We could hurt each other.
Our kiss ends with Jim screaming for someone named Savannah. “Savannah, is that you?” he yells from the living room.
Sam stills in my arms, closing her eyes as she lets out the breath of air she was holding. “He does this every time. He gets so drunk he thinks my mom is still alive.” A tear slides down her cheek, and as it does, I wipe it away with my thumb.
“I’m here, Sam.” I kiss the spot on her cheek where the tear once was, making my way down to her jaw, planting soft kisses everywhere. “I’m here for you. I’m not going anywhere.”
“You’re too good to be true,” Sam whispers, her eyes open and wet with tears. “Sometimes, I think I’ll blink, and you’ll disappear. It freaks me out that I need you, Tucker.”
“I need you, too, Sam, and not for the selfish reasons you might think.”
She smiles, wiping away her tears with the back of her hand. “I was so afraid to bring you here, but now I’m happy I did. Thank you, Tucker.”
I plant a quick kiss on her lips. “Thanks for taking a chance on me.”
She smiles against my lips. “The best decision I’ve ever made.”
Just like that, I know that I’m in love with Sam. She took me by surprise. But I’m glad she did because I couldn’t imagine spending another second of my life without her.
Chapter 23
Sam
My nipples are like daggers from the chill in the rink. No matter how hard I try, I can’t get warm by rubbing my hands together.
“Is this your first time here?” Bex, Preston Parker’s girlfriend, asks me.
“Yes,” I say, my teeth chattering.
Bex laughs. “I can tell.” She lifts the scarf on the bench between us and offers it to me. “Here, this should help.”
She’s pretty, blonde, built like an athlete, and close to six feet tall. Bex is relaxed and far too comfortable wearing only a Strick U hockey sweatshirt and jeans. On her other side, her friend, Taylor, looks like she’s never spent a winter in the city. With two layers of clothing beneath her coat and a scarf wrapped around her mouth, she sits with her gloved hands in her pockets, rocking back and forth from the cold.
Bex follows my line of sight. “Taylor is from California. She’s still not used to the cold.”
“She must stay indoors all winter long, then.”
“I try,” Taylor mutters through the fabric covering her mouth. “But Bex makes me endure every single game.”
“Please.” Bex chuckles. “You’re here to watch Drake play, not to keep me company.”
“Maybe a bit of both,” Taylor admits, keeping her eyes on the guys playing hockey. “Drake looks good in his uniform.”
Jemma, Trent’s pregnant girlfriend, taps my thigh to gain my attention. “Trent told me about your first date with Tucker. He pulled out all the stops, huh?”
“Tucker shocked me,” I admit to Jemma. “Who knew he could be so romantic?”
Jemma moves her hand to her stomach and smiles as if in pain.
I lean in closer and ask, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” She closes her eyes for a second and then opens them again. “I get these weird pains sometimes. Probably just gas or something.”
Bex leans over me to talk to Jemma. “You need me to go get Doc?”
I assume she’s talking about the team doctor. Bex knows everyone in the building, from the people who scanned our tickets to the team staff.
Jemma laughs, rubbing her growing belly. “He’s an orthopedic surgeon. I don’t know how much he could do for me. I’m sure it’s nothing. Trent damn near loses his mind whenever I have the slightest discomfort, but there’s nothing comfortable about being pregnant.”
