27. Chapter 26
Carter
C oming home from the road trip and seeing just how broken Siobhan was since her photos had been smashed, I knew I had to do something special. My first instinct was to ask Natalie to help organize something, but that seemed wrong. I can’t use my sister to woo the woman of my dreams.
The trickiest part was the rules laid out by Lou and her new security team.
We needed to keep her safe, and they seemed to believe our relationship was a bit of a trigger for everything.
So that meant not going out in public. We’ve had to vary our routines and start using rental cars, which meant I needed to woo her at home.
Even before entering into a secretive relationship, I wasn’t someone who would kiss and tell or even bounce dating ideas off the guys in the locker room.
At most, I would just bring a girl back to my room in front of Spence.
This meant having to find inspiration on my own.
Since I wasn’t going to start reading my sister’s romance novels for inspiration, it meant I had to turn to Pinterest or TikTok.
While Pinterest was more old school, it seemed like the quickest way to find ideas I could actually use without being distracted by other things the algorithm liked to serve me, like hockey trick shots, workout routines, or recipes I would never ever make.
Right away, I found a few articles about date nights in. The one that caught my eye was the fondue and s’mores night. That sounded like fun.
As I looked online to secure the fondue pot, I found a place that had everything available, and it would take only fifteen minutes to set up. It sounded perfect. They even had a game attached, called the Game of Fondue. It sounded perfect.
I ordered a bunch of dog beds that looked like massive pillows. That way, I could create a bit of a pillow fort for the two of us.
The moment I got home, I read through the directions for the two fondue pots.
I decided not to heat up the chocolate pot right away.
Instead, I took out all the food that was meant to be dipped in the cheese.
The instructions seemed simple enough, and since it was supposed to take only fifteen minutes to cook, I went to work on the pillows.
First, I pushed all the furniture in the living room to the walls except for the coffee table.
Then I set up the pink, gold, and white dog beds around the coffee table.
It looked pretty cute, although it didn’t have some of the coziness that I saw in the photos.
Apparently, the blanket overhang would make it super cozy, but I had no idea how to string it up.
I pulled out my phone to look at the time and realized there was a text from Siobhan.
On my way home. Be there in about twenty.
I pulled out the pink and purple flowers from the fridge and set them on the coffee table.
I know the florist tried to tell me that I was friend-zoning Siobhan, but they matched the pillows and were Siobhan’s favorite flowers.
I would rather give her all her favorites than red roses that she hated just because they were the symbol of love.
I went to the kitchen to prepare the fondue. It seemed pretty foolproof, and I thought it would work out pretty well. I just hoped it tasted as good as it smelled. Then I brought everything over to the coffee table.
I heard the garage door open and thought it was perfect timing. As much as I wanted to greet her, I knew security would be first, and then it would be just the two of us. So I took the extra time to fiddle with the dipping platters.
Sure enough, Lou came in first and scanned the area. When he saw my setup, he smirked and gave me one of those ‘you’ve done good ’ nods.
Siobhan walked in behind him in the cutest outfit that just set off her whole body. She was wearing a cropped white sweater that showed off her toned belly with black leggings that just hugged her ass. Her long blonde hair was perfectly curled, and I wanted to play with and tug on it so damn badly.
Her eyes were so bright with excitement when she saw the setup in the living room. “What’s all this?”
“Our date night in. Come sit," I told her.
If we weren’t sitting on pillows, I would have pulled out her seat like a perfect gentleman. Instead, I held my arm out for her to stabilize herself as she lowered herself down to the ground.
“This is so cute.”
But I realized I forgot one crucial thing. The pinot noir. “Stay right there. I’ll go get our drinks.”