Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 80517 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 268(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80517 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 268(@300wpm)
I take my cue to go downstairs and make sure everything is closed up. Walking back upstairs, I see her in bed under the covers watching television.
“Everything okay?” I ask her.
“Yes, he wanted to know how my beach vacation was. When I told him I got the flu and couldn’t go, he asked me to meet him for lunch tomorrow and I’ll stay in the office and head to the game with him.”
I walk to my side of the bed, getting in, lying on my side. “You’re beautiful. Every single time I look at you I hold my breath.” I grab her hand and kiss her inner wrist. “This was the best four days I’ve ever had,” I tell her softly. She sinks down in the bed, coming to me so now we are face to face, chest to chest. She doesn’t say anything. She just kisses my lips.
“You owe me a Mexican vacation when this season is over. I’m going with or without you. FYI. And if you tie me to this bed one more time”—she leans in—“I will set your balls on fire while you sleep.”
“Babe, you know all this sweet talk gets me all hot and bothered.”
“I’m out of commission tonight. My vagina is closed. Besides, if we have sex one more time you might chafe,” she says, cuddling in closer to me. “Save the energy for tomorrow night, big guy.”
I smile at her, kissing the top of her head while we both fall asleep. When the alarm rings I roll over, getting out of bed, watching Karrie sleep. She is on her stomach, the sheet to her lower back, her hair fanning her pillow. A bite mark is on her shoulder right next to the hickey I left. I smile to myself. She’s mine. Fucking forever if I get my way. I lean down on her side of the bed, kissing her shoulder before I get dressed and leave for the rink.
Once I get to the rink, I get ready to go on the ice with Phil and Luka. We skate around, making plays and shooting the puck. Coach skates on the ice with the rest of the team, where we spend the next two hours going through all the new drills. By the time I skate off the ice I’m happy to get my skates off. Coach comes in after going to the board. “We are going to have some shifts with the lines that I’ll be making tonight. Expect some changes.”
With that he walks off while I rip the tape from my socks, forming it into a ball.
Max speaks up, “Fuck, I’m tired. Five days of fucking and drinking. I need another vacation.”
I look down at my other sock, ignoring him while he talks about his whole five days off.
The guys around us start talking about television shows and about the beach vacation a big gang of them took. I get up going into the shower, making a note that I will be taking Karrie to that house in Mexico that Cooper bought Mom. Once I’m dressed I walk out, going to my phone and calling Cooper.
“Hey, son,” he says as soon as he answers.
“Hey.” I smile. He’s been calling me son since almost the beginning and I love it.
“You okay? How was your time off?” he asks while I hear the twins in the background.
“Good, good, nothing crazy. We just stayed home.”
“We?” he asks me.
“Yeah, Karrie and me,” I say to him, looking around to make sure I'm alone. “She’s the one.”
“Matthew, son,” he starts talking quietly, “you need to be a hundred percent sure of this. Her father is your boss. The biggest media mogul on the east coast.”
“I would die for her. Remember when you met Mom and you said you want to be the one who makes her smile?”
“Yeah.” His answer comes out soft as he probably remembers just that moment.
“Well, I want to do that. I’ve never wanted to do that before in my life, but with her I want to make sure she smiles all the time. I want to be the one who laughs with her, who wipes her tears, or who kicks the shit out of whoever makes her cry.”
“Okay, son, when do we meet her?” Just like that he doesn’t try to talk me down, doesn’t try to tell me how stupid it sounds that after three months I’m head over heels in love with a woman who was going to go away without me.
“I want to bring her home as soon as I can.” I’m almost home when I stop at the corner store and pick up a bouquet of pink tulips. “We are going to the west coast tonight, and we will be back next week.”
“Oh, we are going to my college friend Austin’s new restaurant opening on Saturday. Why don’t you come by?”