“Stop teasing me, Tate. I want you so bad,” she said breathlessly.
“Not as much as I want you,” he groaned, but when he received an amused look from Shea, he laughed before saying, “But that will have to wait. I need to tell you something.”
He hadn’t had the chance to tell her about Elsa calling him. Audrey had been so sick, and busy, while he had been slammed with stuff for the Assassins. He knew it wasn’t the best time, but he didn’t want to let her go, and he knew that if he didn’t change the subject, the NHL network wasn’t going to receive an interview from him. He would be on the first plane home to ravish his love.
“What?” she asked.
“I talked to Elsa the other night.”
“Elsa? Your ex?”
“Yeah, she called because apparently my parents had a storage unit that the lawyer forgot to tell me about. Or it got lost in the paperwork or something like that. I don’t know. Anyway, my lawyer is her brother and he asked her to get hold of me.”
“Oh wow, what did she say?”
“Well, she needs me to come back home and claim the unit to get its contents. So I am going home after the playoffs. I wanted you to come with me, if you want.”
Audrey paused for a moment, then said, “Yes, of course. I would love to go with you.”
“Awesome, I can’t wait to take you home. I know you’ll love it,” he said, the grin on his face so big and bright, it could probably have blinded someone.
“I know I will too,” she gushed. “That’s so awesome.”
“I thought so,” he answered. Shea looked over at him, nodding his head toward the interviewer who was wrapping up with Lucas. Tate stood up, walking over to a girl who was motioning for him before saying, “I need to go, baby, it’s my turn to be interviewed.”
“Okay, so you are coming straight home, right?”
“Yeah, why?” he asked. She sounded weird again.
“I need to talk to you.”
Tate paused mid-stride, and said, “About?”
“I don’t want to talk about it over the phone. But I need you to come home as soon as possible, please.”
“Are you okay?” he found himself asking again.
“I’m fine, I promise, I just need to talk to you,” she said, and he could tell she was about to cry. She was doing that quick intake of breath and she was sniffling.
“I’m getting worried again,” he informed her.
“Don’t, just come home please.”
“I’ll be there as soon as possible, okay?”
“Wonderful. Don’t worry, okay? Everything is fine, I love you so much, Tate. So much.”
His heart skipped a beat as the girl motioned for him again. He ignored her and said, “I love you, more. ’Bye.”
“ ’Bye.”
He hung up the phone and paused. It couldn’t be anything bad that she needed to tell him because if it was, she wouldn’t have told him she loved him. It had to be something about the cupcake place, which was awesome. With a wide, happy grin, he made his way to the interviewer. He was in love. He was taking her home. And then he was going to ask her to marry him.
Audrey was still smiling when she pulled into her driveway. It was nuts, and insane, but this was her life. She was having a baby with Tate, and at the same time as Fallon was having hers. She had just gotten off the phone with her sister, and when she did the math, realized that Fallon’s due date was two weeks later than hers. Not that she’d told Fallon her good news yet—it was only right that Tate got to hear it first, and she couldn’t wait.
She had gone to the grocery store and brought home bags of stuff for “We’re Pregnant” cupcakes and a nice romantic dinner she would make before telling Tate. She couldn’t help but think about his reactions. She knew none of them would be anger, though; Tate wanted this just as much as she did. It wasn’t planned, and Lord knew it was early in their relationship, but she didn’t think that would make any difference.
Just as she shut off the ignition and was about to get out of the car, her phone signaled a text from Tate.