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"And if the tours fail? If no hockey team ever calls again?"

"Then I'll haul trees and annoy you forever. You. The answer's you, Audrey. Every question. Every damn time."

I brush snow from her cheek.

"I love you. And I know it's fast, I know it's insane, but… it's Christmas, right? So what if we just met? I love your loud opinions and your ruthlessness and your filthy mouth and the way you make broken people see possibilities. I loved all of it from the moment we met."

Audrey’s lips twitch. “That's because you met my nipple before you properly met me.”

“I loved her first,” I admit, smirking. “But the rest of you caught up quickly.”

She laughs through the tears, and stares at me like she's not sure she should say what she's thinking.

"I love you too," she says eventually.

I kiss her beneath my great-grandfather's tree, soft at first and then she grabs my coat in both fists and kisses me hard enough to make the cold completely irrelevant.

Which is exactly when my phone starts vibrating.

We break apart, breathless as I pull my phone out and see a new text message glowing on the screen.

BIG MIKE: Miles, meet me at Leopard Den. Tomorrow. 8 AM sharp. Bring Audrey. This concerns both of your futures.

Audrey looks up at me. "What did you do?"

"Nothing. I gave up the biggest contract of my life today. I'm clean."

But standing beneath my great-grandfather’s tree with Audrey’s hand tucked inside mine, I’m not worried about what the billionaire wants.

For once, I already know what I want.

Whatever Big Mike wants tomorrow will have to fit around her.

Chapter 20

Audrey

There are several reasonable ways to begin the morning after your new boyfriend rejects an NHL contract and admits he loves you.

Breakfast in bed… Shower sex… Possibly both.

But walking into an empty hockey arena to meet a billionaire at eight in the morning would not make my list.

Yet here I am.

I walk into the empty Chilmore Snow Leopards hockey arena beside the man who just rejected a professional contract and declared his love beneath a sixty-foot Christmas tree.

Honestly, Christmas in Chilmore just keeps getting better.

Miles keeps one warm hand wrapped around mine as we follow a staff member wearing a purple Santa hat through the private entrance of the Leopard Den.

I've never been in a place like this. It's enormous.

Thousands of seats disappear into darkness above us, while fresh ice gleams beneath the arena lights. The enormous Snow Leopards logo stretches across centre ice, while Christmas garlands wrap the private-suite railings and maintenance crews test the scoreboards with a rotating display of festive graphics.

One screen currently shows a leopard wearing a Santa hat that matches the man in front of us.

The next reads MILES STRATTON — REPORT TO SUITE SIX.