Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 88463 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 442(@200wpm)___ 354(@250wpm)___ 295(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88463 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 442(@200wpm)___ 354(@250wpm)___ 295(@300wpm)
“This is not what I remember from when we were kids.”
“I know. It’s solar.” I open a panel. “I had it installed last month but haven’t needed to use it. You just flip this switch.”
I show her, and her whole face lights up as we hear the house whir to life.
“It’s attached to the whole house? Not just the fridge and stuff?”
“Whole house,” I confirm. “I’m fancy, remember?”
“You are fancy.”
We return to the kitchen, and Willow pulls out ingredients for what looks like spaghetti.
“Hey, speaking of Seattle,” I say, leaning on the counter. “We’re going in a couple of days.”
She pauses what she’s doing, and her gaze darts up to mine. “We?”
“Yeah, we. I have to go to wrap things up with the team, give a press conference, all that stuff, and I’m not willing to be away from you for that long.”
“How long will you be gone?” she asks.
“We will be gone for about four days.”
“Ry, I have to work.”
I shake my head and step closer to her, pull her against me as I wrap my arms around her waist. “Are you telling me that we can’t figure something out, sweetheart?”
Her hands slide up my chest to my neck, and I want to growl. I fucking love it when she touches me.
“I guess I could see if I can juggle some things. Work longer days before and after, if it’s that important to you.”
“I don’t want to be without you that long.” I press my lips to her forehead.
“Okay—Seattle, here we come.”
“You’re going to Seattle?”
Our heads jerk to the side, to where Aiden’s standing in the doorway, wet from the rain still coming down, his eyes full of hurt.
“We were just talking about it,” Wills says, trying to pull out of my arms, but I hold firm.
We are not a fucking secret.
“Oh, cool. Glad to see you’re okay. I’ll head back out to the bunkhouse.”
He turns to leave, but I call out, “Stop.”
He doesn’t turn around, but he does stop walking.
“We’re all going to Seattle,” I add. “The three of us.”
Now, he does turn back. “We are?”
“Yeah. I have some business to see to, and we’ll have some fun too.”
His eyes drop to where I’m still holding his aunt.
“Are you two—” He swallows hard. “Uh.”
“Yeah,” I reply, just as Willow rests her forehead on my shoulder with a little moan. “It’s new, but yeah. Is that okay with you?”
“Sure.” He frowns.
“What would you like to say?”
“Nothing.”
I kiss Willow on the top of her head and then gently push her away. “I’ll be right back.”
I cross to where Aiden is and then gesture for him to join me in the living room. When we’re alone, I cross my arms over my chest and face him, man-to-man.
“What’s on your mind, kiddo?”
Aiden runs his hand through his hair and scowls at the floor. “I like you, Ry, but if you hurt her—” He shuffles his feet, and my respect for the kid has just intensified by about a thousand percent.
“Now you know how I felt that day that you punched the wall.”
He swallows hard. “I’ll punch more than the wall if you hurt her.” He firms his chin and looks me in the eyes. “Even though you’re bigger than me, and you can kick my ass, I’ll get some swings in first.”
“Fair enough. So do you want to go to Seattle or not?”
He lets out a breath. “Yeah, I wanna go.”
“Good.”
Chapter Sixteen
Ryker
“This doesn’t look like it does on TV,” Aiden says with a frown as he looks out onto the ice.
“That’s because this isn’t where we play games.” I pat him on the shoulder and pull Willow into my side as I show them around the Blizzard Iceplex. “This place is for practices. It’s where our headquarters is, where we talk to the media. It’s also open to the public, so leagues play here, and people can rent it out for parties. They can even come watch us practice a few times a week.”
“That’s pretty cool,” Aiden says with a shrug, trying so hard to not look impressed, but his green eyes are wide as he takes everything in. “There’s a restaurant in here.”
I nod, seeing this place through the eyes of someone who’s never been here before. “And a merch shop, in case you want to pick anything up.”
I’ll be buying them a shit ton of stuff.
Particularly for Willow, because seeing her in my team gear turns me on at the drop of a fucking hat.
Checking the time, I sigh.
“Go,” Willow says, rubbing her little hand up and down my chest. “We’ll wander around and probably buy out the merch shop. We’re fine.”
“I don’t want to leave you alone.”
“Hey, guys,” Mac Reynolds says with a wide grin as he joins us. “Dude, go to your meeting. I’ll show these guys around. Buy Wills a jersey with my name on it.”