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To all my readers in their hockey romance era. Me too, friends. Me too.
I feel like this was made for me
You stole my parking space. I’m face-to-face with a beautiful woman—one I’ve thought about more than once since I first met her a few months ago—and that’s the first thing that comes out of my mouth. You. stole. my. parking. space.
“He totally just looked up here. Also significant: Nathan is a defender. That kind of hotshot scoring move isn’t exactly his M.O.” “Which means what?” She gives me a pointed look. “Which means I think he was trying to impress someone.”
Summer Callahan does not find me the least bit intimidating. Instead, she seems to find joy in sparring with me, even provoking me. I like it way too much. Pretty sure that means I’m in serious trouble.
“I could have handled Dominik,” I say, though I’m anything but disappointed Nathan is here instead. “I don’t doubt it,” he responds. “But just because you can doesn’t mean you should have to.”
Am I a strong, independent woman? Absolutely. Does it feel amazing to know this man has made an effort to protect me? To demand better behavior from his teammate? Hell, yes.
I love that about her.
I guess it’s good one of us isn’t scared—because she scares the hell out of me.
“That’s a nice picture,” he says, his voice low, and the compliment warms me from the inside out. “Yeah, but which one am I?” I ask. He immediately taps on the left side of the screen. “That’s you.” I lift my eyes to meet his. He’s right, but he didn’t even hesitate. How could he tell? He must see the question in my expression because he shrugs. “Something about your eyes.”
Then he pulls a bag of Peanut M&Ms out of his back pocket, holding them up. “I thought since you said you weren’t above bribery…”
“I’m sorry for even being here. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.” His lips lift in a tiny smirk. “Waking up to you did not make me uncomfortable.”
“Kiss me,” she repeats. “If you want them to know you’re spoken for, then show them you belong to me.”
the past forty-eight hours, my relationship with Summer has gone from zero to sixty. We were friends before—sort of. Now, the entire world thinks we’re together, we’ve kissed, we’re sharing a bed, and she knows about my brother, something I hadn’t even told my teammates before the reporter brought it up and forced my hand. I don’t need a rule book with this woman, I need a survival guide.
“I loved knowing you were watching,” I admit,
What I don’t do is smile. Not because I don’t feel like it or because I’m not having fun. But because I know Summer’s watching for it. It’s a game between us now, and I have no intention of making it easy on her. Maybe because I don’t want her to stop watching for it. I don’t want her to stop trying to earn it.
Summer I’ve been watching for a smile, hoping I’ll catch it on the sly, but you guard those things closely. Makes me wonder what made you smile the first time. Nathan You know what made me smile. Summer Do I though? Nathan You were there.
Also. You looked beautiful. Saying that as a friend.
Nathan What would I do without you? Summer Probably play terrible hockey. Nathan Probably. Summer And never smile. Nathan Definitely not.
You’re staring, Callahan.
Summer You think? I’ve got this (fake) boyfriend who plays on the team. I’m wearing his jersey. Nathan Turn around and let me see. Summer If this is just an excuse to check out my butt, I’m fake breaking up with you. Nathan Summer. Let me see my name.
“I don’t…want you to go,” he says, and my hand stills. “I just…think you should go because of how much I want you to stay.”
“Because I like everything about you.”
I hold on and hope that eventually, I can figure out how to be enough. How to be what Summer deserves.
“Nathan, I’m in love with you,” I blurt out.
He spins around, fire flashing in his eyes. “Of course it’s what I want,” he says, his voice broken and husky. “It’s never been a question of desire. I wanted you the moment I laid eyes on you, and I’ve wanted you every moment since.”
“I love you, Summer,”
love you. And I’m sorry I didn’t say it before. I was scared and overwhelmed and those are the kinds of feelings I’ve been running from for a very long time. But I’m done running. I know I haven’t been seeing things right—that I’ve got some messed up ideas about relationships. But if you’re still willing to gamble on someone as screwed up as I am, I want to try. I want to try to love you like you deserve.”
“I don’t deserve you. But I’ll spend every day trying to live like I do.”
“Summer, there are a lot of things that I owe to you. You taught me what it means to be a partner—to love and to be loved. You’ve made me a better friend, a better brother, a better son. You’ve made me more patient and more forgiving. I know it’s only been eight months, but I feel like I’ve done more living in those eight months than I did in the eight years before. You woke me up, Sum”—he grins here—“both literally and figuratively, and I would love to spend the rest of my life making you happy. Will you marry me?” I tug on his hands, pulling him to his feet, and wrap my arms around his neck.
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