Nathan nodded and pulled the door open for her. “Yeah. I texted him that I was picking you up, and he said they were heading out the door so they should already be at the place when we get there.”

“Perfect.”

The drive took about twenty minutes. Nathan noticed Mia’s face was buried in her phone. “Got a hot guy you’re texting with?”

Her head shot up and she shoved her phone in her purse. “What? No, of course not. It was . . . uh . . . Monique, about some work stuff. Sorry.”

He frowned and studied the road ahead of him. Mia was always forthcoming about who she was texting with. He knew all her friends, and he didn’t believe for one damn second that she’d been texting with Monique. Or that it was work shit.

Which meant it was some guy. And he didn’t like the tightening in his gut in reaction.

They hadn’t laid down ground rules about their relationship. They weren’t exclusive, and now she was texting with some asshole, no doubt about meeting up with him later as soon as her obligation to have dinner with Nathan on his birthday was over.

“You know, you don’t have to have dinner with me tonight just because it’s my birthday.”

She looked over at him. “What? I want to have dinner with you.”

“Do you? Because it’s obvious you’d rather be somewhere else.”

“Nathan, what are you talking about?”

He motioned with his head toward her purse. “You. Texting. With some guy.”

She laughed. “I was not texting with some guy. I told you it was Monique.”

“Uh-huh.”

She reached over and smoothed her hand over his thigh, which did not help his disposition in the least.

“Trust me when I tell you there is no place I’d rather be right now than with you.”

“Okay.”

He still felt unsettled, and more than a little pissed off. Which he had no right to be. Mia was free to see whomever the hell she wanted to see and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.

Which only unsettled him more.

Her phone buzzed and she gave him a quick worried glance, pulled the phone out of her bag and looked at it.

“Sorry. It’s work stuff.”

Yeah. Work stuff. Sure it was.

She typed a quick answer and with a guilty look at him, slid the phone back in her bag.

Shit.

Maybe he needed to start dating around again, and he wouldn’t feel like this. The only problem with that was the only woman he wanted to see was Mia.

“It’s this exit,” Mia said.

He nodded and took the exit, then followed her instructions to the location.

“This looks like a warehouse,” Nathan said, but there were a ton of cars parked there.

“I think the restaurant is in the back,” Mia said.

He shrugged, his mind on Mia, her phone and her legs. So, whatever. They’d eat and then she could go out on her date.

They parked and walked to the restaurant. He held the door for her and she slipped inside.

Damn it was dark in here. How were they supposed to even read the damn menu?

The lights flipped on and Nathan blinked as a bunch of voices shouted “Surprise!” in unison.

It took him a few seconds to register what was going on, but then he saw his mom and dad, and Jamal and Wendy, and . . . holy shit, was that Uncle Gavin and Liz? And his grandparents?

He looked over at Mia, who leaned against him and laid her hand on his chest.

“Smile, Nathan. It’s your birthday.”

She grinned at him, then stepped away. After that, he was surrounded by his friends. Teammates. His family.

His mom cupped his face. “Happy birthday, Nathan. Are you surprised?”

He hugged his mom. “Stunned is more like it. I thought you had left two days ago.”

She laughed. “That’s what we wanted you to think.”

His dad gave him a clap on the back, and then Gavin and Liz greeted him.

“Look at you, all grown-up,” Liz said. “It makes me feel old. And I am not old.”

“No, you aren’t,” Gavin said, squeezing Nathan’s arm and putting the other around Liz.

“I’m really happy to see you both. Did you bring Genevieve?” Nathan asked.

Liz nodded. “Yes. She’s with Sam and the nanny at your parents’ house. And very anxious for a visit from you.”

“I’ll definitely make time to come to the house to play with her.”

He looked over to see his grandparents were there, which made him tear up.

“I can’t believe you’re here,” he said to his grandmother.

“We wouldn’t miss it,” she said. “And Jimmy loves San Francisco, so we’re making a trip out of it.”

“Happy birthday, kid,” his grandfather said, and folded him into a big hug.

Nathan could barely breathe. And when he spotted his Aunt Jenna and her husband, Tyler, he realized what a hell of a party someone—he looked for Mia but didn’t see her—had put together.

He hugged Jenna. “How are you?”

“I’m fine.” Jenna rubbed her belly. “Baby’s fine. We’re so happy to see you.”

“Yeah, we figured we’d better get out here to this party before you become famous,” Tyler said.

Nathan laughed. “Here I thought you were the superstar. Or so you keep telling me.”

Tyler shot him a grin. “Well, you know, hockey off-season, so I’ll let you take the ball and run with it for now.”

There were so many people to talk to, to thank for coming. He chatted up his Sabers teammates, some of his college friends who’d made the trip—Christ, he couldn’t believe some of the people who’d come.

It was at least an hour before he found Mia, sitting at a table talking to Monique, Jamal and Wendy. He pulled her from her chair and hugged her.

“You did this.”

She shrugged. “Your mom and me and Amelia, who made the food we’re about to eat. And I was texting your mom in the car, not some guy. Though I appreciate the slice of jealousy I saw.”

He’d downed a couple of beers while he was chatting with everyone, so he was a lot more relaxed now. “Me? Jealous? Don’t know what you’re talking about.”

She gave him a knowing smile. “Sure. Anyway, isn’t it great? So many people showed up. I guess for some reason people like you, though I have no idea why.”

He wanted to kiss her so badly he could already taste her on his lips. But considering there were about a hundred and fifty people watching them at the moment, he had to rein it in. So instead, he kissed her on the cheek. “Thank you. Seriously, thank you. This is a really amazing birthday.”

She splayed her hands on his chest and gave him a look that told him she wished that kiss had been on her lips, too. “You’re welcome, Nathan. I hope it’s everything you could imagine, and more.”

He leaned in and whispered to her, “You have no idea what I’m imagining right now.”

She turned her face to his. “Oh, I think I do.”

His mother came over. “Nathan, your grandfather wants to talk to you.”

Mia smiled at him. “We’ll chat later.”

He walked away with his mom, but gave Mia a lingering look.

Yeah, they’d definitely chat later.

EIGHTEEN

THE PARTY WAS IN FULL SWING AND GOING GREAT. MIA had had a few moments of panic in the car on the way over. She’d known Nathan was pissed at her about the texting, but she just had to sit back and let that play out until they got to the venue.

The look on his face when he walked in the door had made it all worth it. He’d been truly shocked, and she couldn’t have been happier.

She’d made it a point to meet his family. Fortunately, Tara had taken her around and introduced her to his grandparents. Jimmy and Kathleen Riley were lovely people and she could see where Mick got his sense of humor as well as his loving warmth from. She’d met Jenna and Tyler and was excited to talk to them about their upcoming baby, who was due in December. They also talked hockey.

Mia really loved hockey. It was too bad none of her brothers had been born with the hockey gene. So she’d spent some time talking with Tyler about his successful season with the St. Louis Ice, and some of the other players on the team.