Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 113072 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113072 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
He interlaces his fingers with mine. “That’s the real reason I never called you again. My life was really messy for a while. I was really messy. And I did some heavy drinking, like my father, which made me feel like a loser. Ended up living in my truck for a month or so until I reconnected with a hockey scout who’d always liked me. He gave me a job at his family’s restaurant and helped me get some tryouts with junior teams.”
He slept in his car? “I never knew any of that,” I whisper. “I have the chills just hearing it.”
He turns toward me and puts his free hand on my cheek. “You don’t have chills, Zoe. You’re just cold. It’s February.”
“I’m fine,” I insist. “I needed to hear this. And I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not on you,” he says. “None of it is. I conveniently forgot this whole time how much of a stranglehold your mother had on your life. I should have trusted that you weren’t trying to shove me under the bus.”
“I wasn’t,” I insist. “I tried to fall on my own sword. I told everyone who would listen that spending the night off campus was all my idea and that I wore you down. And I’m sorry I lost my cool and mumbled something about Ethan. I was trying to explain you’d never hurt a camper.”
He actually snorts. “Want to know what was in that bag that I gave Ethan?”
“Well, yeah.”
He massages my palm with his thumb. “It was condoms and lube. That’s what I gave Ethan and Joon-ho. To use on each other.”
“Oh lord,” I gasp. “That never occurred to me.”
He starts to chuckle. “I realize that now. You were such a sheltered kid.”
“You were my first real kiss, did you know that?”
“Seriously?” He turns to give me a startled look. “I’ve been so angry at you. But we were just a couple of kids doing our best.”
My eyes get hot. “What I wouldn’t give to change that day.” I put my free hand on his chest. “You were everything to me. You believed in me, and there wasn’t an hour I spent with you that wasn’t magic.”
He takes my free hand and kisses it. “You’re freezing, Zoe. Let’s get you inside. Come on.” He tosses the comforter off. “It’s late.”
“And you have a game tomorrow!” I remember suddenly. “I should go home.”
“It’s too late to walk you home.” He yawns.
“You don’t have to. I’ll… take an Uber.”
He gives me an arch look. “It’s too late to put you in a car with strangers, in your jammies. You’ll stay here.”
My heart does a triple axel. Or, well, not my heart. But other body parts that also get excited about Chase.
“I’ll be a perfect gentleman,” he says. “I’ll sleep on the couch.”
Ah, well. I follow him inside anyway.
Chapter 38
Chase leads me into a bedroom that’s lit only by the New York skyline. Those floor-to-ceiling windows make the place feel like a movie set. “You need anything?”
“Not really. I’m already wearing pajamas.” Not sexy ones, either. That’s what I get for running out the door impulsively. And the big bruise on my chin doesn’t make me any more attractive.
He turns back the covers like a hotel employee. Then he makes a stop at his chest of drawers and pulls out a pair of flannel pants. “I’ll bring you a glass of water, too. One sec.”
I get into Chase’s bed alone. How am I supposed to sleep here? It smells like Chase. I lie back against his pillow and gaze out at the Manhattan skyline. This room faces the opposite direction from the terrace, so I have an oblique view of the Empire State Building.
A few minutes later, he enters the room shirtless, in pajama pants. I practically swallow my tongue at the view. He sets a glass of water beside me on the table, then sits on the edge of the bed. “Are you okay? You had a wild day.”
He isn’t wrong. “I’m okay. I’m better now, actually. I needed to know the whole story.”
“Mmm,” he says, lifting a hand to cup my face. He inspects the bruise on my face by gently tilting my chin and passing his thumb across the spot. “When you showed up here, it stirred up a lot for me. I’d been angry for a long time, but I never had to think too hard about why.”
“I…” My throat closes up. “I thought maybe you wouldn’t even remember me.”
His thumb halts its path across my face, and he stares. “Remember you? Zoe, I measure every woman I meet against what we had that summer. And they’ve all fallen short. I spent ten years trying to forget you, and I couldn’t do it. Not even for a single day.”
It’s the most romantic thing anyone has ever said to me. By a country mile.