“Okay. Uh…I grew up in a three-bedroom semi-detached house on the outskirts of London with my parents and my older brother. All very normal and boring, I guess, except for the fact that both me and my brother ended up playing professionally, but in completely different sports. Brayden was into hockey from a really young age, and I was into football. That meant my parents had to spend most of their free time driving us around, separately, taking him to hockey and me to football. I played for my school team and my local under twelves team, and I was lucky enough to get spotted by a scout when I was eleven. See. Not very interesting.”
“It’s interesting to me. What happened after you got spotted by a scout?”
“I ended up getting picked up by the Spurs youth academy—uh, Tottenham Hotspur football club—and made my way through the ranks. It didn’t work out professionally with Spurs, and I was gutted at the time. Playing for a decent Premier League club was my dream ever since the first match my dad took me to when I was five. But I signed with Watford and played there for a couple of seasons until they sold me to Fulham. Then you know the rest.”
“And now you’re getting to realise your dreams.” Cody’s voice was soft.
“Yeah.” Realising one but losing another that I hadn’t even known I had until I’d met him.
My stomach growled, and Cody laughed, lightening the heavy atmosphere. Hearing him laugh—it made me so fucking happy, and a grin spread across my face.
“I think we should order room service breakfast,” I said, disentangling myself from him so I could grab my phone to scan the QR code that accessed the menu. “Anything you want?”
“Bennies, if they do them.”
I stared at him, my brows raised. “Bennies? What the fuck is that?”
“Bennies. Eggs Benedict.” He smirked at me. “Self-explanatory, isn’t it?”
“Uh, no. Maybe if you’d said, ‘eggs Benny,’ I might’ve got it.”
“Eggs Benny.” Shaking his head, he swung himself off the window seat. He was still smiling, and it made my whole chest feel warm.
Scanning the menu, I took in the myriad of breakfast options, finding the eggs Benedict for Cody, and selecting a muffin with eggs and chorizo for myself. Adding two coffees and some orange juice, I charged it to the room and then threw my phone onto the bed.
I strode back over to Cody, planting a hard kiss on his mouth. “Morning blow jobs, before the food gets here.”
His gaze went from amused to heated as his tongue slid across his lips. “You read my mind.”
22
Cody
Istill couldn’t believe Jude had brought me here, but somehow, he’d known exactly what I needed. He’d effortlessly broken through my bruised, battered defences and shown me that I didn’t have to be alone.
It was going to make it so much harder when he left, but I refused to think about that. Today was about me and him, making the most of this unexpected experience together. We’d taken a look at the activities available around the lake, and when Jude’s eyes lit up at the mention of canoe rentals, the decision was easy.
“I haven’t been in a canoe since I left Vancouver,” I said as we clipped on our life jackets.
“I haven’t ever been in one.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. There wasn’t much time for canoeing when I was consumed with football. Oh—there was a school trip where people went canoeing and rock climbing, but I had the flu, and I missed it.” His mouth curved into a pout, and I brushed the back of my hand against his, the most I dared to do in public.
“That means you get to have your first time with me.”
His pout instantly disappeared, replaced with another one of his easy smiles. “That’s another first you’re claiming from me, Clements.”
“You love giving me your firsts, Nielson.”
“Yeah, I do.” His smile widened, and my heart stuttered. Again.
We lowered ourselves into the canoe and pushed off from the dock. Lake Louise stretched out before us, shimmering turquoise surrounded by mountains and deep green forest.
Jude glanced back at me as we came to a stop in the middle of the lake. “How is the water this colour? It honestly doesn’t seem real. I thought the pictures must’ve been Photoshopped or something.”
“Not sure. Something to do with the sediment from the glaciers, I think. We can google it when we get back to the hotel.”
