Chapter 39
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
CHASE
“Where are we going?” Addison asked from the passenger’s seat of my truck.
After an awkward goodbye with Levi—he definitely still wanted to punch me, but he’d come around eventually…
just not so soon after witnessing his freshly fucked sister stumble out of my back seat with me at her heels—and verifying Aiden had the resort handled for the night, I’d dragged my girl out of there with one destination in mind.
“Our place.”
She snapped her head in my direction, brows up. “Our place?”
Shrugging, I navigated the truck up the winding path toward the cabin. There was no use denying it—I’d built the home with her in mind. With our forever in mind.
Since day one, she and I had always been the end goal.
The logistics of it didn’t matter—I didn’t care how we made it work, just that we did.
Same as now. Whether we lived in the cabin or used it as a getaway and made the main inn at the resort our permanent residence, that was up to Addison.
I’d follow her, just like always. And barring any unavoidable travel, I didn’t plan to spend another night away from her. Not when she was finally mine.
“You didn’t think I built this huge house for just me, did you?” I asked.
She huffed out a breath and rolled her eyes. “I have no idea why you do half the things you do.”
“Then let me clear it up for you, firefly.” I put the truck into park and cut the engine before leaning on the center console toward her. “I built it for us. But mostly for you.”
She blinked at me. Opened her mouth. Blinked some more. Then she sputtered, “You what?”
I breathed out a laugh and pressed a quick kiss to her stunned mouth before climbing out and heading to her side. When I opened her door, she was still sitting there, shell-shocked. And impatient.
“Explain,” she demanded.
“Bossy.” I reached around and unbuckled her seat belt before tugging her out of the truck and straight into my arms, her ass cupped in my palms. “Let’s get you inside first.”
“Don’t try to distract me with your giant man-hands copping a feel.”
I squeezed her ass for emphasis, smiling when she grumbled but ultimately hooked her arms and legs around me.
“You love these giant man-hands. And me, rumor has it. Pretty sure that’s what the Gazette is running for tomorrow’s headline.
Addison McKenzie Declares Her Undying Love for Hockey Heartthrob Chase Lockhart. ”
“‘Hockey heartthrob’?” She snorted and rolled her eyes. “Someone’s been spending too much time Googling themselves. And if you don’t tell me what you meant, I’m going to take back my declaration.”
“Can’t. Cat’s already out of the bag. I now know exactly how obsessed you are with me.”
She gasped. “I’m obsessed? You’re the one who built a whole house for me, apparently.”
“Apparently,” I agreed, opening the front door of said house and carrying her over the threshold, grinning the whole way. “I’d do it again, too.”
“What you’re going to do is tell me what you meant. Be serious. You did not build this house for me, Chase Matthew.”
“Middle-naming me isn’t going to change the fact that I absolutely did, Addison Grace.
” After setting her on her feet, I shrugged out of my coat before tugging hers off too.
And then I led her into the great room, dropped down on the couch, and pulled her straight into my lap.
She settled in like she belonged there, her legs on either side of mine, hands resting on my stomach.
With a raised brow, I asked, “You think that soaking tub with a view of the ocean in the primary bath was for me?”
She opened her mouth to respond before promptly snapping it shut, the divot between her brows deepening.
“It’s so you can relax once in a while and maybe kick your stress-ball habit. The heated floors? Because your feet are always so fucking cold. The mini freezer stocked with literally only your favorite ice cream? That’s all you, baby. Should I go on? Because I can do this all night.”
“But…” She darted her gaze over my face before glancing around at the home I’d had built for her. For us. For our future family that I wanted to be a reality sooner rather than later. “Chase…they started building this place last summer.”
“And?”
“And…we weren’t even speaking then.”
I cupped a palmful of her ass and squeezed. “You weren’t speaking. I was pouring my heart out from a blocked number, remember?”
She dropped her forehead onto my chest and groaned. “Oh my God, you’re never going to let me live that down, are you? I told you it was Avery! If I’d known, I’d—”
“Stop.” I chuckled into her hair, pressing a kiss on the crown of her head. “It doesn’t matter. Whatever happened needed to happen to get us where we are now.”
“And where’s that?” She sat back to meet my gaze, all humor wiped from her expression. In its place was uncertainty. Fear. And I hated that she felt either when it came to me. To us. “How do we do this? How do we make this work if you’re not in Starlight Cove?”
“First of all, it doesn’t matter if I’m in Starlight Cove or Santorini. Hell, I could be on fucking Mars. Because in every city, in every state, in every country…in every fucking galaxy, I’m yours, firefly. I’ve been yours. I’ll always be yours. And no amount of distance will change that.”
She sagged, melting against my chest, and shook her head, eyes soft as she stared at me. “Oh, that was good. Really good. Did you rehearse that?”
I laughed. “No, you beautiful little brat. It just came to me.”
“Well, it’s definitely going to get you laid.” As if to prove her point, she rocked over where I’d been half hard for her since she’d sat in my lap and grinned. “Before we get to that, what’s the second thing?”
I reached up and cupped a hand around the nape of her neck, running my thumb along the underside of her jaw.
Now that she’d told me she loved me…now that everything was out in the open, I was so fucking desperate to hold her and kiss her.
To fuck her slow and sweet, cuddle her to sleep, and then wake up with her wrapped around me in the morning and do it all over again.
Every day for the rest of my life, if I was lucky.
I somehow had the privilege of calling this beautiful, strong, passionate, fiery, dramatic, loyal, loving, perfectly imperfect woman mine.
And I sure as hell wasn’t going to leave again now that I’d gotten her.
“I’m not going back.”
She stared at me, her mouth slack, eyes pinging between mine. Then she gave a little shake of her head, as if she was trying to make sense of what she’d heard. “You’re what?”
I shrugged. For all the time I’d spent angsting over my future since I’d been home, this decision had been easy in the end.
I chose Addison. But I chose myself too.
I chose the future I wanted…the life I’d spent the past decade dreaming of.
Working my ass off for. And now it was finally time to live it.
“I’m staying in Starlight Cove. Permanently. ”
“But… But your career!” Addison nearly shouted. “Hockey heartthrob, remember? Not to mention—”
“My knee.” The admission of my career’s inevitable downfall came easier, now that I no longer felt the weight of the unknown hanging over my head.
Now that I’d made a decision for the future, and knowing the choices I’d made along the way had led me right here.
To this moment. With her. “I can’t cut it professionally anymore.
Not with my knee like this. And I don’t want to have another surgery that’ll buy me maybe a year to play, tops.
All at the possible—maybe probable—expense of mobility for the rest of my life.
I don’t want that. It’s not worth it. Not when I want to be able to roll around on the floor with our kids and teach them how to skate. ”
“Putting the cart before the horse there, aren’t you, buddy?”
“Firefly, I’d knock you up tonight if it was possible and you’d let me.”
“Okay, settle down, Mr. Horny.” She held up her hand as if to pause the conversation, but I could tell from the flush on her cheeks and the heat in her eyes that she wasn’t so opposed to the idea, and my cock twitched in my jeans. “You love hockey.”
“And I had ten years of loving it professionally. But I can still love hockey from here. All while I explore other things…”
“What kinds of things?”
I shifted to pull my phone out of my pocket and navigated to my photo app. I pulled up the picture I wanted—a rough sketch of the resort grounds, how it existed currently…and what I hoped to add to it. The plans I hoped to put in place.
“What’s this?” she asked, brow furrowed as she studied my phone.
And then slowly, her features changed as realization dawned.
As she recognized the main inn, the cottages, the rink…
Her home, just reimagined. Revitalized. She met my gaze, eyes bright, hope shining through. “Is this what I think it is?”
“I don’t know. Do you think it’s a multi-pad ice-skating complex with renovated bunkhouses, a brand new Zam-bone-her shack, which I plan to take full fucking advantage of frequently, and a renovated main building, all of which will hopefully house the future Lockhart Hockey Camp for kids?
” I gripped her hips and tugged her closer, relishing in how perfectly she fit against me. “Then yeah, it’s what you think it is.”
“Seriously?” she asked, not bothering to tamp down the excited note in her voice. “You’re expanding that area into something year-round?”
“Some of it. The rink—our rink—will stay the same. Just for use during winter, but it could be renovated. Brought back to life how it used to be when your mom was here.” I gripped her hip, slipping my thumb under the hem of her sweater and running it along her skin.
“But that’s only if the missus gives me approval to do so. ”
She breathed out a watery laugh, her eyes growing glassy as she stared at me with happiness and so much love. “Can’t be your missus if we’re not married.”
“You still don’t get it, do you?” I held up my left hand, showing her the roman numerals inked on the underside of my ring finger. “I’ve been married to you for ten years in all the ways that count, firefly. A piece of paper sure as hell isn’t going to make it any more official to me.”
I cupped her face, pulling her close for a kiss, and poured everything I felt for her into it.
Into every brush of my lips, every stroke of my tongue, every murmured word against her mouth.
“I love you, Addie. I’ve loved you for years.
And I’m going to love you for decades more.
Right here in the cabin, or right there at the resort,” I said, gesturing to the photo on my phone. “Your choice.”
“I thought we already covered this.” She laid her hand on my chest, over my heart. “I love you, too. And it doesn’t matter where we are. Here, there…anywhere. I’m yours. For as long as you’ll have me.”
“Forever, then?”
She beamed at me and leaned forward, resting her lips against mine as she whispered, “Forever.”