Page 40 of One Steamy Pucking Meet Cute

She doesn’t stop riding me, though. She is moaning hard as she continues on top of me, eyes squeezed shut as she gasps my name again and again.

When she’s finally lying beside me, our bodies radiate heat and are slick with sweat. I feel like I just ran a marathon. “That was… different,” she says.

She’s lying on her side, facing me, with her curly brown hair splaying out in every direction.

I reach to push a sweaty strand away from her forehead to tuck it behind her ear. She smiles, leaning into my hand and gripping my wrist.

“Careful,” she says. “Touch a girl like that, and she’s in danger of falling head over heels.”

“Hah,” I say, laughing softly. “Caroline Prince falling for somebody. I’d like to see the day.”

I think she’s about to speak, but she rolls her bottom lip into her mouth and lowers her eyes.

“What is it?” I ask.

“I just… I don’t want to get hurt again. This feels nice. It feels really good. But it feels different than the other times.”

Honestly, I feel her same insecurities. What if we’re just riding on the high of the last few days? Because of this arrangement, we’ve both taken a step outside our normal lives and responsibilities. Who’s to say we’ll feel the same when she’s back in Frosty Harbor and I’m back on the road with the team? But I don’t want to think about that. Not tonight, at least. “Yeah,” I say softly. “I guess we have a kid together. That does feel like it changes things.”

She hesitates, eyes flashing as if that wasn’t what she meant. But she nods quickly. “Yeah.”

I open my mouth to say something but can’t find any words to smooth the discomfort from the air. I lay there, hands threaded over my stomach as I stare at the ceiling for several minutes.

“Do you think we’ll actually go through with it?” she asks. Her voice sounds small and vulnerable.

“Get married?” I ask. “I think we both need to. I’m not about to watch that asshole steal your B&B. That place practically is Frosty Harbor. And, well, I guess now I’ve got an even more vested interest in protecting it. What if Walker wants to help you run it someday?”

She rolls to face me again, eyes squinted with surprise. “You’d be okay with him running the B&B? After learning he's yours, I would’ve thought your first impulse would be hockey.”

“Nah,” I say slowly. “Hockey is great, but it’s like a black hole. You want to be the best at something and you’ll never be able to give it enough. Not if you really care about being the best. You’ll pour everything in and still wonder what else you could’ve chucked in. I mean, the feeling of being out there in the zone is like nothing else on this Earth. The connection to the ice. The bond with your teammates. It’s a fucking drug. But it’s not one you can take your whole life, either…” That last thought it surprisingly bitter. Walker could run a B&B until old age if he wanted. Trying to be a pro athlete was fleeting. You got a brief moment in the spotlight. Eventually, somebody would yank that light away, and you’d spend the rest of your life trying to live off the memories of how great it had been.

But it’s not my time yet. If I worked hard enough, maybe I could stay in the league for a few more years. I didn’t know if there was anything I wouldn’t sacrifice for that.

“You talk like you’ll never be passionate about anything after hockey is gone,” she says.

I hesitate. Basically, she’s hitting the nail on the head, but I don’t know if it would be too sad to admit that. “Nah,” I say. “I just know I’ll miss it.”

“I think life has a way of filling the gaps. One door closes, and two new ones open…”

“Or,” I say. “We can stick our foot in the door and punch whoever is trying to close it in the mouth. That’s always an option.”

Caroline sighs. “Men.”

16

CAROLINE

Iroll to my side, stretching out my hands to reach for him. All I find are tangled and wrinkled sheets, warm from the sun streaming in the floor-to-ceiling windows of our hotel.

I groan, mildly annoyed because Jake’s like the world’s comfiest, warmest, best-smelling pillow. Where is he?

I sit up, first looking at Walker in his crib. He let us off easy last night and only woke up twice, wanting to feed. When he woke up cranky because of his diaper, Jake handled it without a word. He also managed to not get pee in his eyes. Just a couple days on the job and he’s already a natural.

A sleepy grin spreads my lips. Then I remember I told him last night. God. I actually told him.

I sink back to my pillow, both hands on my face. Was he just being nice last night? Is that why he’s M.I.A. right now?

I’m in the middle of a tiny panic attack when the hotel door swings open. I’m only wearing an oversized t-shirt, so I lift the comforter to cover myself. I relax when I see Jake walking in backward with a service tray full of silver-topped plates on the cart.

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