Not if I have anything to say about it.
Chapter Twenty
BEXLEY
The biting sting of the air hits me in the face as I step out of the car. The clean mountain air is refreshing as I spin and take in the small A-frame cabin. Snow covers the green roof.
We’re in the middle of nowhere. It’s one of my favorite parts of coming out here.
No press. Not putting on a show for anyone. No incessant answering of questions that I continuously have to answer. Just me and the place that soothes my soul.
And Nick. I’m grateful that he came here with me. I want to show him the place that means so much to me becausehemeans so much to me.
“This is where you spend your free time?” Nick asks, coming around to meet me, slipping into his coat as I zip mine up.
“It doesn’t look like much from the front.” Linking hands with him, I pull him toward the stairs of the front porch. Snow is piled on both sides, but there’s a small walkway shoveled out for us by the caretaker of the place when I’m not here.
Punching in the code to the door and swinging it open, it smells like home. A mix of pine and fresh air that always clears every thought in my head as soon as I step foot inside.
Natural wood lines the interior. Being a smaller house, it’s an open floor plan. A full-size kitchen with black marble counters is on the left with a cozy living room on the right. Photos of Dad and me with Mom line the wall above the stone fireplace. A set of stairs behind the kitchen lead up to the only bedroom that looks down over the living room.
Off a narrow hallway is the only bathroom and the back porch with the most incredible views of the forest beyond.
“It belonged to my mom,” I tell Nick as he sets our bags down next to the pile of wood at the door. “After she died, my dad didn’t want to change anything.”
“I think it’s perfect.”
It warms my heart to hear him say that. I’ve never brought anyone out here before. This place is sacred to me. To my family. It feels right to have Nick here to share it.
“C’mon. Let me show you my favorite part.” I drag Nick down the long hallway and push open the back door.
“Wow.” His bright-blue eyes take in the deck that opens to a large, frozen pond. A hot tub takes up one side, and an empty firepit sits at the end of the stairs. “I can see why you like coming here.”
Resting my elbows on the railing, I gaze out at the undisturbed land spread before me. “It’s the one place that doesn’t ask anything of me. Where I can be myself.”
Warmth engulfs me as Nick comes up behind me. I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. “You know I don’t ever expect anything of you, right?”
Spinning in his arms, I look up at the man casting a long shadow over me. His nose is tipped red from the cold, and his eyes are attentively gazing at me.
It has my breath catching in my chest—the intensity with which he’s looking at me. I shouldn’t be feeling this.
Whateverthisis.
He’smyplayer.
But it’s hard to stop the feelings from growing and blooming in my chest.
To the outside world, Nick Brooks-Young is the stoic goalie of the Colorado Black Diamonds. A force to be reckoned with in the crease. Never one to back down from a challenge.
To me?
He’s one of the only people to see me for me. Not as the GM for the Black Diamonds. Not as a woman in a position of power.
“I know.”
It’s all I can say. Because everything else feels too big.
His warm hand cups my cheek before he dips down and presses a kiss to my lips. One that has butterflies erupting in my chest and my body leaning into his.
