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In just a few strides, I’m in front of her and pulling her toward the couch.
Her eyes fly open, and she breathes my name as she stumbles to follow me.
I drop to the cushion and pull her on top of me. It only takes her a few seconds to catch up, and then her lips are tipping up in a smile as she adjusts herself so she’s straddling me.
“Hi,” she whispers.
Squeezing her hips, I press a soft kiss against her mouth. “Hi, Kitten.”
She sighs. It’s soft, and as her breath mixes with mine, I can’t help but close my eyes and revel in her proximity. In the ease with which she settled with me. I may not be getting everything right, and I’ll likely continue to stumble, but possessing the ability to calm this wild one, when only moments earlier, she was carrying the weight of the world, will never get old.
“How was your night?”
“It was really good.”
“Chloe feeling okay?”
I chuckle. “She’s just fine.”
“What’s so funny?” she asks, brushing at a speck on my shirt.
Unsure if Chloe wants me to share our earlier conversation, I just shake my head. “I’ll let her fill you in. So tell me, how was your date with Gavin Langfield?”
I despise this ruse, but Gavin did me a solid by taking her out. This way, I knew she was in good hands with a man who would be respectful and keep his distance.
Cat licks her lips. “I mean, he wasn’t hard on the eyes,” she teases.
My hands tense on her hips, and I pin her with a pointed look. “Yeah?” I ask dangerously.
Her face remains expressionless. “And there’s just something about hockey players,” she hums.
“Good thing your future husband knows how to play, then,” I counter.
Cat’s eyes light up. “You do?”
I laugh and rest my head on her chest. I love surprising this girl. Leaning back against the couch, I get comfortable and look up at her. “Yeah. Gavin and I met after—” My voice catches, but I push forward. “I needed a distraction after everything happened. Garreth, my brother,” I explain, unsure if she remembers, “he saw all the anger I’d bottled up and told me to find a hobby.” I laugh. I looked like such an ass on the ice that first year. “I could barely skate when I started.”
Cat shakes her head, but she’s smiling. “Why not pick a sport that’s a little less difficult?”
I give her hips another squeeze, grounding myself to this moment. Reminding myself that I can talk about those dark years, because the light has returned.
“Nothing else could shut my mind down. Basketball was second nature. I could do it without thinking. And boxing…” I shrug. She can probably guess why I stopped boxing. It was something Carter and I did together. It’s what all her brothers did. They still do.
“So you learned how to ice skate.”
“I wasn’t fucking twirling around,” I banter, picking up on where her mind is going.
She giggles. “I love ice skating.”
The one and only time I had Cat on the ice was at Rockefeller Center thirteen years ago. Memories flash in my mind and threaten to choke me. A yellow diamond necklace. Promises of forever. Our goodbye.
“Maybe we could take Chloe sometime,” she says quietly, her melancholy expression matching the way I feel.
I have no doubt her thoughts are right there with mine. On that cold December day.
“I’d like that.”
“You know what else I’d like?” she says, rolling her hips over me in a seductive manner.
