Page 129 of One Good Puck
I smile at how passionate she is when she speaks—at how much she’s defending me.
I shrug. “That’s the nature of professional hockey. You can perform at the top of your game for years, but all it takes is one screw-up to lose it all.”
Her eyes go glassy. “That’s not fair. You’re a good guy, Gavin. The best guy. You stand up for what’s right, no matter what. And the guys on the team love playing for you.”
I cup her cheek in my hand, heartened by how deeply she feels for me.
“Hockey isn’t fair sometimes. That’s all it really boils down to,” I say.
She kisses me, then hugs me tight.
“Enough about my mess. How’s Emma? Did she have fun at the winter carnival with her friends?”
A soft smile pulls at Abby’s lips. “Yeah. A blast. She had a tummy ache from all the cotton candy she ate, though. I had to give her ginger ale to settle her stomach before shewent to bed.”
I chuckle. Abby’s gaze turns focused. “I told her about us being in a relationship.”
My nerves kick up. “What was her reaction?”
Abby’s eyes light up when she smiles. “She was so happy. She said, ‘I’m glad Gavin is your boyfriend, Mom. He’s really nice to you. And he smiles at you a lot. Can we get a puppy?’”
My head falls back as I laugh. “Damn. She didn’t waste any time.”
“I told her no, of course. Not right now.”
I kiss her again, joy and relief setting in my chest that Emma is happy that we’re in a relationship.
When we break apart, she hands me the grilled cheese on a plate. “You should eat after the day you had.”
I demolish the sandwich as Abby puts together a small charcuterie board for us to share. We stand at the kitchen island, talking and eating and stopping to kiss every so often.
That warm feeling inside of me burrows deeper. Yeah, my career is a mess right now. But I don’t even care. I have Abby in my life. I have her amazing kid in my life too.
I gaze at her and soak in this moment. The way her eyes light up when she laughs. How comfortably she moves in this space. How she leans her hip against the counter, like she’s done it a million times. Like she belongs here.
I want her here with me forever.
Emotion swoops through me, and my breath gets stuck in my lungs. For a moment, I’m overwhelmed by my feelings for her.
And that’s when it hits me. I’m in love with her.
I swallow hard, letting the wave of emotion swell through me.
When I lost Nicole, I never thought I’d fall in loveagain. And that was okay with me. I felt so lucky to have the time I had with her.
But then Abby came into my life, and I couldn’t help the feelings I felt…I couldn’t help how hard I fell for her.
She aims those sparkling hazel-green eyes at me and smiles. “You okay?”
I clear my throat. The urge to tell her that I love her hits me like a freight train. But I can’t. We only just decided to make our relationship official. I need to slow down. Saying that I love her now will probably overwhelm her. It might even scare her off. No way do I want to do that.
So I just cup her face in my hand and drop a gentle kiss to her lips and say, “I’m perfect.”
Because I am. And I don’t mind waiting just a little while longer before telling her exactly how I feel.
Chapter 50
Abby
