Page 31 of Ice Cold, Red Hot (Coldwater Firehawks Hockey #1)

CELESTE

It was strange, watching Shepherd accept the award his coach and teammates gave him.

He was the same man I’d met this summer…

except, he was almost like an elevated version.

Every part of what had made me fall for that guy at the lake—the swagger, the looks, the humor—it was all there, but now there was something else.

I wasn’t sure whether to dub it humility or humanity, but it felt like all the too sharp edges of Shepherd’s extreme confidence had been rounded a bit with something more relatable.

And it made him that much more attractive.

I spent the whole evening with my hand in his or my eyes on him when he wasn’t at my side. I couldn’t look away. And when the night was over, and Shepherd pulled me into his arms, I was more than ready to lose myself completely in him. I couldn’t get enough.

When he kissed me, I melted into him, my body becoming pliable in his grasp immediately. Every cell within me responded to him, and when he unzipped my dress, sending it pooling to the floor in his moonlit room in the apartment, not a single question flickered through my mind.

Shepherd’s hands and mouth scored my skin, marked me as his externally just as surely as his actions these last months had made me his in other ways. When he pushed inside me, breathing hard as our bodies fused, it felt like coming home.

But then, as we lay there afterward, our arms and legs entangled, breaths matched, I began to think about how hard things were going to be for us.

“Shepherd,” I whispered, causing him to grip me more tightly. “What happens next year?”

He snuggled me deeper against his side. “More of this,” he said softly.

“You’re going to be hundreds of miles away.”

“Celeste, I don’t think anything can really keep us apart.”

“I’m just a little worried about finding out,” I said, the fear of losing him reigniting in my gut.

“You could come to Chicago.” His dark eyes found mine, and I let myself sink into them, almost considering it before reality returned.

“I’m building a career here. I can’t give up now.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to, but it was worth a shot,” he said. “Good thing I got a big signing bonus, I guess. I’m going to spend it flying back here to see you.”

I stared up at him. “Do you really think it can work? Part time, long distance? All the puck bunnies you’ll be seeing at every game?”

Shepherd sat up, pulling me with him. “Celeste. Do you really think any silly hockey groupie could distract me from the real deal?”

“I don’t know,” I said honestly, hating the fear I felt at the idea.

“I do.” His tone brooked no more discussion, and I decided to allow his confidence to be enough for both of us. “Once you’ve figured out what’s real and found it,” he went on, “I don’t think you can put up with anything less. It would just be a cheap imitation.”

I nodded, holding his gaze.

“We went through too much to be together to let it slip away.”

“We did,” I agreed.

He kissed me then, and I let the fear slip away like a silky layer of fabric from my skin. I wasn’t going to ruin the best thing I’d found by worrying about it.

We laid back down, and I let my mind shut off as Shepherd’s hands and mouth went to work again, making it impossible to think of anything but him.