Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 113072 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113072 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
“Know what?” He shoves his hands into his pockets.
“Way back then—did you have any idea that you’d become one of the highest scorers in the big leagues and own a sweet apartment in the sky? Did you feel certain? Or was it just a dream?”
Believe it or not, this is one of the burning questions in my heart. Because there were moments in my skating career when I was sure I’d win it all, and there were moments when I had the confidence of a soggy napkin at a barbecue. And I’ll always wonder whether my lack of faith is what did me in.
“No way, Zoe.” Chase looks up at me with a quiet gaze. “I didn’t know a damn thing back then. No matter how good I was at faking it sometimes.”
“Oh.” Our eyes lock, and the past seems nearer right this second than it has all evening. “Thanks for dinner.”
“It was really my pleasure,” he says quietly. He turns toward the street. “Night, Zoe.”
“Night!” I say cheerfully. As if spending time in his aura weren’t exhausting and heartbreaking in equal measure.
I expect him to walk away. Instead, he takes two quick steps and pulls me into a tight hug. I’m enveloped in his warmth, and that familiar scent of spice and leather. For a split second I’m frozen, but then my body melts against his chest like it remembers exactly where it belongs. The steady thump of his heart echoes through me, and I have to close my eyes against the wave of yearning crashing over me.
Being held by Chase feels like coming home. It feels like being eighteen again, when everything was possible and my heart was still whole.
When he finally releases me, I’m a little unsteady on my feet. He gives me one last look, something unreadable flickering in his eyes, before he turns and walks into the night.
I stand there watching him go, wondering if I’ll ever stop missing him even when he’s right in front of me. Then I go upstairs to my dark little apartment and try not to brood.
Chapter 31
Nine and a Half Years Ago
It’s twilight by the time Chase parks the truck outside a trailer that serves as a campground office. “Wait here a second?” he says, and Zoe gives him a nod.
He knows her so well that he can tell she’s nervous, even if she won’t say so.
So he’s nervous, too. Nervous, but also unavoidably turned on. It’s a heady cocktail, and he barely absorbs the instructions he’s given by the old man in the trailer. “Glamping tent number eight. End of the gravel road. Park and take a left down the trail.”
Luckily everything is well marked. “How did you find this place?” Zoe asks as he kills the engine in the gravel lot.
“Uncle Google told me about it,” he says, snapping the keys from the ignition. “And it’s Sunday night, so there was plenty of availability. But, Zoe…” He chooses his words carefully. “If you’d be more comfortable sleeping in your own bed tonight, I won’t be offended. Promise.”
“No way,” she says, putting a hand on his arm. “This is our one chance. I mean…” He can see her cheeks turning pink, even in the low light. “Look, I’m sure you can tell that I’m not exactly…”
She looks to him for help, but he doesn’t say anything. Not yet. She’s going to have to say what’s on her mind, because he does not want to get this wrong.
“I have no experience, okay? None.” She crosses her arms over her chest and flushes even more deeply. “But I want to be here. With you. Tonight.”
“Okay,” he says softly. “Still. We don’t have to—”
“Oh yes we do,” she says firmly. “Unless you don’t, um, want to.”
He lets out a strangled laugh. “That won’t be our issue. Trust me.” He gives her a cheesy wink and then puts a hand on her knee. “I just want you to be comfortable.”
“Fuck comfortable,” she says, and he instantly loses a hundred brain cells just watching her pretty mouth say fuck. “You and I don’t do comfortable. We go after the things we care about. And I care about you.”
Damn. His body fizzes with heat as he leans over to give her a soft kiss. Just for saying that.
Except it’s not a soft kiss, because she grabs him by the shoulders and gives it right back to him.
A minute later they’re hardcore making out, and his body goes from zero to sixty faster than a muscle car. He has a few vague thoughts about the proximity of the back seat before he gets control of himself and sits back. “Okay, let’s find tent number eight,” he says, his voice more broken and desperate than he was shooting for.
“Let’s,” she agrees.
Outside, he takes a minute to unload all his supplies and calm down. Even though Zoe made her wishes clear, he’s not going to maul her like a beast.