The memory makes my jaw tighten as I guide Peyton through the airport beside me.
Every decision I’ve made about Peyton since the moment I met her is something I shouldn’t be doing.
I’m focused. Determined. Level-headed. Except when I’m around her.
Then I don’t know what the hell I’ve become.
Not only did I follow her to Key West to save her from her ex, but when she got the call that a hurricane destroyed her apartment, I boarded a damn plane with her and flew to Florida.
When she learned the full extent of the destruction, she broke.
And I was there to catch her.
And when she sobbed that she was homeless with nowhere to go, I didn’t hesitate to tell her she was going to be living with me. Temporarily, of course.
I’ll never hear the fucking end of it from my teammates.
I recruited Connor and Allie Byrns to go to my cabin, get my truck, and leave it at the airport for me. And though Connor would do anything for me, he also has the world’s biggest mouth.
The asshole created a group text with Ford Brooks, Cole Kingston, Jake Monroe, and me and named it “Avalanche After Dark.” The damn thing’s been lit with shit like, “Goalie’s gone for the cheerleader,” “Cinderella captured the goalie prince,” and “No longer guarded—the goalie who opened his heart.”
These fuckers must secretly read romance novels.
Or else Gram is telling them what to say.
Either way, it’s annoying as shit. And not at all true.
Again, I don’t do relationships. Peyton just brings out the same protective instincts my mom always did.
Peyton says something beside me, but I barely hear it over the noise in my own head.
She needs help... and she doesn’t have anyone.
Until me.
My mom would be proud of me for helping her. She’d also be proud that she’s far more influential on me than that bastard of a man who fathered me.
The man who ruined my fucking life.
I spent the entire flight in turmoil, torn between my thoughts and Peyton.
Every time she shifted in the seat beside me.
Or took a drink of water.
Or stared out the window.
Or looked at me.
Or fucking breathed.
I kept telling myself I was just making sure shewasokay. She’d had a really rough life lately.
My anxiety calmed, and things were going just fine.
Until the damn plane hit turbulence and Peyton started panicking.
At least, this time, it didn’t end with our mouths fused together and our bodies melded together.
