Page 79 of Back On Ice

Knowing that by next week, Dad could be sitting behind bars awaiting trial, and no longer a threat to my family, has a sense of rightness settling into my bones. We could finally be free of him, once and for all.

“She can’t just close the store for an hour for her lunch?” I frown, holding the passenger side door of my car open for Sophie as she hops out.

“No,” she shakes her head, “I’m not going to lose an hour of business for no reason, that’s just silly. I’m pregnant, not an invalid, Carter. I can still do my job. Also, I told Kerry she could take the afternoon off.”

“I know, I just…” A sigh leaves me as I grab her around the waist. “Don’t think that I don’t know how ridiculous I’m being, but I don’t even want you on your feet. You’re carrying precious cargo.”

There’s been a shift inside of me since talking to Sophie this morning. After our conversation, a ferocious sense of protection reared its head, and I just want to wrap her up in a layer of bubble wrap and never let anything from the outside world touch her or our baby again. It’s my job to keep her and the little life inside her safe.

She lets out a small laugh as she rolls her eyes, and her thumb reaches up to smooth out the crease between my brows. “It’s good for me to keep my mind busy. As much as I would love nothing more than to just nap in bed with you all day, I need the routine.”

“Who said anything about napping?” The corner of my mouth quirks up and she laughs again before wrapping her arms around my neck and kissing me.

“You’re insatiable,” she murmurs against my lips.

“Fine, fine.” I relent after she pulls away. “I have some stuff to do for my mom anyway, but I want you to stay at my hotel with me tonight.”

“I’ll meet you there after work,” she agrees, burying her face in my chest as I hug her against me. Something about the simple domesticity of the exchange has my heart fluttering in my chest. It’s both old and new at the same time. Sure, we were in love back then, but now it’s deeper, more complex. There’s more layers than there were before, as well as a deeper understanding of what it means to love someone with your whole heart and to do everything in your power to protect them.

Another quick goodbye kiss later, and I’m in my car driving again. Though… I may have told a little lie. I’m not going to Mom’s. Instead, I make my way to John Kayne’s office, the local realtor. I’m going to find us the perfect house as soon as possible. I want a life with Sophie. That starts with finding a place for us to both call home.

Being in a hotel takes away from the reality that this time, I’m here to stay, and nothing could drag me away from Sophie ever again.

It’s time to start building our future.

Chapter Thirty Three

SOPHIE

“How about…Marjorie, if it’s a girl?” I ask after swallowing a mouth full of pizza.

“Do you want our baby to be born an old lady?” Carter laughs as he tosses a napkin at me. His black hair is sexily tousled from our lounging, his broad shoulders laying back against the fluffy pillows of the bed.

We’re back in the hotel room for the evening, sitting on the bed with a pizza box between us as we go through possible baby names. The evening has been lighthearted, the impending threat of Carter’s dad tucked away in a little box until we want to face reality again.

I got comfortable as soon as I arrived, hopping in the shower to rinse off my day of work and emerging in only one of his t-shirts, the hem falling around mid-thigh.

“I think it’s cute,” I pout, but then realize I know of at least two old ladies named Marjorie. “Do you have any better names up your sleeve?”

“Hmmm…” He places a finger on his chin in faux thought. “I’ve always liked the name Hunter for a boy. And for a girl… Jessica.”

My nose wrinkles. “Nuh uh. One of the girls that always fawned over you during high school hockey games was named Jessica. I like Hunter though.”

“Was she the one with blonde hair and braces?” He looks at me quizzically.

“No, she had brown hair and always had it in two buns on top of her head. She tried to make her own jersey with your name on it.” I scowl. It was just a t-shirt that she had used fabric markers to put his name and number on the back.

He bursts out a laugh. “You were so patient. If any guy looked at you for too long, I saw red. How did you not shank a bitch repeatedly?”

“I knew you were mine.” A small smile appears on his face. “I was the only one you wanted, I knew that. Let the other girls look, you made it clear to everyone that you belonged to me.” He never looked twice at the ones who would dress provocatively to get his attention. And when we were next to each other, he always had an arm around me or found other small ways to touch me and stake his claim.

“Belong,” he says, looking at me with that grin on his face.

“What?” I blink, jarred from my thoughts of the past.

“You said that Ibelongedto you. Past tense. I still belong to you, Angel. I’m all yours. ”

My heart stutters in my chest. This is still new… kind of. Sure we were together for years back then. But we only admitted that we still love each other when he got back from training camp. This is different from love in high school. Back then, we had no real grasp on what true, hard commitment looked like. Now, everything means more.

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