Page 128 of Secrets on Ice

We’re all just waiting until we are allowed to go in. Finally, a nurse comes out and tells us Harper and the baby are ready for visitors, but that we will have to go in smaller groups.

When it’s our turn I walk in, and Harper is sitting up in bed looking exhausted and glowing, and Felix is holding this tiny, red-faced human like he’s made of glass.

“Congratulations, guys.”

“Thanks so much for coming.”

“Of course. We got you some flowers and some soft cheese and crackers.”

Harper’s eyes widen. “No, you didn’t. Give me the cheese now.” We hand over the little mini cooler which has all the goodies she couldn’t eat while pregnant, and she dives in.

We walk over to where Felix is standing. “This is little Bastien.” He’s so cute with his squidgy little face, and he’s so small. “I didn’t think I could love anything as much as I love Harper,” Felix tells us.

Aw.

“How long till you get him on skates?” Bouch asks.

“As soon as I can.” Felix grins. “Next cup champion right here.”

“How was giving birth?” Cassidy asks Harper, while the boys talk about Bastien playing for the Mavericks when he’s older.

“Horrendous. Take the drugs. It hurts, it’s scary, I’m glad it’s over, but now when I look at what I just pushed out through my vagina, I want another one.”

“You hated being pregnant,” Cassidy adds.

“I know, but look at him, he is just so cute,” she says, getting teary-eyed.

I look over at the little bundle in his father’s tattooed arms, and my mother’s words about giving her grandkids run through my mind. Then a flash of Felix being replaced with Sully and it’s me in the hospital bed runs through my mind. What in the hell? Where did that come from? He did say he would give you one if you wanted one. He was just being nice, he didn’t mean it. He then fucked you with no condom again. I’m on the pill, it’s okay. It’s not one hundred percent. I wasn’t ovulating, so I’m fine.

We come home to a quiet apartment. We had to get creative with the lie that Cassidy told her brother about where she was staying tonight. He questioned it for a second and then shook his head, and we headed home.

Sully drops his keys on the counter and looks at me. “Have you eaten?”

I shake my head. “Not really.”

“Last cheat meal before the season. Are you up for some pizza and ice cream?”

“Um, hell yes.”

He picks up the phone and calls downstairs to place an order.

“I’m going to have a shower and get into my PJs. I’m wiped out.”

“Me too. Do you mind if I watch the sports report tonight? I wanted to see who is going where,” he asks.

“Of course.” I nod and head to my room to shower.

Twenty minutes later, we are sitting on the couch with a pizza each, and he’s flicking through the sports channels to find the right one. He’s half-watching, half-talking about the rookies, the schedule, and which teams look dangerous this year. I listen and nod and pretend I know anything he is talking about while I inhale the pizza.

We clean up together afterward, grabbing the cartons. I put my leftover pizza in the fridge, it’s going to be good in the morning. He wipes down the counter. We keep bumping into each other in the small kitchen, hip to hip, shoulder to shoulder, and every time the air sparks. I feel it, and I know he feels it too. I finish drying my hands and step back.

“Night,” I say, already turning toward the hallway. “Good luck at camp tomorrow. Hope you don’t die,” I tease.

“Me too, it’s going to be brutal.” He nods. “Night, Em.”

I make it three steps down the corridor before I hear him mutter, ‘fuck it’ under his breath.

Then he’s right behind me. His hand closes around my wrist and spins me around. His mouth crashes onto mine, hungry, he’s not pretending. He walks me backward into his room, kicking the door shut hard enough that it rattles. He doesn’t waste time, my pajama top hits the floor, his shirt follows, and he lifts me onto the bed like I weigh nothing. He slides his pajama pants down slightly and pushes into me in one long, deep stroke that punches a moan out of both of us.