Page 35

The door clicked when I scanned the digital key, opening to a mini suite.

I had no words for the sophistication that waited just inside.

If this room had a name, it’d be called ‘modern luxury’ without hesitation.

A soft, easy color palette and high-end furniture.

No one could call me a connoisseur of the finer parts of life, but even my untrained eyes figured this out pretty quickly.

Two beige leather armchairs rested on either side of a round two-person, glass-topped, dark-wood-stained table over by the first bank of floor-to-ceiling windows, and a soft- blue, crushed velvet sofa—or it looked like crushed velvet from here—sat opposite the chairs.

A large flatscreen rounded out the space.

Our suite came with a separate bedroom. A dresser and large closet space, but the king bed stole the show.

Reece and his kings. I shook my head, but then I ran, leaping onto the bed, landing on my back.

I bounced, squealing like a pig in my excitement.

How would I ever go back to real life after this trip?

How would I go back to real life after Reece?

That thought reeled in my excitement. I couldn’t allow myself to think those kinds of thoughts because I knew the deal and I’d agreed to it.

My phone rang. Jaycee. “Meet us downstairs. We’re heading for dinner and then for shopping!

” she yelled the last part into the line.

I’d never been much of a shopping-for-fun kind of girl.

My mom and I never had a lot and I’d really only bought things for Benny or Claudia after moving to Charleston.

Even so, I was on vacation. Maybe I’d let myself splurge on something small.

A trinket to remember this trip by. Dinner, I could get behind.

My stomach grumbled, reminding me that we hadn’t eaten since lunch.

Before leaving, I checked myself in the mirror to make sure I looked presentable enough.

Unless the other women had changed without telling me, I thought I’d still fit in.

Pretty cute, even. Makeup done. Eyebrows on point.

Navy, A-line skirt hitting right at mid-thigh, navy tank top, and a cream, one-shouldered crop blouse that matched my cream-and-gold thong sandals.

Purse and phone in hand, I left the room, heading for the lobby.

Given none of us were dressed for a night out on the town, the women voted for one of the off-site buffets.

The décor reminded me of like a palace in France with all the open, bright spaces, thanks to the chandeliers and wall sconces.

It looked as if every major cuisine in the world found itself represented inside these walls.

It also came with a pretty hefty price tag.

Although it physically hurt me to pay a hundred and fifty bucks for a meal just for myself, I refused to be the party-pooper of the group, whining about how I couldn’t afford it. I’d figure something out.

But here was where Reece surprised me again. When I opened my purse to pull out my credit card, I found one of those prepaid cards with a note taped to it in Reece’s handwriting. It said: Have fun .

That man. He just kept upping his game, and he absolutely didn’t have to. It wasn’t like he had to worry about losing me. Our verbal contract made sure of that. So with nothing for it, I paid for my meal ahead of time, per the hostess’s direction, then followed the rest of the women to our tables.

I sat across from Jaycee and Lexi—who joked about their husbands being top scorers—both already flagging down the waiter for their wine.

For the first time in my life, I tried king crab legs. And abalone. And giant sea scallops. But the lobster tail was life-changing.

“Grant’s the center,” I stupidly reminded Jaycee.

They both chuckled at me in that ‘ she’s so sweet ’ kind of way.

“Someone needs to pay attention. We weren’t talking about on the ice.”

Right. “Then I’d be careful. You play stupid games, you win baby showers.”

“She had to go there,” Jaycee said playfully to Lexi.

“I don’t have that problem,” Lexi countered. “After I had Nicky, Tony took one for the team. Team Jones, that is.” Nicky was her and her husband’s son. They also had Marissa, their daughter, who was three years older than their son, Jones had told me one time in the locker room .

“What about you?” Lexi asked, causing me to choke on my bite of food.

Me? “What about me?” I asked. I wasn’t stupid. They both knew I wasn’t stupid, but that topic was not my reality.

“Think you and Baker will ever have one together?”

“It’s a bit early to think about that,” I responded in what I thought to be a perfectly calm, reasonable answer.

“Look at her blush,” Lexi went on. “She’s totally giving him babies.” Blush? Was I blushing? That wouldn’t work.

“Listen,” I said to end this topic once and for all. “I love my boy, wouldn’t trade him for the world, but we’re a package deal. Baker took us on without question. I think we need couples’ time before deciding to add to the chaos.”

Thankfully, Chesney, already two glasses in, leaned into me, holding her wineglass by the stem and said, “I’m just saying, I love the energy of Vegas. The high ceilings, the velvet ropes, the dealers in tuxes. It’s like adult Disneyland.”

“When were you here before?” I asked.

“For my aunt’s”—she counted on her fingers— “fifth wedding. She and my mom wanted me there, but I was a broke college student, and my boyfriend played for a farm team. She offered to pay, so who was I to turn it down?” The wine sloshed onto my skirt.

“Someone cut her off,” Brielle, the glamorous brunette on the other side of her, a second-line’s girlfriend, said. Yeah, I didn’t envy Chesney’s hangover tomorrow.

As dinner wound down, the conversation turned to where we planned to head next.

“I’m ready to hit the blackjack table, just for tradition,” Cassie, another second-line girlfriend, and more classy than sassy like Brielle, added. “Win or lose, it’s the thrill.”

“I can’t gamble,” I said, sipping water. “I’m too cheap. One lost twenty and I’d be curled in a ball questioning all my life choices.”

That earned a full-table laugh .

“With Baker Reece as your man?” she asked. “He tight with those strings?”

“Not at all. He’s the most generous man I’ve ever met.” That was the truth. “But I don’t even buy lottery tickets. I’d rather spoil Benny.”

“I’m with her,” Jaycee said. “I just can’t justify it to myself.”

“Okay, but what if you won?” Brielle asked. “What’s the first stupid thing you’d buy?”

Jaycee opened her mouth, closed it, and then said, “Honestly? I’d buy my best friend, Micki, a freaking clue.”

“Why, what’s up?” Lexi asked. “I don’t live by you all. Don’t keep me out of the loop.”

“She crushed Linc’s heart. Crushed him.”

“That’s why he’s gone all drunken super-tramp?”

Jaycee nodded. “I’ve tried to get her to open up to me, but she refuses. He’s a good man. She screwed that one up.”

“Maybe we can find her a clue at one of the shops on the strip,” I offered. They laughed again, louder this time, and I flushed. It felt good. Easy. Like maybe I belonged more than I’d thought.

After a round of decadent desserts and more laughter flowing like the wine, for the first time in what felt like forever, I wasn’t working, worrying, or watching the clock.

The group split off once we headed back to the Bellagio with Chesney, Cassie, and Brielle heading over to hit the casino, while Lexi and Jaycee introduced me to the world of luxury purses.

“I still think we should’ve hit Hermès first,” Lexi said, adjusting her oversized sunglasses as we strutted into the hotel lobby. “That line at Dior is going to be a nightmare.”

“I’m telling y’all,” I muttered, already half-laughing, “if I so much as step foot in Chanel, I’ll break out in hives.” And I really thought I meant it. Yes, Reece had given me a card with money, but Rome wasn’t built in a day .

The women—all effortless and glossy, armed with titanium AmEx cards and the kind of confidence that came from being adored in public—just grinned.

“You’ll survive. It’s retail therapy,” Jaycee decided, looping her arm through mine. “And, honey, your first real vacation deserves a damn prescription dose.”

I’d never had a group like this—women who knew how to spend and laugh and toast to nothing in particular. They weren’t just hockey wives; they were a little intimidating, a little chaotic, and surprisingly kind.

We hit Chanel first, just to test my hives theory—evil women. I took back what I said about kindness. Then we followed it with Dior, Fendi, and YSL. Somewhere between spritzing perfume on silk wrists and sipping complimentary prosecco, I caught myself smiling like I didn’t have a care in the world.

Like I deserved to enjoy it.

The Bellagio fountain was still dancing by the time I headed back up to the room, lights shimmering off the water like the whole damn city was trying to show off. And honestly? It worked. If I hadn’t left Reece alone so long, I’d have stayed to enjoy it a bit longer.

My feet were screaming. My arms ached from holding bags. My face hurt from laughing.

I’d never shopped at stores where they offered you champagne while you browsed. I’d never eaten oysters so fresh, they still tasted like the ocean. And I’d definitely never been tipsy at night in a Valentino dressing room with two hockey wives cheering me on like I was about to walk a runway.

It was decadent. Wild. Unreal. Hockey wives gone wild in all the best ways.

For a first vacation, I couldn’t complain. The only thing that would’ve made it better was to have the rest of my family along. Someday. Someday, I’d take them on a fabulous trip .

I scanned the key and nudged the suite door open with my hip, balancing three shopping bags on one arm and a half-melted macaron box in the other.

“Reece?” I called, my voice low.

He was waiting.

Not just there—but waiting .