Page 151 of Dating Goals
“Well,” he says, taking another step closer. “That’s the thing. I don’t have to.”
I blink at him. “What?”
“I live here now,” he says with a bright smile. “Well, not here in your place specifically. Though I’m open to that arrangement too.”
“You what?”
“I don’t have to be in Toronto to own a sports team.”
He’s close enough now that I can smell his clean scent, which is warring with my hippie commune bouquet.
“My life is wherever you are,” he whispers.
My heart thuds painfully against my ribs. “You can’t stay in Switzerland. Your career…”
“Is wherever I want it to be,” he interrupts gently. “I can play for Visp permanently if I want. Or retire.
I stare at him, baffled. “You’d…stay here? For me?”
“In a heartbeat.”
“Griffin,” I say sternly. “You can’t give up your NHL career. That’s insane.”
“I’m not giving up anything if I get you.”
My throat tightens. “Don’t say things like that.”
“Why not? It’s true.”
“Because!” I throw my hands up. “You can’t just abandon your life for me. I won’t let you.”
“So you’re insisting I go back to Canada?”
“Yes! Absolutely,” I declare, even as my heart rebels against the words.
“Fine,” he says with a slow nod. “Then I guess I’ll just have to take you with me.”
I stare at him. “What?”
“If you insist I go back to Toronto,” he says, leaning forward over the table, “then I’ll have to take you with me. Because I’m not going anywhere without you.”
“Griffin!”
“When you told me you loved me on that mountain,” he continues, his voice low and intense. “I was too stunned to say anything. I wasn’t even sure I heard you right, especially after almost getting killed. And I thought maybe it was just…I don’t know, a trauma response.”
“It wasn’t,” I whisper.
“I know that now.” Griffin comes closer, pulling me up from my chair. His hands are warm against mine. “I love you, Anika.”
My heart thuds against my ribs. “You do?”
“Hopelessly. I never want to be apart from you again. I’m not going back to Toronto without you.”
I feel tears welling up in my eyes. “But…I can’t just leave. I have the bar, and?—”
“We’ll run the bar!”
The door suddenly bursts open, and the Jass players tumble in, red-faced and shivering.
