Juicy Rebound (IceCats 1)

I tighten my arms around him, needing to be closer. “I’m so glad you’re home.”

“Me too,” he says against my lips. “I missed you.”

“I missed you,” I say softly, kissing his top lip. “I don’t want you to leave ever again.”

He smiles against my lips. “Part of the job, baby, but I’ll always come home.”

“Fine. I guess I’ll wait for you,” I say offhandedly, and he squeezes my butt cheek in his hand.

“You’d better.”

I grin and he does the same, our eyes locked in a heated but sweet embrace. My chest fills with such happiness, such perfection just from being under his gaze. He moves my hair out of my face before resting his hand against my cheek.

“Hey.”

“Yeah?” I say with a grin, and I can feel his heart pounding against my chest. Is he nervous? “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Absolutely nothing,” he assures me, his thumb gliding along my bottom lip. “I’ve never felt so damn good in my life.”

My heart skips a beat. “Neither have I.”

He sighs audibly before he wets his lips. “Amelia…”

“Yes, Chandler?” I say, a grin pulling at my lips, but he looks terrified.

“I love you.”

Everything stops, and my eyes widen as my body goes still. “You do?”

“I do. So fucking much, it hurts,” he says, his voice rough.

“But—”

“No but, Amelia. I love you, and nothing you can say will change that,” he insists, his eyes burning into mine. “I have loved you since the moment we danced outside the truck. I held you in my arms and I looked down into your eyes, and I knew no woman would ever be able to make me feel what you make me feel.”

I’m sure I look like a deer in headlights. “I’m not good en—”

“You are, and I can’t get enough of you.”

I believe him. Wholeheartedly. I do. Holy shit. Tears spring to my eyes as I gaze into his. He opens his mouth again. “It’s okay if you don’t—”

“I love you,” I say on my next breath. “I love you too, Chandler.”

He looks almost shocked, but then a slow grin spreads across his beautiful lips. “You do?”

“I do,” I say with a grin. “I really do.”

Our mouths join immediately, and everything just seems right.

Perfect.

So this is what love really feels like.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Amelia

I haven’t been to a hockey game in years. Pretty sure the last one I went to was the one before Drew was sent back down to Philly’s farm team. I stopped going mainly because of what happened afterward. I thought maybe the reason I haven’t wanted to go to a hockey game since was because it reminded me of Drew, but sitting here, watching as Chandler warms up, I don’t care one bit about Drew.

Only Chandler.

He looks so big on the ice. He’s a massive guy, but in his gear, he looks bigger, if that’s even possible. The home jersey for the IceCats is a steely shade of silver that has red accents on the shoulders and wrists. It’s laced up to the neck, and on the front is a huge cat slashing through the word IceCats. I have no clue if it’s a kitty cat or a lion or something, but it’s a cat nonetheless.

“Is that, like, a house cat on the front?”

Shelli gives me the driest, most disappointed look ever. “It’s a cougar.”

“Oh,” I say slowly. “I thought it was a tiger or something.”

She’s still staring at me like I’m an idiot. “Loser,” she mutters, and I giggle.

I’m on the edge of my seat as I watch Chandler skate around, throwing pucks against Nico’s pads. I’m wearing the jersey Chandler got me with his number on the back. I feel silly since I’m drowning in it, but at the same time, I feel special. Shelli sits beside me in an Assassins jersey with her daddy’s number on the back. I asked if she wanted to get something at the pro shop, but she told me she is only an Assassins fan. I find that hard to believe since she knows every stat for every team and is also in love with someone on the Rangers and sleeping with someone on the IceCats.

Damn, my cousin is busy.

“Are you seeing Nico after this?”

She shrugs noncommittally. “I don’t know. I haven’t asked, and neither has he.”

“Are you two not talking anymore?”

“We are,” she says simply. “When are you flying home for Christmas and the wedding?”

So, apparently, we can’t talk about Nico. “We talked about it last night, and I think I’m gonna fly in with his parents, and Chandler will meet us there from New Jersey.”

“Flying in with his parents?” She waggles her brows at me, and I shrug since it’s not a big deal. Though, I think she’s trying to make it one.

“Yeah, they’re going to the wedding too. So they’re going to take me since they want to be there early to set up the tree.”