I swallowed hard, suddenly a thick knot in the center of my throat. Missing my mother had been a constant in my life since the day she died. But it had been years since the craving for a motherly bond was so…intense.
She swatted his thigh. “Don’t pressure me! You know I loathe planes.” She glanced at me before setting her gaze on him. “Though, I suppose if I had a good reason.”
“Watching me play in the finals isn’t enough?” He challenged.
“Grandbabies would be better. A truckload of them.”
Heat stained my cheeks so much it stung.
Eric’s went redder than his hair as he huffed. “Ma,” he groaned. “How many times do we have to go over this?”
“What?” she chided, the picture of innocence. “I don’t accept that you’re married to the game.” She used a mocking tone for the last part, and I couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Laugh it up, fuzzball,” Eric said, eyeing me as he walked out of the kitchen.
Star Wars jokes. Holy. Effin. Hot.
“He knows I’m just teasing him,” she said as we heard the front door open and shut. Then it was only a few heartbeats before Eric’s tall, muscular frame was hurrying through the snow to the shelter of the barn.
Damn that man was glorious even when walking away.
“I have to give him a hard time,” she continued.
“I support it,” I said, wrapping my hand around the mug and taking a sip of the cider. It was sweeter than syrup on a stack of pancakes with just a hint of spice. This was one-hundred-percent country living right here and I couldn’t feel more at home. What the hell was wrong with me?
“He wouldn’t like it if I treated him…” she slowly trailed her finger around the rim of her mug. “Well, if I treated him special.”
I tilted my head. “Because he is a huge NHL star?”
She rolled her eyes. “Heavens no!” she chuckled. “Though, I am damn proud of him. And he knows it.” She sighed. “No. He’s the reason this farm is still functioning. We wouldn’t have survived the last two winters without him. And I know he works so hard because of it…well, he’s always worked hard, but the way he helps us…” her eyes glistened, and that knot in my throat made a second appearance. “Anyway,” she waved off some imaginary offense. “He would hate it if I treated him differently because of it. He’s always told me that I raised him for eighteen years so anything he gives us is simply a return on investment.” She laughed, a rich, warm sound that I couldn’t help but join in. “Ed doesn’t know, of course.”
I hadn’t realized most of Eric’s income came here, but it sure as hell made a lot of sense now. His dedication to the game, his uncanny ability to stay off of social media and out of the bars, away from the bunnies and brawls.
Damn, no wonder Dad picked him to be my blocker. He had more riding on the game than the notoriety and thrill of victory.
I glanced out the window, peering at the barn like I could see through it.
My heart swelled despite me telling it not to.
Not only was he funny, gorgeous, a hero, smart, and the best kisser to ever take my breath away, he was a genuinely good man.
“Oh, you should have seen him on the ice that first time, Pepper!” Marie said through tears of laughter. We’d been mixing up pie crust and three different fillings for three hours, but it had gone by in a blink. “He was like a newborn deer!” She nudged me with her elbow, our fingers coated in flour, the kitchen practically intoxicating with the smells of sweet buttery crusts. “If Sports Illustrations would’ve asked me that week if I believed my baby boy would be a big-time NHL Shark, I would’ve laughed in their faces.”
My side hurt I was laughing so hard. Talking to Marie had proven easy, comfortable. Nothing like the nightmare I’d pictured on the flight over—worried they would hate my uber-nerdish personality. It rubbed people the wrong way sometimes. Or the fact that I wasn’t actually dating her son and yet he showed up with me to crash their family time. None of those fears proved feasible at all. Still, I never once considered I’d have such a good time, making pie crust and hearing stories about Eric’s childhood.
The realization hit me like a warm caress and settled in my chest. My heart whispered things, unimaginable things, and I quickly locked it up like an uncrackable safe.
I was simply drenched in nostalgia.
Swept away by the beauty and love surrounding this place.
Nothing. More.
“You finished with Pepper, yet, Ma?” Eric’s voice jolted me out of my thoughts. I turned, finding him leaning in that entryway, looking sexy as ever in a puffy-snowsuit and boots. He gaped at the apron around my waist while I gaped at him.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing,” he said, chuckling. “Flour looks good on you.” He stepped farther into the room, wiping some of the white dust off my cheek. I swear electricity crackled where he made contact with my skin.
“Yeah, we’re finished,” Marie said. “Just wrapped up the last one. Why? You have something important to do?”
“Yes Ma’am,” he said, his eyes pure mischief.
A bolt zapped my core, churning and aching and begging for another taste of this incredible man.
“Is that right?” I asked, washing the flour off my hands at the sink.
“Yes Ma’am,” he repeated, and a chill raced down my spine. “And you need to get out of those clothes.”
My eyes widened as I froze with the towel in my hands.
“Eric, stop teasing that poor girl,” Marie said, and my mortification went to an entirely new level. I knew this family was closer than any I’d ever seen but what the actual fu—
“I brought you a snowsuit,” Eric clarified. “It’s upstairs.”
“A snowsuit?” I blurted, the breath whooshing out of my lungs.
“Yeah,” he said, stepping so close I had to arch my neck to meet his eyes. He lowered his voice so only I could hear. “What did you think I meant, Pepper?”
I wetted my lips, my mouth suddenly dry. Had Marie turned the oven on again? It was at least ten degrees hotter than it’d been a second ago.
“Nothing, Iron Man,” I said, pushing him out of my way. The air in the dining room connected to the kitchen was much cooler. I glanced over my shoulder when I reached the stairwell. “Prepare to go down,” I teased, and it was his turn to gawk. I reached out and closed his opened mouth. “Snowball fight, right?”
He blinked out of his stare. “How did you know?”
I arched a brow at him. “I have a woman on the inside,” I said, winked, and hurried up the stairs like I was fourteen again, school canceled, nothing but a fun-filled snow-day ahead.
“You are such a cheater!” I hollered, ducking behind the fence post.
“You are!” Eric yelled, lobbing another perfectly round snowball at me that missed by an inch. “You have all the help!”
He wasn’t wrong there.
Eric’s dad, Edward, flanked my right, his toboggan covering his silver hair, while Marie had my right. Eric’s sister Faith, who had shown up just before we got started, hung by her dad.
“We couldn’t leave her with no cover, son!” Edward yelled before throwing a snowball toward where Eric crouched behind a row of hedges.
“Yeah, bro,” Faith hollered, her bright red hair peeking out underneath her bright blue beanie. “You’re like all of us combined! I’d say you have the advantage!”
I liked her immediately.
“Traitors!” Eric called, but I could hear the laughter in his voice. “I’ll take you all down before you get my flag!”
I shook my head, flashing Marie a can you believe this guy look. “We’ll see about that!”
This family. They were everything. They made snowball fights more complex by combining it with capture the flag. Whoever captured the opposing team’s flag was the first to be served at the dinner table for Thanksgiving.
Coolest. People. Ever.
And I felt damn lucky they’d include
d me at all.
“Marie,” I whispered so Eric wouldn’t dare hear us. “You lay down some cover. I’ll draw him out and give Ed and Faith the chance they need to steal his flag.”
“I knew I liked you for a reason,” she said, smirking before glancing at her husband. “Told you she wasn’t afraid of him.”
“How could I be afraid of a teddy bear?” I teased. “A six-foot-six teddy bear.” I exaggerated a fearful look, which got them all laughing.
“You’ve definitely pinned him,” Faith said, flashing me a smile. “Not many people can see past the primal giant male hockey star thing.”
I shrugged. “Dad’s a coach. I grew up around those types. Not all are what they seem.” I swallowed hard, the truth in those words catching up in my heart.
“Plotting is pointless!” Eric hollered, grounding me in the present.
“Better hurry,” Edward said. “I’m almost out of ammo.”
“On it.” I nodded to the three of them and then sprinted out of our cover with the team’s flag in hand. “If you want this,” I said, waving the flag at him. “Come and claim it!”
Eric darted from the hedges so fast I squealed before taking off in the opposite direction. Marie, the true teammate she was, lobbed ball after ball at Eric, but couldn’t make connection.
My borrowed boots crunched against the powder as I dug my feet in, racing away from Eric, but keeping steady enough that he stayed on my heels. Leading him far away from both our bases, into no man’s land.
It didn’t matter how hard or how far I pushed, Eric was there.
Fast and ferocious and when I couldn’t resist not glancing back at him, I stumbled.
Face first into a pile of ice-cold snow.