We carried on walking; the café was in view now.

"Carrie, she was just Ben's. I was going through chemo, not really in the mood for dating."

"Oh, it was quite a while ago then."

"I guess it was." He kind of shrugged.

"She cheated on him?"

Again he glanced at me.

"I'm sorry, I overheard."

He kicked a stone from the path. "She did, she was young, too. It was an error of judgement, but Ben couldn't forgive her, the relationship was over for him. She was distraught, said she loved him and would never do it again. She couldn't accept that it was finished and kept contacting him for months either sad and sorry or just plain furious."

"Once trust is broken it's very hard to repair."

"Yep, sure is." He reached for my hand and linked his fingers with mine. "That's why you have to be honest with us, honey, and for sure, damn sure, we will be with you. If you're spending the night with Eduardo or Dylan, we gotta know."

"I've always been honest with you. I haven't hidden the fact that I am attracted to Eduardo and Dylan, too, that there is something between us that is more than friends. And your brother is pretty hot, too."

"Of course he is, he looks like me." He smiled. "I know you've been straight up from the beginning, and we really appreciate your honesty, but…"

"But what?"

"But it's just us four, no one else, right?"

"Wow, you really think I could handle more men in my life." I giggled. "I'm only just keeping up as it is. I'd have physical exhaustion if I tried to juggle any more balls."

He laughed, a lovely burst of sound. "You seem to be juggling balls pretty well so far."

I also laughed. "Honestly, I'm not usually like this, I'm a one-man woman. I guess it's the shock of what happened at the church or something like that. That's what a psychiatrist would say if they unpicked my psyche."

"We're not complaining." He set a kiss on my temple. "You're a breath of fresh air in our lives, we all adore you."

"And I do you." A sense of belonging settled over me. I could see now that I'd left a disaster and truly landed in a soft, safe place.

"So for clarity, exclusive, with us, right. No other guys, just us four. Even if some of those assholes at the rink hit on you."

"And does it work both ways?" I raised my eyebrows at him. "You won't be seeing anyone else?"

"Of course, certainly for Ben and me. We're not interested in other women, only you. Damn it girl, you're living with us. You know where we are and what we're doing every minute of the day, and we don't want to be anywhere else or have it any other way."

"But you're used to sharing, you've done it before with a woman, women, but what about Eduardo and Dylan? They might not stay so cool with it."

"They seem to be handling it…so far."

I nodded. "Okay, I can go with that."

"And we'll just see where it goes, yeah?"

"I can't see I have any other option."

"No one can predict the future, honey, but we can have a hand in how some of it turns out. And Eduardo and Dylan won't do anything to lose you, I'm pretty sure of that."

We came to a halt at the café. There were a handful of customers seated in the shade with coffee, cakes, and ice cream.

"What'd you want?" Theo asked.

"That carrot cake." I pointed at a great slab. "That and an iced tea, please."

"Coming right up."

"Excuse me, can I have your autograph, please?"

We both turned. A small boy wearing a Vipers cap was staring up at Theo with wide eyes.

"Sure thing, kid." Theo squatted and took the offered pen. "What's your name?"

"Jerry, and you and Theo Evans are my favorite players in all the league." He nodded earnestly, his cap bobbing.

Theo chuckled. "Well, I am Theo Evans, but I'm guessing you like my brother Ben, too?"

The young boy glanced at a table where a woman in a flowery dress sat with a coffee. She smiled and nodded at him.

"I'm sorry, I've got your poster on my wall but sometimes I get you mixed up when you haven't got number eight and two on your jerseys."

"That's okay, our mom gets us mixed up, too." Theo smiled and scribbled on the pad. He then dug into his pocket. "Here, you can have this if you want." He opened his palm and revealed a Viper's Pride badge—a scarlet snake with a protruding tongue.

"Can I?" The boy jigged on the spot and peered at it.

"Sure, take it."

He took it and held it tight in his fist. "Thank you, Theo Evans, I really, really hope you win all of your games this season."

Theo stood tall again. "Thanks, kid, you make sure you shout loud for us when you're watching, yeah, that always helps us get those goals."

"I will. I really will." He nodded earnestly. "Every time I come and see you and even if I watch on TV."

"Perfect." Theo ruffled his hair. "And I'll watch out for you at games, so be sure to wave."

"I will." He turned suddenly, clutching his pen, paper, and new badge and rushed back to his mom.

"That was nice of you," I said.

"I always have a few of those badges in my pocket, they come in handy for moments like that."

We took our drinks and cake to a bench under a fig tree set away from the other customers. The cake was moist and full of flavor, and I devoured it.

"So when did you decide to become a model?" Theo asked.

"I didn't really, I was spotted when I was fifteen. I was out shopping on Oxford Street. I got offered a contract that quickly led to another. Trevor was my agent from the beginning and became a trusted family friend. I wouldn't have the career I have if it wasn't for him, not that he doesn't benefit from commissions, he does, but I do adore him."

"That's good."

"But looks fade." I wiped my fingertip over my lips to check for crumbs. "Which is why I went to university." I paused, thinking back to what was undoubtedly the hardest time of my life. "I'd lost my parents months before I was due to go but I still went."

"Brave of you."

"My Aunt Mary and I discussed it at length. I knew it would be hard emotionally, I was a mess as it was, but it is what my parents would have wanted."

"They didn't agree with your modelling?"

"No, it's not that, they were happy if I was, and I was—life was fun, glamorous, I was seeing the world and meeting interesting people, but they wanted me to have a plan B."

"Sensible."

"And I loved English literature, the classics, so it was a subject that held my interest. I suppose in a way it took my mind off the grief. I could lose myself in stories and essays and characters written long ago."

"You did better than me, I've practically zero qualifications. Hockey was all I was ever good at." He paused and moved closer, tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. "I guess we're the same in one way."

"What's that?"

"We both had a shit time in our late teens."

"That's true."

For a few minutes we didn't speak. I wondered what my parents would think of what I was doing? I knew they'd be proud of me for walking…or running…away from a man who didn't love me. But what they would think of my four hockey star boyfriends, I didn't know.

"So, you can't be totally perfect," he said suddenly and with a grin. "I know you don't have hairy nipples or warts on your butt, but there must be something."

I laughed. "Why must there be?"

"I mean, you could be on the cover of Vogue when you roll out of bed."

"I could not."

"Sure you could." He shrugged. "Tell me, there must be something."

"I don't see why there should be."

He raised his eyebrows.

I laughed. "I'm perfectly comfortable in my skin, but…"

"But?" He raised his eyebrows.

"I don't like my second toes."

"What? Why?" He studied my trainers.

"They're longer than my big toe, I don't like that."

"Let me see."

"What? No!"

He laughed and hooked his arm behind my knees, spun me so I was sitting sideways on the bench and my legs were over his lap. "I need to see this imperfection for myself. It will prove you're human and not some Greek goddess come back to life."

"I am no goddess." I gripped his thick biceps for balance as he undid my trainers and dropped them to the ground. He tugged off my short socks.

"Fuck me!" He stared at my feet. "That is something else. What a freak!"

"Hey, stop it." I laughed. "It's not that bad."

"You'll have to donate these to a museum or something when you die. Scientific research and all that."

I laughed harder and wriggled. "Stop it."

He caught me in the curl of his arm and pulled my chest to his. "For the record, I like your toes, they're the sweetest toes I've ever seen." His smile dropped a little, and he ran his hand up my left shin, over my knee and to my thigh.

I looped my arm around his neck and stared into his blue eyes.

"What I'd really like to do is kiss them, start there, then kiss you all over, right up to your mouth, leaving not one inch of flesh unexplored."

A delicious tremble went up my spine. I remembered his tongue between my legs. "You can do that."

"Here?"

"No, not here. We'd shock your little buddy Jerry over there."

"Yeah, that's true. Maybe when we get back, eh?"

"Sounds like a plan."

He spun his baseball cap around so the peak was facing away, then set his lips over mine. It was a lovely deep kiss that told me how much he liked me, wanted me, and that he had some serious plans for us getting naked when we got back to the house.

I sighed against him. Our tongues tangled, and I clutched his t-shirt, drawing him nearer. The sounds of the park faded, and I felt a small part of my heart, one of the wounds Steven and Cheryl had inflicted, healing just a little. There were good people in the world, good men, and without a doubt Theo Evans was one of them.

We walked for several kilometers around the park, before stopping for an onion-and-mustard-loaded hot dog that we ate by the Jeep.

The traffic was heavy on the way back as office workers were kicking out and kids heading home from school.

When we reached the house there were more cars than usual parked on the street.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"No idea." Theo shrugged.

As soon as Theo opened the front door it was clear what was happening.

A party.

Ben sprang from the crowd of people in the kitchen. "Hey, you're back." He drew Theo into a hug and slapped his shoulders several times.

"What's going on?" Theo asked, looking out at the yard that was also full of people.

"I told the guys you'd got the all clear; they said we should celebrate."

Theo laughed. "You don't have to do this every six months."

"Sure we do." A huge guy with thick stubble gripped Theo's shoulder.

I recognized him as Rick ‘Ramrod' Lewis now. A beautiful woman with long brunette hair and red lipstick stood at his side.

"If there is one thing worth celebrating it's good health," Rick said.

"I'll drink to that." The woman smiled at me and raised a flute of sparkling wine.

"This is Dana, my wife," Rick said in my direction. "Dana, this is—"

"Pippa Bentley, I know." She beamed at me. "It's lovely to meet you. I hope this rowdy lot haven't put you off hockey forever."

I liked her smile and the softness in her eyes. "They are rowdy." I grinned. "And I don't know much about hockey if I'm honest, or any sport really."

She reached for a glass of bubbles from the counter and pressed it into my hand. "Neither did I when I met Rick, but that soon changed."

"Yeah, you're a mad fan now. Right, wild thing?"

"Stop calling me that." She poked at his wide chest but she was smiling.

"How did you meet?" I asked.

"I've got my own event business, Best Laid Plans. Rick was at an event, and we got…talking."

"I won her over with my amazing chat-up lines." Rick waggled his eyebrows. "Didn't I?"

"Your chat-up lines were the worst I'd ever heard."

"Can't have been that bad." He winked at Dana. "Or you wouldn't still be here."

"Pippa! You're here. They said you would be…but…"

I turned at a familiar voice. "Matthew!" Matthew Foster, my photographer friend, was pushing through the huge bodies toward me.

"Small bloody world," he said.

He looked as handsome as ever; his dark hair was longer than the last time I'd seen him, and he had a deep suntan.

I grinned. "What are you doing here?"

He put an arm around my shoulders and pointed through the crowd. "I'm here with the love of my life, Todd Carty. See, him there?"

"Ah, yes…is he a model? I thought he was a hockey player." The man was beautiful—perfect bone structure and an insanely symmetrical face. He was also laughing at something Dylan was saying to him, which only added to his devastatingly good looks.

Matthew laughed. "He is a hockey player but he has been known to do some modelling. That's how we met."

"Ah, yes, it's coming back to me now. But still, what are you doing here in Orlando? He plays in New York, right?"

"He does, but we took a vacation…listen to me, all American…I mean we went on holiday down in the Keys. We're on our way back, and Todd wanted to call in and see old teammates.

"That is lucky for me. And tell me, have you become a mad hockey fan?"

He laughed. "I've been giving it a go for a few years now, but I'm really only a fan of one player, and that's Todd." He held up his hand and waved at Todd. "You must meet him."

Todd spotted Matthew and along with Dylan came over to us.

"You know each other?" Dylan said gruffly. He eyed up Matthew's arm around my shoulders with a distinct flash of possessiveness in his eyes.

"Yes," I said. "Matthew and I have done quite a few shoots together." I turned to him. "Remember that time in Morocco, when I had to stand with a camel and it kept burping?" I wrinkled my nose. "It was disgusting."

"And you couldn't stop laughing. It was supposed to be a serious shoot for Armani."

I giggled. "I know. But it's their fault, working with animals is always a nightmare."

Dylan came closer, his body brushing mine. He gave Matthew a dark stare.

Matthew chuckled, dropped his arm from around my shoulder, and took Todd's hand. "We've got news," he said to me.

"Go on." I looked between them.

"We've been approved to adopt," Matthew said, "and it's going to be happening soon."

"Oh, that's wonderful." I beamed. "Boy or girl? Baby or a bit older?"

"We have no idea yet. Maybe even siblings." Todd gazed at Matthew with such love in his eyes that more of my belief in it was restored. "We just want a family."

"That's great, man." Dylan slipped his arm around my waist. "I'm happy for you."

"What you happy about?" Brick stepped up to us with a towel around his waist and his blond hair wet from the pool. He slugged on a bottle of beer.

"These guys are adopting," Dylan said.

"Hey, congrats. You told Raven yet?"

Todd nodded. "Yeah, I called him when we got the news. He's psyched, wants to be Uncle Raven."

Brick laughed. "He better learn to smile or he'll scare the poor kid."

"Are Raven and Fiona here?" I asked, looking around for Fiona's bright-red hair.

"No, they had somewhere to be. His family, I think," Dylan said.

"Oh, that's a shame, I like Fiona."

"We'll get them round for a meal, then you can have a girly chat." Dylan pointed to the right. "Mae is over there, and Gina, you know them, and there's others you should meet."

"Ah, yes, perfect." I squeezed Matthew's arm. "I'll catch up with you again in a bit."