Page 138 of Securing the Pucking Rebound

A frown wrinkles her brow. “But I haven’t done⁠—”

“Trust me, darlin’. You’ve done more than you could ever know. The weeks after my injury…well, they weren’t good. I was drowning in fear, but you…you’ve stopped me from obsessing over what my future might look like. You’ve shown me that life is about so much more than a game, that happiness doesn’t just come from wins and cups.”

Sienna immediately puts the lights down and marches toward me. She throws her arms around my shoulders and stretches up on her toes. “I think these past few weeks have been pretty awesome, too. You’re pretty awesome,” she adds before slamming her lips down on mine.

39

SIENNA

“It’s so pretty,” I breathe as I stand and stare at my tree. The warm white lights twinkle, giving the room such a cozy glow, and the decorations are perfect. “I’m so glad you made me do this,” I say to Calvin, who’s in my kitchen cleaning up after dinner.

My eyes move from decoration to decoration, the warm and fuzzy feeling in my chest only growing.

I startle when he steps up behind me, his hands landing on my hips before sliding around my stomach, holding me tightly against him.

“I knew that corner was made for a tree,” he murmurs, the top of his chin resting on my head.

“Yeah.” I sigh, sinking into his warmth.

“I’ve got one more for you, though,” he says cryptically.

“One more what?” I ask, ripping my eyes away from the tree and spinning around to face him.

He reaches behind him with one arm, then reveals a small gift bag.

“What did you do?” I ask, making him chuckle.

“It’s just…well…” He pushes the gift into my hands, encouraging me to open it.

Excitedly, I do exactly that.

Inside the bag is a small, wrapped gift, and I immediately rip into the tissue paper.

The moment the content is revealed, a laugh tumbles from my lips.

“Do you like it?”

Forcing myself to look up at him, I find the most adorable blush heating his cheeks.

“I saw it in the store and⁠—”

“Why were you in the team store?”

His face flushes harder. “Because I’d heard the guys talking about them having these,” he confesses.

I hold my newest tree decoration between us, watching as it spins on my finger.

It’s a wooden LA Vipers jersey with the number ninety-one with Keller written across the top.

“I love it,” I state, lifting my attention to him.

“Really?” His embarrassment washes away, replaced by his standard cocky smirk.

“Yep. It’s going pride of place.”

I spin on my toes and hang it front and center on my tree. Okay, it pains me to do it, because now some things aren’t evenly spaced, but I figure that I’ll fix that later.

Calvin’s arms come around me once again, and he holds me tight as we both admire my tree.