Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
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Classic rock blared through my earbuds as my feet pounded against the forest floor.
Dead leaves and twigs crunched beneath my sneakers as I pushed myself harder than I had since I got to Hope Valley a month and a half earlier.
The cold sweat on my skin felt good, proof of the work I was putting in.
I’d learned a long time ago to read my body, and I knew what it could handle.
I was almost back to one hundred percent, and damn, did that feel good.
My breath came out in puffy clouds thanks to the low temperature, but seeing as my job required I work on ice, the cold wasn’t a problem.
It felt damn good to run again. To push my body in a way I hadn’t been able to in months.
And it helped that the scenery all around me was beautiful enough to take my breath away.
When I mentioned to Raylan I was looking for a few trails near the cabin I was renting, he had several suggestions, paths that cut through the dense forest and led up into the foothills.
DC had absolutely nothing on the beauty of Hope Valley.
It was damn near everywhere you turned. The longer I stayed in this town, the more it was starting to feel like where I was supposed to be.
Coming down the incline from the foothills, I picked up the pace, running at a full-out sprint once the cabin came into view. As I rounded the side of the house toward the front, I saw an unfamiliar car.
I barely had a moment to wonder who it could be when a familiar voice called out. “Looks like all that cold mountain air’s been agreeing with you, brother.”
A huge smile broke out across my face as Luke rose from where he’d been sitting on the front porch steps.
A laugh burst free, echoing through the trees.
“What the hell are you doing here, man?” I asked as I pulled him in for a back-slapping hug.
He returned it, giving my back a good few smacks before we broke apart.
I grabbed his shoulders, giving him a little jostle to make sure he was real.
“What do you think I’m doing here? Someone needed to check on your ass, make sure you haven’t turned into some kind of crazy, reclusive mountain man up here.”
I chuckled and gave his shoulder a light punch. “Didn’t we just talk on the phone a few days ago? If I’d gone mountain man, you’d have known it.”
He grinned and lifted his shoulder in a shrug. “Okay, fine. Maybe I missed your geriatric ass.”
I let out another bark of laughter. “Geriatric, huh? I could still beat your ass any day of the week.”
Luke’s grin widened as he clapped me on the shoulder. “No doubt about it. Man, it’s really good to see you.”
“It’s good to see you too. Really fucking good. How long are you here?”
“Just the weekend. We head to Tampa Monday.” I would have been lying if I said I wasn’t a little bummed it wouldn’t be longer, but that was part of the job. Until the regular season ended, you were on the go more often than not. There wasn’t much time off.
“Well, either way, I’m glad as hell you’re here now.”
“Glad to hear it. So how about you let me inside so my balls can defrost, huh?”
I let us both into the house and headed right for the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of water out of the fridge and sucking down half in a few gulps.
Luke was slower to come in behind me, his head on a swivel as he took everything in. Dropping his duffle bag on the ground by the island, he let out a low whistle. “This is some place, man.” He turned in a slow circle, his gaze pointed at the windows as he moved. “Views everywhere you look.”
I grabbed a second bottle and tossed it to him. “Tell me about it. Seems kind of unreal, right? Turns out, the owners of this place are moving across the country later this year, and they’re looking to offload. I was thinking about making an offer.”
Honestly, in the past month and a half, this place had started to feel more like a home to me than the apartment I had back in DC. I might have lived there longer, but in all those years, I never had the desire to make the place my own. It was cold and impersonal. This place was nothing but warmth.
He nodded, then moved to one of the stools around the island and took a seat, twisting his water bottle open and taking a swig.
“Think you’d be stupid not to. Lord knows you have more than enough money to buy yourself a vacation home.
Even a rustic mountain mansion in the middle of the woods,” he teased.
The sip of water I’d just taken hardened and hit my stomach like a rock at the words vacation home, but I pushed the discomfort down for another time. “So, how are Alice and the kids?” I asked, shifting gears and guiding us to a new topic. “She still putting up with your ugly ass?”
Luke grinned and flipped me off. “Everyone’s great. Alice made sure to remind me repeatedly to give you her love and to get your ass home soon.”
I forced my mouth into a smile. “Send my love right back to her.”
Luke’s eyebrows lifted on his forehead, his grin turning knowing. “Don’t think I didn’t miss how you skated right around the second part of her message.”
A chuckle worked its way up my throat. I should have known better. If there was one person aside from my mom I couldn’t get shit past, it was Luke. He knew me too well.
“What can I say? I’m enjoying myself.”
“I bet.” His gaze returned to the windows. “I can see why you like it here so much. Saw it just driving through town. Couldn’t get over all those mountains. Place kind of reminds me of being inside a snow globe.”
“Yeah, it really does. And the people are great. They know exactly who I am, but they don’t treat me any differently than anyone else. They couldn’t care less what I do for a living. Gotta tell you, it’s been a relief.”
“Tired of all those adoring fans?”
I arched a brow. “You mean the fans who like to stop me in the middle of the street and tell me what a fuck-up I am any time I miss a goal?”
He snorted, all too familiar with what I was talking about.
He got it regularly as well. We all did.
“Everyone’s a critic.” He finished off his water and underhanded the empty bottle into the recycling bin beside the trash can.
“I’m glad you’re feeling the love here, but I’m more interest in one specific person, not the whole town. ”
“Oh, I see how it is. You’re not really here for me. You only came to meet Holly.” Not that I minded. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind she’d win him over in a matter of seconds. “If you want to meet her, just say so.”
“I want to meet her,” he said without hesitation. “McClusky and Lee are jealous as hell I’m going to meet her first.”
There was no point in delaying their meeting.
Luke could be a persistent asshole when he wanted to be.
And when it came to the people he cared about, there was no stopping him.
“All right,” I gave my head a good-natured shake.
“She’s at her shop today, but I’ll give her a call and set something up. ”
“Jesus,” Luke grunted, scooping salsa onto another chip and shoving it into his mouth. “Have you tasted this shit?” he asked around the food in his mouth. He’d barely swallowed the last bite before cramming another into his mouth.
“How could I? You’ve been shoveling the stuff into your face so fast I haven’t had a chance.”
He didn’t look the least bit apologetic as he stuffed another chip in. “This is the best salsa I’ve ever tasted.” Another bite. “You think if I asked really nice, they’d give me a couple gallons of this stuff to take home?”
Dear lord. My best friend was going to send Holly running with the way he was eating. “You think you could cool it for five minutes? The last thing I want to do is have to Heimlich your ass because you choked on Mexican food during a short vacation you’re not even supposed to be on.”
He picked up another chip, shooting me an unrepentant look as he scraped the damn salsa bowl clean. “Cut me some slack, would you? You know we never get to eat like this during the season.”
He was right. Eating during hockey season wasn’t about enjoying food, it was about fueling us enough to get us through each game.
Some of the guys stuck to a macrobiotic diet while we were playing, but we all made sure to eat as clean as possible.
Alcohol was out of the question, so a meal like this was a real treat.
“At least close your damn mouth when you chew. And, for the love of God, stop talking with food in your mouth.” I spotted a flash of something sunny out of the corner of my eye and turned just as Holly reached the hostess stand.
“Holy shit.” The humor in Luke’s voice had my head twisting back in his direction. “Look at you. You’re fucking sprung, man.”
I didn’t bother denying it, mainly because it was true. Instead, I pushed to my feet, waving my hand to get her attention. The instant her eyes hit mine and that brilliant smile lit up her face, my blood heated and my cock twitched, desperate for her like it always was.
My lips turned up automatically in response to her own. It was always that way. The more time I spent with her, the more my own mood mirrored hers. That was why it was so fucking hard for me when she’d had that migraine the other week. Seeing her in pain like that nearly fucking gutted me.
“Hey, Sunshine.” I reached for her as soon as she was close enough, pulling her against me so I could seal our mouths together.
I managed to end the kiss before I could do what I really wanted and spread her out on the table so she could be my dinner, and when I finally pulled back, that pink blush I loved so much had bloomed on her cheeks.
“Hi back,” she replied.
A throat cleared behind me, and I turned to shoot Luke a look that would have made most other people piss their pants. The bastard gave me a smug grin that I was tempted to punch off his stupid face.
“Holly, this pain in the ass is my best friend, Luke Christof. Luke, this is Holiday Bradbury.”