Page 45 of Any Second Now (Fort Collins Blizzard Hockey #2)

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RALEIGH

“ K ellen and Lucy want us to come over for dinner tonight,” Atticus says.

“If you’re up for a trip to the suburbs after we all help you unpack for a few hours.

” Atticus leans against the doorframe of the kitchen in my new one-bedroom apartment, watching me unpack one of the boxes that just arrived.

After I decided I was staying in Fort Collins, I got on a plane back to Connecticut—with Atticus.

We spent a week in my house, packing and donating and cleaning so it could be put up for sale.

Atticus paid to have a bunch of my boxes driven out to Colorado, and some went to a storage unit.

It was therapeutic having him there with me as I sorted through all of the things in that house.

So much was left over from my marriage to Jacob, and some stuff even from my first marriage.

I donated almost all of that, especially what I couldn’t use right away here.

And when the moving van arrived in FoCo yesterday, Atticus ran up and down the stairs—why doesn’t this building have an elevator?—along with Lachlan and Barrett.

Mom was really down when I told her I was staying in Colorado, but she said she’d come visit whenever she can. Her first trip is already planned for Thanksgiving when she knows she has time off.

She’s nervous I’m going off-spreadsheet and will ruin my life plan.

She’s nervous I’m going to marry Atticus and repeat my mistakes.

Somehow, I’ve managed to convince her to trust me to handle my own life. Probably because I’m a grown-ass woman who can make her own decisions.

And by the time she comes to visit, I should have a lineup of completed cross-stitch hoops for sale at Rocky Gifts, the gift shop in Fort Collins that I visited last week with an example hoop.

They said they’d love to carry some hockey-themed hoops.

Maybe that’ll make her smile. Or roll her eyes. Hard to predict.

“Sure. Can we stop at Bri’s to go visit Megghen and Peggy?”

“Obviously.” He cracks a smile and crosses his arms.

“I can’t wait to meet the new chicken.” Bri got Megghen a friend, and her daughter named her Peggy. She was so excited to explain to us that she chose that name because it had egg in it, just like the way I chose Megghen’s name.

“Kellen is bringing a bunch of eggs for us.”

“Ha. I bet Bri doesn’t have the problem of them laying eggs all around her house like I did.” I grab the scissors and slice open the next box. “I miss Megghen.”

I’m lucky Megghen got a good home with Bri. But one of the biggest conundrums I had with the whole staying-in-Colorado thing was what to do with the Pink Palace. I still had—have—buyers interested in her, but once that one couple talked about painting over the mural? I couldn’t handle it.

Luckily, I have a rich hockey player boyfriend who is more than happy to pay the fees at an RV storage park right outside of Fort Collins.

We have tentative plans to travel next summer in her, but Atticus declared that with my permission, he was going to completely gut the Pink Palace and make it as luxury as possible inside, including adding the most comfortable bed we can find that’ll fit in the tiny bedroom.

“Have I told you how incredibly hot you look wearing my jersey?”

“You have, actually.” I look down at the purple and yellow Blizzard jersey, at least two sizes too big, hanging below my shorts and making it look like I’m wearing nothing else. And yup, it’s got more than just a player stitched on the back under his name. “I need one a little smaller for games.”

“I’m on it.” I glance over at him and his eyes are dragging down my body. I know that look. I freaking love that look. It means he has something in mind for the near future that involves me wearing nothing at all. Waves of heat wash over my body. I try to shake it off—we have company arriving soon.

“And you’re really going to live here instead of with me, huh?” His eyes finally meet mine, but he remains where he is in the doorway.

“Yes.” I pull out a stack of plain white dishes and sigh. Why did I pick out the most boring dishes ever when I married my first husband? But for now, they’ll do. “We are only like five blocks from each other.”

“I’d rather have you with me. In my bed. At all times.” Atticus stalks toward me and takes the dish out of my hand and sets it on the counter before pulling my arms up and around his neck. “I can’t believe you lived with me for weeks and after all that sex and love you’re still leaving.”

After we got back from Connecticut, I stayed with Atticus until my apartment was ready.

I finally relented that his bed is really much more comfortable, so we chose to stay at his place over the Pink Palace.

I felt all sorts of things when we moved her out of the campsite to the storage facility.

That RV and the campsite meant a lot to me.

It was even hard to say goodbye to Elizabeth, who had been keeping an eye on the Pink Palace while we were away.

She and her husband and their dog, Tuna, were heading back to Cincinnati, and she invited us to come visit sometime and watch an FC Cincinnati soccer game or a Cyclones minor league hockey game.

“The sex and love has been amazing, and you can have me in your arms whenever you want.” I lean up to kiss Atticus and can feel him smile against my lips. “But it’s been my fantasy for a decade to live next door to Lucy again.”

It really felt like fate when Lucy called me two weeks ago to tell me her neighbor was moving out soon and the building manager hadn’t filled the apartment yet. We get to live next door each other, almost as close as we were as college roommates.

The only person missing is January, but she promised to come see us. Unfortunately, that might be soon as her grandmother’s condition continues to deteriorate.

“I’m glad you’ll have Lucy next door. Hockey starts soon. I’ll be away a lot.” Atticus presses his forehead against mine.

“And I’ll be here when you’re not away.” I weave my fingers into the back of his red curls, tucked beneath his backwards baseball cap.

“Just don’t be too depressed without me.” Atticus gives me a crooked smile.

I huff. “I’ll keep busy enough.”

After Atticus and I officially reconciled, I called my boss at the pharmacy the next day. It was only a week before I was supposed to come back from my sabbatical.

I was really going off-spreadsheet, but I had a plan.

While I’ve got enough money saved to sustain me while I take some time to figure out what I want to be doing with my life, I need health insurance and some other kind of stability. Stacey made a call—okay, a lot of calls—and connected me with the regional office of our pharmacy.

One of the Fort Collins’s locations happens to need a part time pharmacist.

I’m going back to work twenty hours a week at the pharmacy.

That’ll give me time to fulfill the influx of orders I’ve received after the latest video Atticus and I made went viral. In this one, he first showed up shirtless. I made him go grab a shirt, but left the footage in the video.

I’m not surprised a million people—and counting—watched it.

“Do you remember what you said to me on New Year’s Eve? When you were still resisting me?” Atticus slips his fingers under my shirt and onto the skin of my waist. A shudder vibrates through me.

“Hmm, not exactly, but we can reenact the situation.”

I squeal as he lifts me up and carries me over to the wall in my small kitchen, gently leaning my back against it as I slide my feet to the ground.

“I definitely had you pressed up against the wall,” he says, looking down at me.

“I think one of your hands was here.” I push his hand up until it’s above my head and my body immediately heats at being in this position with him.

“Is this right?” Atticus practically whispers, tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear. He’s so close I can feel the warmth of his body. I let out a little sigh.

“Once and never again. That’s what I said.” I run my hands up his hard chest, so glad that I was wrong. First and forever would’ve been a better phrase for what that kiss started.

“You did say that, huh.” Atticus leans down and presses a kiss on my neck.

“And you agreed.” I can’t stop the ragged breath that escapes my mouth .

“Then you called me a chicken, which, in hindsight, is hilarious.”

I huff out a laugh that gets cut short when he kisses my neck again, this time with his mouth open. Atticus can’t keep his hands off me, and I can’t keep my hands off him. I know we’re in the honeymoon period of our relationship, but I’m loving every single second of being his girlfriend.

There’s a knock on my door and it opens immediately.

“Hello!” Lucy calls out. “We’re all here to help!”

“Hey Lucy,” I call, trying to regulate my voice. “Guess this is to be continued,” I whisper to the gorgeous man who has me trapped, pushing against his chest.

“Fuck that, let’s tell them to leave.” Atticus hasn’t move his mouth from my neck.

“Gross,” Lucy says as she rounds the corner. “I love that you two are together, but I don’t need to see my little brother making out with my best friend.”

I push Atticus away and laugh. Kellen appears behind Lucy and lays his arm around her shoulders.

“I’ve got a dozen eggs. They’re warm, which is kind of gross.” Kellen glances behind him. “Couldn’t get Barrett or Lach to come help, but we did bring the grumpiest man on earth. He’s parking the car.”

“Harley,” Atticus states. I grab the eggs from Kellen and slide them into the refrigerator.

“Yep.” Kellen looks over his shoulder again, as if Harley will secretly appear behind him. “Between the breakup and moving down to second line, he’s a disaster. Not that he’ll talk about any of it.”

Harley is such a nice guy, I feel awful he’s going through so much right now.

“He better pull it together in the next few weeks though…” Atticus trails off when we hear footsteps through the op en door.

“Hey.” Harley appears, nodding at me politely. “How can we help?”

I point to a few boxes stacked on the kitchen floor and the three of them get to work. I definitely could’ve done all this on my own, but it’s nice to have the help. This group of guys acts like a family, and between them, Atticus, and living next door to Lucy? Nothing could be better.

Well, that’s not exactly right. If January were here with us, it would be perfect.

When I left Connecticut in June to drive across country, I had no idea what I was doing. I just knew I wanted to be someone other than myself for a change. I wanted to do some things that the old Raleigh would never do.

Okay, so maybe driving an RV and learning to do cross-stitch isn’t exactly the most adventurous thing anyone has ever done. But it helped me break the routine of my life so I could truly find myself.

I open a smaller box on the counter next to the one with dishes—this one came from Pink Palace via Atticus’s apartment—and pull out the large completed cross-stitch that’s right on top. Atticus steps behind me and slides an arm around my waist before peeking down at what I’m holding.

“I wish I hadn’t screwed up the parts I stitched.” There’s a smile in his voice.

We’ve been working on this one together over the past few weeks. I won’t sell it or post it online.

It’s our cross-stitch.

It’s us.

“It’s perfect.” I look around. There’s an existing nail on the wall above the kitchen entrance. There’s a lot of leftover hooks in this place—the last tenants didn’t leave it in the best condition. “Can you hang it?” I nod to the empty space, way higher than I can reach.

Atticus takes the hoop from my hand and easily hooks it onto the nail. He steps back, and it’s a little crooked, so he gently nudges it until it’s exactly right.

The quote is way too long, which is why I picked a jumbo hoop for the project.

Atticus reaches for my hand and I meet his eyes with a smile before looking at the hoop.

It says: Home is: chickens, hockey, the Pink Palace, zombie movies. And us .