Page 29 of Breakaway (Nashville Knights Hockey #3)

Chapter Twenty-Nine

CHLOE

“ Y ou know, you didn’t have to do something off my list,” I say. “Especially since you don’t like heights.”

Dax burrows in closer behind me. “I wanted to. This was the best thing I could think of to get away from everything that is happening.”

“I still think it’s unfair you got a two-game suspension. I mean, how many players fight during the game and nothing happens?”

“It’s because play wasn’t going on,” he tells me, not for the first time.

“I hate that you got suspended, but he deserved it.”

I still don’t know what Duncan said, but I can only imagine. Dax is the most even-keeled person I know. He hardly cusses and is always one to tell you how he feels. He doesn’t react.

For him to have done that? I can fill in the gaps as to what Duncan said.

“It is what it is.”

“At least Duncan has a gnarly bruise.”

Dax laughs behind me as a blue and yellow balloon is unfurled in front of us. The sun isn’t even up yet as the two of us wait for our hot-air balloon ride.

Dax found a place outside of the city. Waking up far too early, with mugs of coffee in hand, we made the drive, wanting time for the two of us.

“Does it make you feel better that he didn’t give me one?”

“Yes.” I lean back and kiss him on the jaw.

“You two ready?” the balloon pilot asks. A stocking cap covers his head and a jacket is zipped up to his chin. There’s a bite to the air this morning.

“Yes.”

He goes over a quick safety brief before we climb into the basket. The crank of the fire filling the balloon takes over as we lift off the ground. The field and the trucks below us get tinier and tinier as we float into the sky.

I shift behind Dax, whose knuckles are turning white on the rim of the basket.

“I’ve got you.”

Squeezing my front to his back, I peer out around his arm to see the city sprawling out beneath us.

“It’s not that bad.”

“Do you want to let go?” I ask.

“No,” he answers immediately, although one hand clings to my forearm.

“I won’t let anything happen to you.”

With just the sound of the burner going, it’s peaceful this high. We move up and down, following the river.

“I find myself doing lots of new things with you lately, Sunshine.”

“What’s your favorite?” I ask.

“Do you really have to ask?” He looks over his shoulder at me.

“Let’s not say that one out loud,” I whisper, looking at the pilot of the balloon behind us. He doesn’t need to know what we’re both thinking. “Give me your second favorite.”

“I’d have to say zip-lining.”

“Does this mean you’re starting to like heights?”

He shakes his head. “No. But I liked getting to do it with you.”

“It was quite nice to feel you wrapped around me.”

“Kind of like right now.”

His body shakes with laughter. “We really shouldn’t keep going down this train of thought.”

“You’re right. Can I tell you my favorite memory of us then?”

“Do I know this?”

“No. It was after your grandpa broke his leg and you were out of school helping him.”

“You bringing me my homework is your favorite memory?”

I swat his chest. “It was after he moved back home when he was better. We went canoeing that day in the mountains.”

“It was hot as hell and we forgot the cooler in the car.”

I nod. “We had nothing and were dying of heat and finally jumped in the river and ended up losing one of the paddles.”

“I’m glad you didn’t put canoeing on your list,” Dax says. “I’d do it with you, but I wouldn’t be happy.”

“Oar or not, that was one of my favorite days. We didn’t have a care in the world back then.”

“I think my only worry was if you liked me.”

“I happen to like you now,” I say, resting my chin in the center of his chest. “A lot.”

“Ditto.”

I snuggle into his chest as he drops a kiss to my head .

With the two of us up here, it feels like we’re in our own bubble. That the rest of the world won’t touch us.

As soon as we land, all of our problems will still be there.

Dax’s suspension.

Duncan and his vitriol.

No one said love is easy, but I wish it wouldn’t be this hard.

But if this is what it means to be with Dax, I’ll take it. I’ve never felt so loved or so wanted as I do when I’m with Dax.

How can one person make you realize everything you’ve been missing in your life?

Whatever comes next, I’ll do anything to protect what Dax and I have.

Because it’s worth everything.