Page 15

15

FORD

M y heart pounds as I peer into the darkened hallway.

The noise of Gram’s TV drifts beneath her closed bedroom door.

Connor is downstairs on the couch, probably jerking it while watching a movie.

The coast is clear.

I sneak across the hallway to the guest room, avoiding the boards that will creak if I step on them wrong.

My hand wraps around the cool metal, turning the doorknob and pushing the door open.

Harper’s eyes meet mine from across the room.

I sneak inside and close the door.

She sits up. “What are you doing here?”

“As if I’d stay away,” I whisper. “You knew I was coming. That’s why you’re still awake.”

She gives me a faint smile.

I reach the bed. “Move over.”

She’s already sliding over, lifting the covers.

I pull her in my arms, settling the blankets over us.

I blow out a frustrated breath. “You had me so worried when you fainted. Especially after that look on your face and the words you said to me beforehand.”

She swallows hard. “I was scared. I felt it coming, yet I tried to deny it would happen.”

“I get that. I fainted right before my first NHL game.”

She pulls back slightly, shock on her face. “You did?”

I nod. “I was so keyed up. Excited, nervous, anxious. The roar of the crowd thundered in my ears as we skated onto the ice. A cold chill washed over me, and I heard Pap’s voice in my ears. I was convinced he was watching, and the fear that I’d fuck up and cost us the game hit me so hard that next thing I know, I’m waking up on the ice.”

“Were you able to play?”

I grin. “I figured coach would bench me for sure. But he didn’t. He let me play. And we won.”

“That’s amazing.”

A smirk curls my lips. “Guess who scored the winning goal?”

“You.”

I nod. “It was the best feeling.”

“Then why do you look like that?”

My eyes latch onto hers.

The silence stretches as I lose myself in them.

She’s everything I always wanted and still want, even after a break-up and a decade apart.

“Because you weren’t there. I lost you. Connor was traded to a different team. Gram was back here, streaming it, cause she’d taken that bad fall and hurt her hip…” I suck in a shaky breath. “I was alone. And it fucking sucked.”

Her arm tightens around me. “I’m sorry. I wish I would’ve been there.”

I blow out a breath. “Me, too. But we can’t change the past.”

She snuggles against my chest, her silky locks tickling my nose. “No, we can’t. All we can do is focus on the present.”

I nod, staring at the ceiling.

I’m holding my entire world in my arms, and for the first time since I first met Harper, I have no idea what to say to make it all okay.

To sweep away the past and start fresh.

A faint buzzing begins in my ears.

Failure isn’t an option.

Even if she told me to leave, I wouldn’t.

I couldn’t .

Not again.

She’s mine.

She always was.

And now that I have her again?

I’ll destroy anyone who tries to take her from me.