Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 90315 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90315 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
She nods and stares down at the page, taking it in.
“I love it so much, Lena. I love that you captured them when they were younger, from around the time when Ry and Gid came to live here. God, they look so happy.” Ray and Debbie are smiling at each other, his arm is around her, and they’re sitting on the big wraparound porch on this house.
“I thought it would bring happy memories.” I loop my arm around her shoulders, and she leans against me. “Do I need to tweak anything? Change anything? You knew them, and I want to make sure it’s as accurate as possible.”
“No.” She wipes her cheeks and continues to stare at the paper. “No, there’s nothing here to change. You’ll make the guys cry too.”
“I don’t necessarily want to make anyone cry. I just want Gid to like it.”
“He’s going to go crazy for it.” She takes one more look before I close the book and return it to my bag. “You know, his birthday is at the end of the month. That would be an incredible gift. If you want, I can order a frame for it so you don’t have to use his accounts.”
“That would be perfect. Thank you.”
We resume making dinner, and we hear the front door open and the guys’ voices carry through the house.
“We’re in the kitchen,” Willow calls out.
“Oh, good, you’re making my favorite.”
Willow gasps and spins, and then she’s crying again and running to Aiden, who’s standing just inside the doorway. She wraps her arms around him and squeezes him, and he wrinkles his nose, as if he’s only tolerating the hug because it’s from her.
“Surprise,” he says when she pulls back to look up at him. “I came home for a couple of days.”
“You don’t have a game this week?”
“Not until Monday,” he says and smiles at me. “Hey, Lena.”
“Hey, Aiden, welcome home.”
“So that’s where you two ran off to,” Willow says to Ryker and Gideon, who are both grinning at her proudly.
My man is seriously a smoke show when he smiles.
“Someone had to get the kid from the airport,” Gideon says as he ruffles Aiden’s hair and then walks over to kiss my forehead. “You okay?”
“I’m great. So how’s hockey?” I ask Aiden. “Do you love it? Is everyone being nice to you? Do we have to kick someone’s ass?”
Everyone stares at me for a minute, and I shrug.
“What? They better be nice to him. Because if they’re not, I have a lot of new skills that are going to waste right now.”
“Good girl,” Gideon whispers in my ear.
Ryker smirks at me. “He’s a rookie. They’re giving him all kinds of shit, Lena. That’s how it works.”
“But I’m also really good at my job, so they’re not giving me too much shit. It’s all pretty much what I expected. Met a girl.” He shrugs as if it’s no big deal, and Gideon and I grin at each other.
“Name. Age. Job. Tell me everything,” Willow says.
“Do you want her Social Security number and blood type too?” Aiden asks. “Maybe some tax returns and her family tree?”
“I can find those things out for you,” Gideon adds, and Aiden smirks. “It’ll just take one phone call. I don’t even need her full name.”
“That’s kind of scary,” I decide, watching my man, and he turns to me with a raised eyebrow. “Do you know everything about me?”
“You’re fucking adorable,” he says and kisses the tip of my nose.
“Is that a yes?”
Everyone laughs, and I decide to take the focus off me and shift back to Aiden.
“What’s your girl’s name?” I ask Aiden sweetly and wink at Willow.
“Miranda,” Aiden replies and finds a cookie in the pantry. “She’s forty.”
Now, we all stare at him because I know for a fact that Aiden is only twenty.
Willow sputters, and both of the guys start shaking their heads.
“Wow,” I say, the first to find words. “Okay. What does she do?”
“She’s some kind of entrepreneur. Met her after a game.” He bites into his cookie. “Super rich. So I decided that I’d quit hockey and let her be my sugar mama. The sex is fucking out of this world. Older women know what the fuck they’re doing.”
I start to laugh, but everyone else is stunned speechless.
Aiden’s smirking behind his cookie. “You guys are too gullible. She’s twenty-one, and she’s a barista. She works in the iceplex.”
“What’s the iceplex?” I ask as the tension in the room evaporates and Willow pulls out a bottle of wine, making me smirk. Poor mama bear just had a stroke.
“It’s where the team has practices and stuff,” Gideon tells me, rubbing circles on my back. “It’s big, with restaurants, shops, several rinks for practice. But it’s rented out for leagues and such as well. We’ll visit sometime when we go to watch his games.”