Page 69 of My Pucking Perfect Goalie

“You’re smart enough to know that there’s something happening here,” I say, eyes flitting back and forth between hers. “This thing…it’s not just sex, Finn. Not for me. And I don’t think it is for you, either.”

“Sam,” she whispers, closing her eyes. “It’s not going to work.”

“I’ll come to California.”

“What?” Her eyes fly open, widening.

“I already talked to my manager.”

“You didnot.”

“I’m serious about this, Finn.Thatserious. I’ll do whatever it takes to stay with you. These past few months have been the best of my life, and not just because of the coaching. Because ofyou. You’re funny, smart, gorgeous, and so driven. Having you in my life makes it better. Tell me right now that you don’t feel the same.”

She looks windswept. Like this is the first time in her life she wasn’t able to predict what would happen next.

“Tell me that you don’t feel the same, and I’ll drop this,” I say, knowing I mean it. I would never want to push her into an impossible situation, but I’m so sure she feels it, too. I’m never happier than when I’m around her. I want to protect her at all costs. I’m my best self when I’m with her.

If that’s not love, I don’t know what is.

“Say it, Finn,” I dare, knowing—or hoping—she won’t. “Say you don’t want this.”

“I…” she finally says, licking her lips.

My chest tightens before she looks up at me, her face open. Vulnerable. Needy and wanting and without a single wall.

“I can’t.”

Finn

A smile breaks over Sam’s face.

“Good,” he says, before leaning down to kiss me. It’s slow and searching, and I melt into it. I know that I shouldn’t. I know that I told myself I was going back to California at the end of this—but.

But Sam wants me. But I want him

And right now, with him kissing me, I realize I’ve wanted him since the very first day I saw him, looking through his Instagram and finding pictures of him online.

I want him, and he just offered to move to California for me. My analytical, planning mind—the one that can’t ever just enjoy the moment—is already racing at a thousand miles per hour. Is it ridiculous to even entertain the notion that this could happen? That Sam and I could be together? Go after this thing?

Should Sam move to the west coast?

No. He loves it here—his family is here. Brett and the other guys. And didn’t he say in an interview that he wanted to finish his career with the Vipers?

And I’m starting to love it here. Not the snow or the cold, necessarily, but the atmosphere. The fact that despite the blistering wind this morning, I still saw a man out shoveling the sidewalk, just to make sure people could get through.

“We should—” I start, but Sam cuts me off, pressing his lips firmly into mine.

“Don’t have to figure it out right now,” he murmurs, his hands slipping up the back of my blouse. I gasp when they touch bare skin—his fingers are cool from being on the ice. “

Right now,” he breathes, “I just want to get you back to my place, okay?”

“Okay,” I say.

Okay.

We don’t have to figure it out right now.

When we get back to his apartment, I do something I haven’t done since college. I turn around and push him back, heart thudding as I drop to my knees.

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