“Morning.” I squeeze her closer to me, bringing her almost on top of me.
“I haven’t slept well the past few days. I guess it caught up to me because the last thing I remember is watching Frozen.” She pulls herself completely on top of me, making me reach down to grab her ass with both hands, squeezing. She places both arms across my chest, planting her chin on her hand. “I thought I’d never wake up with you again. Every morning I woke up I would look over at Meghan and ask if it really happened.” She blinks at me.
I remove my hands from her and sit up in bed with the headboard at my back, making her sit in my lap straddling me.
“I couldn’t function. It’s as if I was going on autopilot. I was barely surviving. Tom kicked me off the ice twice and cancelled all my activities. So, I had to sit in that fucking house thinking. Thinking I would never get to hold you again. I may have to replace a couple of walls and a door when my four-month lease is up.”
She touches my face for the first time in four days, running her finger over my stubble that I’ve let grow out. It’s like she’s tracing my face for memory.
“That lease is almost up. I think I know someone who you can call. I train his son, so I’ll get his number for you.” She hasn’t made eye contact with me. She is just following her finger while she touches me.
I pull her chin up so I can look in her eyes. “We have to start looking for a house. I already contacted a realtor. Actually, the same realtor Tom used. He said he would have some houses to show us sometime next week.”
Her eyes now go big, not sure she heard me.
“A house? Why are you buying a house? Here? That’s a little silly, don’t you think?”
“Well, since this is going to be my hometown, I thought maybe you would want to get something a little bigger. I mean, I’m okay here, but it is a little bit small for the four of us.”
She starts to stutter, not sure what to say, but I don’t give her a chance to think.
“I asked him to find us a bigger home, with more land, something with a pool because we both know Allison is like a fish. I also wanted a two-car garage. Definitely more than three bedrooms. I was also thinking of a basement gym area. Oh, and a bigger kitchen. When you were gone, I remembered how much I loved cooking with you, so I also asked him for a huge kitchen. Preferably in the middle of the house. Kind of like center ice.”
“You’re moving here?” she whispers.
I laugh because out of all that the only thing that sticks out is that I’m moving here.
“Well, the arena is an hour from here. Not exactly the five-minute drive from my condo, but this is even better. It’s not that bad. I mean, we have forty-one home games a year. The rest are on the road, but it’s usually turn around or there are big stretches sometimes where we go on the road for a week. But we can work on that later.” My hands are now on her legs, holding them, my thumbs rubbing.
“You’re buying a house and moving here? To live here? Why?” Her brows pinch together.
“Babe, don’t know if you are aware of this, but I love you. I almost fucking lost you because of fucking stupidity. It smacked me in the face how much you mean to me. How much I’ve grown to want to wake up with you. How much I look forward to us just sitting down drinking coffee together. You have kids and a business. You can’t just up and move. I can. But more importantly, I want to. I want you here. Or wherever we find a house. I want you there when I get up or get in or come home. I just want you.” And before I can say anything else she leans into me and kisses me full on the lips. Not a soft peck, not a soft kiss. An all-consuming kiss. A kiss I feel right down to my soul, her tongue sliding alongside mine, commanding it to go deeper. My arms move up her back, one staying around her waist, the other making its way into her hair, tilting her head to the side to make her chest get closer to me.
It’s like no other kiss before. It’s a different kiss than before. She pulls away from me. I see the razor burn on her chin. “I love you,” she says while she places her forehead against mine. “I really love you. I was scared. I wasn’t looking for this. I just wanted to get laid,” she says, giggling this time. “But it changed. You changed it. You just wouldn’t take no for an answer. You would be all up in my face each and every time. I realized I was in love with you the minute Barbie opened the door. The pain in my chest,” she whispers, “I felt it to my bones. That night while I sat on the couch in the cabin looking out into the darkness I admitted it. I had come full circle to only end up in the same place as I did before.” And just before I’m about to interrupt her, she places a finger on my lips. “It was different. I can’t explain it. It was just like I disconnected with myself and all I could think about were the last couple of weeks, and I couldn’t see how I could have been duped. But Meghan, she was there, putting these things in my head that nothing is what it looks like, and she actually told me to give you the chance to explain. I wanted to call you, I wanted to hear your voice, but I broke my phone. It’s actually shattered. I think there are pieces left in my truck.” She laughs softly.