Page 55 of It's Mother-Pucking Christmas!

My heart shot straight up, blowing a hole in my chest and going supersonic through the ceiling.

Dakota wanted to marry me. We were going to get married. We were going to be together forever.It wasn’t in my head.

I leaned in and kissed her wildly. “Dakota, I need you to know I lo—”

She screamed. “Who the hell is that?”

“Uh…”

Four hockey players blinked in the doorway to my apartment, carrying bags of flour, packages of sausage, and cartons of berries.

I shoved Dakota behind me.

“Sorry, bro…” Mike said, backing away.

“We were going to make pancakes.” Erik held up his jug of maple syrup.

“There was a calendar invite?” Pete added.

“Out!” I hollered.

“What about breakfast?” Erik protested. “Coach said you need to carb load.”

“Fuck, Canada, get the fuck out.” Mike dragged them all out.

The door slammed behind my teammates.

I turned around slowly to grovel and apologize to Dakota. She was bent over, shaking.

“Dakota?” I reached out hesitantly.

But when she stood up, she was trembling with laughter. “Oh my god! They came over to make pancakes!” She wiped her eyes.

“That’s sort of our thing on big game days. Carb loading,” I explained.

She made a heart with her hands, leaning forward, her chin resting on my chest. “You are too pure. Bring them back in.”

“No way!”

“It’s game day, O’Connell.” She swatted my shoulder. “You’re supposed to be taking this seriously. This isn’t the beer league.”

“I don’t want to share you,” I said stubbornly.

“Hockey takes precedent above all else.” She wagged her finger at me. “Besides, I can make a mean pancake.”

Dakota sauntered to the shower. Grumbling, I grabbed my pants and jogged to the door, wondering if I’d catch the guys before they left.

“Geeze!” I yelped as I almost bowled them over when I rushed out of the door.

“Ryder, what are you doing?” Mike yelled. “You can’t leave a girl in your apartment alone.”

“She wants to make breakfast,” I explained.

Mike sighed, irritated. “No, she doesn’t. She’s trying to be nice.”

“Dakota’s a hockey fan. She insisted. She thinks I’m not taking my hockey career seriously enough.”

Mike slowly shook his head.

---