Page 16 of The Pucking Single Dad

The thought of Luna entered his mind again. There was something different about her. When he was with her, he felt so many things all at once. The thought of losing her scared him, but telling her that he loved her and wanted a commitment from her was just as much, if not scarier. Hunter just didn’t know if he was ready for all of that. Everything was happening so fast.

He thought it was best to just go to sleep as he had a long day ahead of him tomorrow. They were doing new training, and Hunter had to be on his best game. He would also be working closely with Stella and would need to be situationally aware to dodge all her advances. As Hunter closed his eyes, Luna lay in her bed, crying that tomorrow had already come.

Chapter Six: The Aftermath

The next morning, Luna showed up at Hunter’s apartment with swollen eyes. Her entire face was puffy from crying off and on all night. She didn’t want him to see how bad she looked. So, she dug into her purse and found a pair of old sunglasses. She placed them on her face and was thankful for this newfound disguise.

She walked into the apartment and walked straight to Adam’s room. He was still asleep and she decided to get breakfast made ahead of time. She started looking for eggs and bacon in the refrigerator. As she started making breakfast, she heard Hunter walk up behind her.

“You are wearing sunglasses,” Hunter said inquisitively. “You are wearing sunglasses inside. Well, you must have slept as well as me.

Luna quickly turned around and looked at Hunter. He still looked handsome, and there were no dark eyes or places ofpuffiness on his face. She huffed before turning back to making food.

“You look like you slept just fine,” Luna said. “You don’t look tired at all.”

Hunter walked up to Luna's back. He smelled her hair. The scent of her overwhelmed him. He whispered gently in her ear.

“I can’t say what you want me to say right now,” Hunter said softly. “It has nothing to do with you and everything to do with me. Can you please just be patient?”

She closed her eyes in deep thought, and she breathed heavily. His touch made her uneasy, and as she was about to reply to him, she heard the pitter-patter of little feet come into the kitchen. Hunter, too, heard the sounds and quickly backed away from Luna to create a sense of space between their two bodies. Adam walked into the kitchen, and although he was young, he could still see that there was something between his father and Luna. Perhaps it was just a child's curiosity, but Adam asked what was going on.

“Is Luna your new special friend?” he asked his dad.

Hunter was shocked and did not know how to respond. Thankfully, before he had to, Luna intervened in the situation.

"Adam, I'm so glad you're awake! I've been cooking up a storm," she said cheerfully to the child. "Are you hungry?"

Hunter watched Luna with Adam; she was such a natural mother figure. He enjoyed watching Luna be maternal and watching Adam have a proper mother figure in his life. He imagined she would be a good mother and possibly even better wife. Would she be a good wife to him? With that question, Hunter felt the power of vulnerability kick in again. He changed his position to relieve the discomfort and looked down at hiswatch; he thought now would be the perfect time to escape. She clearly had things under control here, and he had to get to work. He had a long day of training at the ice rink ahead of him. Hunter said goodbye to both of them and left, all the while wondering how Luna was going to respond to him. Was she going to wait for him?

By the time Hunter walked into the arena, his other teammates were already on the ice, working. He looked down at his watch and noticed he was about ten minutes late. He thought he had left his apartment on time, but the commotion of his complicated situation with Luna threw him off guard. He also couldn't stop wondering about whether or not Luna would continue working for him, as well as wait for him to be emotionally available to her. He shook his head and looked back down at his watch. He had to get moving.

Hunter quickly walked to the locker room and began changing into his training attire. And as he was putting on his shirt, he heard the soft voice of a female behind him. It threw him off guard, and he jerked his body around to see who was there in the male locker room. It was Stella.

“I was wondering when you were going to get here,” Stella said with a smirk. “You are about fifteen minutes late at this point.”

Hunter felt the need to be defensive. Coach or not, what was a female doing in the male locker room? That would never be okay if the situation were reversed.

“And you,” Hunter started to say defensively. “And you are in the male locker room.”

Stella laughed. This did not help the situation, and it made Hunter feel more uneasy.

“It is a male hockey team,” Stella said while laughing. “Every locker room is male. I will get out of here. I just wanted to make sure you were ready to lead today’s drills now that you are finally here.”

Hunter was thankful he had finished getting dressed before she walked into the locker room. He watched as she swayed out. She was wearing a miniskirt with tights and a long-sleeved shirt. Her outfit was set off with a pair of long, sexy black boots. She did look good, Hunter admitted to herself, but what the hell was she thinking walking into the male locker room?

That was a human resources violation and a lawsuit waiting to happen. Hunter shook his head in dismay and quickly rushed out to the ice rink. He saw Henry taking the lead on the agility drills. He walked over and joined the rest of his teammates.

“Hey, Henry,” Hunter said casually. “Hey, Henry, thank you for covering for me, man. I’m sorry I was late. I can take over now.”

Henry stepped aside and felt discarded. He thought the whole thing was ridiculous. Why wasn’t he in charge of the team? He was just as talented as Hunter, and he was always on time. Tension filled the air, and Henry tried to bite his tongue, but he could not hold himself back.

“Well, just be on time tomorrow, and I won’t have to cover for you,” Henry told Hunter.

He spoke loudly for everyone else to hear. This bothered Hunter. It was one thing to disrespect him in general, but it was quite another thing to disrespect him in front of the whole team. Hunter turned towards Henry. He walked closer and faced him head-on.

“Is there a problem, Henry?” Hunter asked him. “Is there a problem, or did you just not get enough sleep last night?”

“Oh, I’m probably not sleeping as well as you,” Henry laughed. “I am definitely not sleeping as well as you are these days.”