Sinful Temptation

I gazed longingly out the window at the hordes of people rushing down University Avenue in the heart of downtown Toronto. What was it like to have that kind of freedom and anonymity?

It had been so long since I could walk down the street without being mobbed by fans.

The price of fame is high. Don’t get me wrong. I wasn’t ungrateful for everything I had. I just found myself yearning for some normalcy in my life.

I was drafted into the NHL at eighteen. As a first-round draft pick, all eyes were on me. And I delivered, rising to the top and smashing records in my first season in the league.

My twenties were a blur of parties and puck bunnies.

Looking back, I have no idea how I made it to thirty without contracting a sexually transmitted infection, dying of alcohol poisoning, or producing an army of offspring across North America.

I learned my lesson early about putting on the condom myself and making sure the fucker stayed in place. I won my first Stanley Cup championship during my second year in the league.

The party was an epic all-nighter. I was drunk and stoned when a devious bunny whisked me into a bathroom and sucked my dick into a rock-hard state before I even realized what was happening.

My first mistake was using a condom from her purse. The second was letting her put it on my dick. Imagine! My daughter was conceived in a bar’s restroom.

“Briggs?”

“Yeah?” I stared up at my bodyguard as he held the car door open, waiting for me to climb out.

“We’re here,” Vlad informed me with a wry grin. “Are you ready?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” I muttered. I pulled the peak of my ball cap down over my face and slid across the seat toward the open car door.

We were parked behind Mount Sinai Hospital in a restricted area closed to the public. That was the story of my life. I never used the main entrances like a normal person.

I followed Vlad down a long corridor, our heavy footsteps echoing off the cement floor. He was the only person I had ever met who was taller than me.

At six feet eight inches tall, my Russian bodyguard had two inches on me. Vlad had been with me for ten years, and I trusted him with my life.

A security guard escorted us onto a private elevator and pressed the button for the seventeenth floor.

We rode up in silence, my heart pounding rapidly against my rib cage when the car came to a stop and the doors slid open.

He swiped his badge in the slot and pushed open the door leading into the unit. I sucked in a large gulp of air, my eyes skimming the blue sign on the wall.

This was really happening. I was the father of triplets, at thirty-eight years old.

I had just retired after twenty years in the National Hockey League. While I hadn’t decided for sure what I wanted to do next, raising three boys on my own definitely wasn’t my first choice.

But if I didn’t step in, my kids would go into the foster care system. I couldn’t let that happen to my own flesh and blood.

“You need to come to the desk and get an access card,” the security guard explained. “Once you do that, you can come and go freely. But any other visitors must be accompanied by you at all times.”

“There won’t be any visitors,” I replied brusquely.

The nurse at the desk glanced up, peering at me over the rim of her pink glasses. “Do you want the aunt’s access card revoked?”

“Aunt?”

“Yes,” she replied. “Miss Lucas’s sister. She’s been here every afternoon since the babies were born.”

“I want it canceled immediately,” I said.

“Yes, sir. She’s here now. Do you want security to remove her?”

“No. I will deal with her.”

“Your babies are in a private nursery, with their own nurse, as per your instructions,” the nurse explained as she led us down the brightly lit hallway.

We stopped in front of a large room with pink curtains drawn across the sliding glass doors.

A nurse emerged, sliding the door shut behind her before glancing up at me with an unimpressed scowl, making no effort to disguise her opinion about the situation. “I’m Bernice,” she informed me.

“Briggs Westinghouse,” I offered gruffly.

She nodded, her gray bun bobbing as she pushed her glasses up on her forehead. “I’ve been caring for your boys since the day they were born.”

“Thank you, Bernice.”

“Layla is saying goodbye to them. Let’s give her a few moments.”

I was staying at an exclusive resort with my teammates, enjoying some golf after a long season that netted me my seventh Stanley Cup ring.

Shelly worked in the bar and was privy to the information that I would come in for a drink.

In a devious scheme that still boggles my mind, she managed to get her hands on some potent fertility drugs, timing things just right so she would get pregnant.

I have no memory of that night. I woke up alone in my hotel room the next morning, thinking I had drunk too much. Then she showed up at one of my games a few months later, claiming that I was the father of her triplets.

Money is very effective at loosening tongues. I hired a private investigator, and Shelly was soon arrested and charged with sexual assault.

The tabloids had a great time making fun of the poor, violated hockey player, but it ended up turning the spotlight on something that most men are embarrassed to own up to.

“Her time’s up,” I snapped, moving around the nurse.

I opened the door, stepping into a spacious room full of medical equipment. My eyes landed on the large isolette that held my sons.

The soft voice of Layla Lucas reached my ears, her words causing me to bite back my order for her to leave.

“I’m so sorry I can’t come to see you guys anymore,” she murmured. “But you’re gonna have a great life—way better than your mom and I had. Your dad can give you everything. You’ll never be cold or hungry.”

She leaned her forehead against the plastic wall of the isolette, choked sobs erupting from her throat. “I hope this isn’t goodbye forever. Maybe someday you’ll want to know your mom. She’s not a bad person.”

I could barely restrain a snort at that statement. Shelly Lucas was an opportunist. She didn’t care about her kids. That was clear as mud when she took the deal without a second thought.

Layla’s thin shoulders shook beneath her purple T-shirt as she cried softly, still unaware of my presence. Her chestnut brown hair hung straight down her back, even beyond her tiny waist. I’d never seen a girl with hair that long.

I cleared my throat. She jumped and whirled around, mortification and terror evident on her gorgeous face.

My perfidious eyes dropped to her chest. I couldn’t help it. Any red-blooded, heterosexual man from the age of thirteen to one hundred would’ve done the exact same thing.

Heck. Even a lot of women might have been unable to resist ogling the twin mountains of flesh straining to burst through that V-neck T-shirt.

She dabbed at her tears with the back of her hand. I mean, I did manage to tear my eyes away from the most amazing pair of tits I’d ever seen. And I had seen more than my fair share.

Our eyes met briefly before she charged past me and down the hallway.

“Wait!” I called.

She ignored me and rounded the corner toward the elevators.

“You want me to go after her?” Vlad asked.

“No,” I said with a heavy sigh. “Let her go.”

I turned back to the isolette. Three little humans were lined up side by side, kicking their feet and making little mewing sounds.

I stared through the plastic at my kids. It was the first time I’d ever laid eyes on them. I had refused to see them until the paternity test came back and the paperwork was complete.

“Would you like to hold them?” Nurse Bernice asked.

“I can do that?”

“Of course,” she replied. “But you need to wash your hands first.”

“Don’t I have to wear one of those gowns?”

“Not anymore. These guys are full-term now. We’re actually going to move them into a regular crib today.”

“Really?”

“Yes. They’re probably going to be discharged next week. Are you ready to take them home?”

“Yes.” I hired an interior decorator to create a state-of-the-art nursery at my summer house in the Muskokas. My housekeeper had gone on a shopping spree, buying everything we might need for three babies.

“That’s good to hear,” she said. “I’m guessing you’ve also hired a nanny?”

“Definitely,” I replied with a dry chuckle. “What do I know about caring for babies?”

“You’ll learn quickly,” she patted me on the shoulder. “Let’s get you washed up so you can start bonding with these guys. They need you.”

After I’d scrubbed my hands, I settled into a rocking chair. “Have you ever held a baby before?” Bernice asked, bringing me one of the babies. At least she was a bit friendlier than when I first visited.

“Yes. I have a daughter. But she’s eighteen, so I’m a little rusty.” And I hardly ever saw her until she was old enough to come and stay with me in the summer. But I didn’t tell the nurse that.

I wasn’t proud of the fact that my biggest contribution to my daughter’s upbringing had been from my wallet. The triplets were my second chance at fatherhood, and I was determined to be present in their lives.

“Support his head with the crook of one elbow, and his bum and hips with your hands,” she instructed, placing my son in my arms. “When you’re comfortable with one, you can try holding two at a time.”

“I think I’ll stick to one at a time for today,” I said.

The paternity tests had indeed verified that these were my babies, but I wasn’t prepared for them to look so much like me.

I had full custody, and the time and financial stability to be a kick-ass dad. Nothing else mattered now.