We’d turned this place into a bachelor pad of epic proportions, and it had seen its fair share of crazy parties. But not anymore. Now we’d have a girl and a baby in the house. The whole dynamic was about to change.

“Will you quit the fucking pacing? You’re making me seasick,” River grumbled, but I’d known him long enough now to know that he was just as nervous as I was.

Dev had messaged about forty minutes ago to say they’d landed, and we’d sent a private car to collect them from the airport. As much as we wanted to collect them, apparently there was a lot of stuff and they’d need the space two hockey players took up.

“Sorry. Don’t know why I’m nervous.”

River narrowed his eyes. “I feel like this goes without saying, Rig, but she’s off limits. You know that, right? This is too important to fuck up because you can’t keep it in your damn pants.”

I glared at him. “I’m not the one that’s going to fuck this up, you grumpy bastard. No one wants to live in a home where they have to avoid the troll under the bridge every day to get a coffee.” I stood in front of where he was perched stiffly on a recliner. I stared down at my best friend, the man I loved like a brother. “If you hold her at arm’s length, she’s never going to feel comfortable and she’s never going to stay. I know it’s hard opening yourself up to the possibility of being hurt, but you gotta take the risk, man. It’ll be worth it.” He punched me in the thigh muscle, corking it, and I grunted out a pained breath. “Asshole!”

“Don’t psychoanalyze me, dickhead.”

I gave him the finger. “Truth hurts.”

“Not as much as your thigh.”

It did fucking hurt. I leaned into him, giving him several short sharp shots to the ribs with a laugh, trapping him against the back of the recliner.

But we were hockey players, and we knew how to brawl. He tipped us out of the recliner and landed on top of me, pulling my shirt up over my head to trap my arms, then gave me a fucking mean-ass nipple cripple.

I managed to get one arm and head out of my shirt and cracked him in the kidneys. “Fuck off, you giant hairy bastard. Leave my nipples alone!”

Someone cleared their throat. “And on that delightful note, welcome home.”

River and I both froze. As one, we looked toward the front door, at Dev standing there with two rucksacks and a diaper bag over his shoulder, and Nova with a baby in her arms.

Well. This was awkward.

I pushed River off, scrambling to my feet beside him. “We were just playing.”