Season's Schemings (Cyclones Christmas, #1)

by Katie Bailey

But I’m a grown, married woman doing nothing wrong… So why do I feel like I’m a teenager, tipsy off a wine cooler and caught making out in the backseat of my car?

“Say sorry to the families of elk in the woods whose eyes you’ve scarred with your rampant floozying,” he says wickedly, quiet enough that it’s for my ears only. I have to laugh. “Sorry, elk.” “Good.” Seb’s eyes are dancing. “And now, apologize to the bears.” “Wait. Aren’t the bears hibernating right now? You’re Canadian—shouldn’t you know that?” The look he gives me sears me to the core. “I think we woke them up.”

“That kiss was well worth their wrath to me,” Sebastian responds with a smile. It’s a beautiful, dazzling smile—one that signals that he cares not one iota about what everyone else thinks, because he’s totally, solely, wholly focused on me. “And for you… worth it?” I grin back, not even having to think about it. “Worth it.”

And then, I’m excited to come home to Maddie afterwards. To see that freckle-faced, green-eyed, beautiful girl smile at me every damn day.

“You never looked at me the way you look at him!” Adam suddenly blurts angrily.

I wrap my hands around Adam’s arms and shove him, hard as I can, into the refrigerator, which wobbles as I pin him there. My hands fist in his shirt as I hiss in my most low, vicious voice, “Don’t you ever speak to my wife like that again, understand?” “I-I-I-understand!” Adam spits out. But I’m going to need more than his understanding. “Apologize,” I demand. “I’m s-sorry, Maddie.”

But he looks at you like… like everything you say is the most interesting thing in the world.” “Really?” Jax raises his eyebrows cheekily. “Yeah, I don’t get it either.” “Har har,” I drawl, crossing my arms.

“Sit.” “Bossy much?” “Woman, do you want hot tea or not?” “Want!” I immediately relent, dropping my butt into the chair.

like being your wife, Seb,” I find myself saying. Because I do. I love seeing him like this, learning all the secret sides of him that nobody else gets to see. “And I love being your husband, Maddie,” he replies simply. Casually. Like he didn’t just seamlessly weave a four-letter word into that sentence that makes my heart thump in double time.

He tilts his head slightly and there’s a beat of silence as his blue eyes meet mine. “I don’t know what I’d do without you in general, Maddie.”

Until Maddie came along and rearranged everything. Now, my happy place isn’t a place, per se.

Sebastian Slater! This is a workplace. Am I going to have to call HR on you? Sure. You can tell Adrienne about how skilled I am, both on and off the ice. *GIF of Jake Peralta saying “I have no idea what you’re talking about right now”* *GIF of Jake Peralta saying “I love your face and I love your butt” SEB! Oh, please, you know you love the NSFW comments. You’re right. I really, really do.

“Well, Captain, it’s that… I think I might have accidentally fallen in love with my wife.”

Maddie is my WIFE. And even when presented with the perfect contract that fulfills all of my hockey dreams and aspirations, she was the one giving me pause. For the first time in my career, I put something other than hockey first. Wasn’t selfish… Because I’m in love with her.

Now, I’m a married man and Maddie comes first. She’s home to me.

I look up sweetly at the man I’ve been calling “Dad” for most of my life. “Actually, Richard, what’s interesting is that you have a totally loveless marriage, and so you assume that everyone else must, too. But guess what? I love Sebastian.” Saying the word out loud makes me feel shaky. But it’s the damn truth, and I’m here to speak my truth. All of it. “And Paul.” I turn to my ex’s dad. “What’s also interesting is that your son had a totally loving relationship that he abandoned to chase someone who could further his career. And so you must assume that the next man I fall for would be a self-serving narcissist, too. But Sebastian’s nothing like Adam.” I smile. “Thank the Lord. So, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and Screw You Very Much.” With that, I skip away into the crowd, feeling two sets of shocked eyes fixed on my back—which bears the name Slater, of course.

“You’re what’s best for me, Maddie,” he says simply.

He pauses for a long moment, his eyes searching mine. “I love you, Madelyn.” His voice is full of emotion as he stares down at me, and I practically choke, my throat raw. “I love you too, Sebastian.”

“Madelyn Louise Grainger Slater… will you make me the happiest man alive and do me the honor of continuing to be my wife?” “YES!” I practically scream through my tears. “Yes, yes, a million times yes!”

She nuzzles her nose into my shoulder. “Don’t go propositioning any new wives at hotel bars, you hear me?” I tug gently on the ends of her hair. “Never. I’m a one-wife kinda guy.”

“Ain’t no bears in Georgia,” I reassure her. “Yeah, there are.” She peers at me, crossing her eyes. “Are you sure that you’re actually Canadian? Because your bear knowledge is pretty appalling.”

Now, I know that I wasn’t ever actually searching for the perfect contract, I was searching for her. Hockey is just the icing on the cake, the extra. She’s the actual entire freaking recipe.