Page 54 of Breakaway to You

Jordan had broken my trust and my belief in love, but not my heart. Looking back now, I could see that I had never truly been in love with him—I’d been more in love with the idea of having found someone to be with.

Zeke, on the other hand, was the kind of guy who you would fall head over heels for, that when things ended you’d never be able to fully recover. And I didn’t know if I was willing to give my heart to someone who could break it so thoroughly that there was a high likelihood it would never heal.

Zeke was still figuring out his own path. Soon, whether it was this year or in the next couple of years, he would experiencing a huge life change, one he felt lost in how to navigate, and I wasn’t sure I would still be the person he wanted by his side once he passed through the storm.

Yeah, right now things were great between us. Everything was new and exciting. Everything was easy because we lived in the same city and worked at the same place. But what about if he got traded again? Or retired? What would that mean for our future? I didn’t think I was strong enough to risk something like that with someone who was currently trying to decide what was next in his life. He needed to figure out himself and his life first before we could entertain the idea of anything more than a fun night together.

“Well,” Quinn said, dragging me out of my thoughts. “Whatever you decide, I’ll be here to support you.”

That was something I did know. Quinn and I would always be there for each other, no matter what happened in our lives.

I gave her a side hug, squeezing her to me. “I know. And I’m so grateful for that.”

I didn’t know what I would do without Quinn. She was my only family, and I would feel lost and alone without her.

I thought about Zeke and how he didn’t have any family he could turn to. A small pang in my heart had me forgetting all about being smart and safe. I wanted to be the person he could turn to, and in a way last night, I felt like I had been.

I finished my coffee and set my mug in the sink. “I’d better go get ready for work.”

“Yeah, me too,” she said, taking the last sip of her coffee.

I headed to the bathroom.

“Oh, and good luck trying to not make out with Zeke!” she yelled after me, and I could hear the teasing in her voice.

I rolled my eyes even though she couldn’t see me, but I was going to need all the luck I could get to not throw myself into Zeke’s arms when I saw him today.

By the time I walked into the arena, my nerves were at an all-time high. How were things going to be between us? I’d had all morning at home getting ready to relive our night together, plus remind myself all the reasons why we shouldn’t take things any farther. Including how it was almost February and there were still plenty of months of hockey season left to try to combat these feelings for him. I was a jumbled mess. Somehow, I wanted to both see him and not see him. It was all very confusing.

As I walked past the entrance to the ice rink, I could see the team was already practicing. I tried not to look for Zeke, but my eyes found number twenty-seven all on their own. My traitorous heart leapt at the sight of him. I never got tired of watching the way he glided across the ice, his movements both quick and graceful. And embarrassingly enough, I had watched him play a lot during his career. My silly crush on him over the years had been just that—silly. Now that I knew the man under the helmet and jersey, knew that he was kind, protective, funny, sweet, charming, down-to-earth—okay, you get the idea. He was impossible not to like.

I shook my head, trying to clear out my feelings for Zeke. Tearing my eyes from him, I hurried off to my office, needing to get some paperwork done before the players were done with practice.

Zeke was always the last to see me after practice, almost like he wanted everyone else to be gone so we could be alone. I didn’t mind and secretly liked how we could have the therapy room to ourselves. Now I was both excited and anxious about being alone with him. I didn’t know if I could trust myself. One look at him on the ice, and heat flooded through me. What was I going to do when we were together in an enclosed room and he was no longer covered by hockey pads, showcasing that muscled body in a fitted t-shirt and sweats? Oh, and with my hands on him. Couldn’t forget that part.

Yeah, I was in big trouble when it came to Zeke Lawson.

Chapter21

Zeke

As soon as I saw Piper in the therapy room, I smiled. Her head was tilted down as she filled something out on her clipboard, forest green scrubs today hugging her curves, her hair up in her usual high ponytail showing off her slender neck. The neck I had been kissing just last night. I wanted so desperately to walk over to her, wrap my arms around her waist, and pull her back against my chest so I could place several soft kisses along that tempting neck.

When she’d left my apartment early this morning, I’d feared that our perfect bubble would pop. That everything that happened between us would soon be forgotten, like a dream. If I hadn’t had practice and she hadn’t had to work, I would have tried to convince her to stay with me for the rest of the day.

But my alarm had gone off, waking us both up. I had hoped it was just waking us up for the day and not to reality. We’d kissed goodbye this morning, but I still couldn’t be sure how she was feeling now that we were at the arena.

Before she caught me standing in the doorway staring at her, I entered the room and cleared my throat. She turned to look at me, a smile spreading across her beautiful face. That smile had me breathing out a sigh of relief, my shoulders relaxing. At least she was happy to see me.

“Hi,” she said, her voice almost sounding shy as she set down the clipboard and pen.

“Hey,” I smiled. “Long time, no see.”

She laughed, seeming to loosen up a little. I wondered if she was as unsure as me about how things were going to be between us after last night.

“How was practice?” she asked, still smiling at me like she was happy to see me as she motioned for me to sit down on the treatment table.

I sat down, used to our routine by now. “It went well.” I lay back. “But I was looking forward to it being over.” I hoped she understood by my tone what I was really saying.

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