But instead he reached into a folder on his desk and produced the swipe card key.
Happiness and relief filled her chest and tears stung the back of her eyes as she accepted it. “Oh, thank God,” she said.
Evan laughed. “Can I send up some Champagne and chocolate-covered strawberries?” he asked.
She nodded, then shook her head. “I have my own Champagne, but chocolate-covered strawberries, yes.”
“No problem, Miss Emma.”
In the room five minutes later, Emma unpacked her small overnight suitcase and flicked on the television, tuning to the last five minutes of the third period. The Devils were still winning by one point, and Ash was on the ice. It was the first time the home crowd wasn’t upset by what was sure to be a loss for the Avalanche.
She held her breath as she watched the man she loved finish off the one-thousandth game in his impressive career. Tears sprang to her eyes as the game ended moments later and the fans erupted.
The camera zoomed in on Asher’s expression as he waved to the crowd with one final lap around the ice. No one else would detect the glimmer of disappointment in his eyes as he searched the stadium…for her? But she saw it and it broke her heart a little more.
She should have been there for him.
Well, she was right here waiting now.
She continued to watch as the team officials and an ESPN reporter carefully made their way out onto the ice, her impatience growing as they droned on about the significance of the milestone game.
Coach Hamilton presented Asher with the award he hadn’t received at the annual year-end event, and he gratefully accepted it, taking the mic from the man.
Emma sat on the edge of the bed, holding her breath as the stadium quieted and he spoke. “I can’t tell you how happy I am to receive this honor tonight. Thank you, Coach Hamilton, for not making me wait another whole year to get my hands on this,” he said, raising the award a little higher.
Emma smiled as she watched the man she loved on screen thanking his family for their support and encouragement. He looked so impossibly irresistible, and she wished she could reach through the screen to touch him. She couldn’t wait any longer to be near him, to kiss him, to tell him she loved him and that that would never change. She could wait until he was ready. She had no other choice, really. There was no one else she wanted.
“I learned a lot these last few weeks,” Asher continued. “Being injured and not having every waking moment dedicated to this sport, I realized how important other things in my life truly are. I’ve overlooked a lot and I’ve taken a lot for granted,” he said, staring into the screen. “One person in particular.”
A lump rose in her throat and her hands clenched together on her lap. “Emma, this…” He held the award toward the camera. “None of this means anything without you here to share it with,” he said.
A murmur went through the stadium and Emma’s mouth dropped. Had her media-phobic, private best friend—love of her life—just said that on national television? In the middle of the biggest speech of his career to date?
“I know you’re watching, Em,” he said. “And in case you didn’t already know, in case you still have any doubt…I love you.”
The stadium erupted in applause and cheers once more.
He loved her. Tears of happiness slid down her cheeks as she watched him take a deep breath and raise the award to the crowd. He handed the microphone back to the reporter before doing one final lap around the arena and skating off.
Sitting back on the bed, Emma’s heart felt like it was about to explode.
Every second from now until he walked through the hotel room door would be an eternity too long.
* * *
Sliding the room key into the lock and opening the hotel room door an hour later, Asher blinked.
Shit, did he have the wrong room?
Sticking his head outside, he checked the number. No, this was his room and his key worked.
But it certainly didn’t look like the room he’d left earlier that evening.
The lights were off but the room was illuminated by a delicate glow of candles burning on the desk and bedside tables. The flickering reflected against the window overlooking the snow falling softly on the quiet city of Denver, awaiting the stroke of midnight. A bottle of Champagne sat chilling in an ice bucket next to the hot tub already overflowing with bubbles, and Champagne flutes were filled on either side of a plate of chocolate-covered strawberries.
Anticipation made his mouth go dry and his palms sweat as Asher dropped his hockey gear and locked the hotel room door. It looked like he wouldn’t need to grab his things and drive like crazy to get to Emma before midnight. She’d come to him. Kicking off his shoes, he smiled as he crossed the room to the partly open door to the bedroom in the suite.
He paused for breath, knowing that in a second the sight of the woman he loved might steal his ability to breathe completely.
Pushing open the door, he felt the tension of the last several weeks lift from his shoulders, as he leaned against the doorframe and took her in.
“You left a key,” Emma said from where she lay on the bed with her back against the oversized pillows, wearing the sexiest short red silky nightgown he’d ever seen on her perfect body.
His mouth was dry, but his pulse raced. “You used it,” he said, enjoying the moment he’d been hoping for but hadn’t the confidence to expect.
“Get over here.” She crooked a finger at him.
He strode across the room, tossing his coat aside as he went. Reaching for her, he lifted her from the bed, and her legs went immediately around his waist as he held her in his arms. “I didn’t think you’d come,” he said gruffly against her lips. His body craved her, but his heart was doing the driving at the moment. And it terrified him. But not nearly as much as the idea of never having this chance with her.
He’d meant what he’d said on the ice in front of his family, his team, his fans…and millions of strangers watching at home—he loved her. “You were watching the game tonight, right?”
She kissed his lips gently, cupping his face between her hands as she nodded. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there,” she said.
“This was a much better surprise.”
“You hate surprises,” she said, kissing him again, wrapping her arms around his neck.
“Surprises that involve you looking so amazingly beautiful in my arms, I can learn to love. In fact, I can’t imagine anything better.”
She pressed toward him, but he held back before her lips met his again. “I love you, Emma. I’m so in love with you that nothing else matters when you’re not a part of my life,” he said, swallowing the emotions threatening to strangle him.
“I know,” she said with a smile. “And now so does the rest of America.”
He didn’t care. It had taken almost losing her for him to realize how much he loved her, and he’d shout it from the hotel rooftop if she needed him to.
“I love you, too,” she whispered.
He shook his head. “No. Not like this,” he said, laying her back gently on the bed and lying next to her. “You can’t possibly be feeling as strongly as I am.” He hadn’t known it was possible to feel this much, this deep. “The thought that I’d never get the chance to touch you…” He trailed his fingers along her soft bare skin. “Kiss you…or be near you again practically killed me…and this overwhelming sensation of knowing that the one thing I can’t live without is right here next to me…”
“Feels wonderful, doesn’t it?” she asked, rolling him onto his back and straddling him.
“So we’re on the same page?”
“I think we always were,” she said against his lips as she leaned forward to kiss him.
He quickly flipped them so he was on top as he reached for his shirt to pull it off over his head.
“You know what the good news is about fighting with you?” she asked, trailing her fingers along his abs. His body sprang to life, and as usual the overw
helming desire to make love to her took over.
“What’s that?” he asked, sliding the straps of her negligee down over her shoulders to expose her beautiful breasts.
“We get to have make-up sex. We haven’t tried that before,” she said, an innocent expression on her pretty face, as she unbuttoned his jeans.
He laughed as he kissed his best friend, the sound of the New Year’s Eve countdown echoing somewhere in the night.
Nope. Innocent was definitely not a look Emma Callaway could successfully pull off.
When his high school crush Abby Jansen moves back to town, hockey coach Jackson Westmore has a second chance at winning her heart. But first he has to convince her he was only pretending to hate her all these years…
Please see the next page for an excerpt from
Maybe This Time.
Chapter 1
Of all the mistakes she’d made in her twenty-nine years, Abigail hoped her decision to move back to Glenwood Falls wouldn’t be the biggest one.
The silent treatment she’d received from her daughter on the exhausting fifteen-hour drive from California to Colorado made her think that maybe it was.
She waved to Dani from the sidewalk as the school bus pulled away from the curb, but her nine-year-old ignored her.
Great.
As the bus rounded the corner, Abigail pulled her cardigan tighter around her and turned to walk back toward her family home. The mid-September mountain breeze felt even cooler to her, having spent so many fall seasons living in sunny Los Angeles, where the palm trees and green grass never gave way to the gold and red leaves crunching beneath her feet as she walked.
The wind blew her long blond hair across her eyes, and she tucked it behind her ears. The sunshine reflected off of her solitaire diamond ring, nestled safely next to the platinum wedding band that used to hold a promise of forever.
She’d have to take them off soon. She probably should have already.
Dean’s wedding band had been sitting on the nightstand on his side of the bed for almost ten months.
Some people had an easier time letting go and moving on.
She took a deep breath as she opened the front door. The smell of coffee and blueberry pancakes greeted her, and she forced a smile, hoping it would dull the constant aching in her chest.
Time to face another day.
Another day in Glenwood Falls—her former hometown. Another day with her parents trying to make her feel better about her divorce. And another day she had to get through with a heaviness weighing on her whenever she thought about her future.
Hers and Dani’s.
Following the smell of coffee, she went straight to the kitchen.
“Good morning,” her father said, pouring her a cup.
“Hi, Dad,” she said, glancing around the kitchen that hadn’t changed in years. The same harvest gold fridge and stove that had been popular in the seventies and that her father miraculously managed to keep running, the round glass-topped table near the window that seated four, and the same butterfly-patterned curtains she’d sewn one year in home economics class—the only thing she’d ever successfully made. In ten years, nothing had changed, and she’d expected that sense of familiarity to make her feel better.
Instead it made her feel as though her attempt to move on with her life had taken her two steps backward.
“Dani got off to school okay?”
“Yes, although she still refuses to speak to me,” she said, sitting in her old familiar place at the table. She took a sip of the tar-like coffee and winced, but immediately took another one. She used to hate how strong her father made it, but the last three mornings, she’d needed the strength it provided to deal with Dani’s anger at her for moving them away from her father in L.A.
“She’ll come around,” he said.
Abigail knew it was true. She just hoped it was before her little girl started college.
On the table was that day’s Glenwood Times—the local newspaper. Picking it up, she opened it to the classified section as she had the day before.
Nothing new added. Still just three open positions in the town of five thousand residents—the deli counter at the supermarket, early morning flower delivery, and sawmill operator.
“Dad, how hard is it to operate a saw?” she asked with a sigh.
He chuckled. “Just the fact that you need to ask means you probably shouldn’t apply for that one, sweetheart.”
Her mother came into the kitchen and her expression said it all.
“Yes, Mom, I’m looking for a job,” Abigail said.
“I didn’t say anything.”
She didn’t have to. Isabelle Jansen’s face was the most expressive her daughter had ever seen. Every emotion, every thought could be conveyed by the small furrow of her brow or the twitch of an eye…
“I know you think I need time to get settled, but the sooner I can find work to keep myself busy, the easier that will be.”
“You know yourself better than anyone, sweetheart. I’m just saying there’s no hurry.”
“I appreciate that.” And Abigail did. After leaving Glenwood Falls, she’d only gone back to visit a few times, instead sending plane tickets to her parents to come visit her and Dani in L.A. Her decision to move home as her divorce was being finalized had surprised her parents, but they’d opened their door and arms to her and Dani. They were making this transition as easy on them as possible. And she knew how valuable their support was. She also knew she couldn’t use them as a crutch. She needed to get back on her feet and prove to herself this was the right decision, that she could move forward without Dean, as soon as possible. And Dani needed to see that, too.
Abigail hesitated, wondering if she should tell them about the one job in town she was interested in. She cleared her throat. “I was actually thinking about applying for a teaching position at the elementary school.”
Both of her parents stared at her.
“What? I do have a teaching degree.” She’d completed the degree after Dani started school, realizing she might someday want a career of her own.
“Yes, but…you’ve never actually used it,” her mother said.
“Don’t they expire?” her father joked.
“Very funny, Dad,” she said. “When I registered Dani on Monday, I heard one of the other teachers say they were looking for a substitute teacher that could turn into a full-time fourth grade position when Kelli Fitzgerald goes on maternity leave next month.”
“Oh, that’s right! I saw Kelli at last month’s town meeting—she looked ready to deliver then. She’s such a sweet girl, and her husband is one of the nicest men—he helped your dad with the deck last spring…” Her mom’s voice trailed on, but Abigail wasn’t listening.
Her mother raving about Kelli and other of her former high school friends was something she heard often. Apparently they were all living wonderful, successful lives in Glenwood Falls. None of them had fallen in love with a star athlete or left town six months pregnant…or had to crawl back home nine years later after a bitter divorce.
Nope, no one else. Just her.
Abigail’s cell phone ringing was her escape, and she was relieved to see her lawyer’s office number lighting up the screen. “I have to take this,” she said, heading upstairs to her old bedroom. “Hello?” she said, closing the door behind her.
“Hi, Abigail. How are you?” her lawyer, Olivia Davis, asked, sounding far too busy to really care.
“I’m fine. Everything okay?” The divorce was almost finalized after six months of back and forth with Dean’s lawyer. There were just a few things left to sign off on—her proposed custody arrangement and the financial settlement terms. She knew Olivia was fantastic at her job and she’d come highly recommended by several other divorcées she’d known as a hockey wife, but she still worried about whether she’d made the right decision hiring her. Deciding who to put her trust in these days was like deciding between the devil you knew and the devil you didn’t.
“Well, I have good news and bad news.”
Her marriage of nine years was almost officially over—she wasn’t sure there was any real good news to be had, but she asked for that first.
“I just received an uncontested document to the custody file,” Olivia said.
That actually was good news. She’d been worried Dean would try to fight for custody of Dani, even though she knew with his travel schedule with the L.A. Kings and her history of being their daughter’s primary caregiver, his chances of getting it in court would have been slim.
Maybe he knew that, too.
“That’s great…”
“Actually, he’s even stated that the visitation time is too much, and he is relinquishing all of the time to you.”
Abigail frowned. “What does that mean—he doesn’t want to see Dani at all?” she asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.
“Hopefully that’s not the case. It just means he is leaving the power to decide when and how he sees Dani in your hands. The two of you can arrange something that works…without involving a legal, binding visitation schedule.”
Great. So, it would all rest on her shoulders. She would have preferred it didn’t. Her own feelings toward Dean were sure to cloud her judgment, and she knew she was going to have to put them aside and do what was best for Dani. “Okay,” she said. So much for good news. Now she really didn’t want the bad.
“So, the bad news is—he’s contesting the settlement. He is claiming that because you decided to move back to Glenwood Falls, where real estate and the cost of living are cheaper, he shouldn’t have to pay what we’re asking.”
No doubt in most situations, this would be the bad news, but the truth was, Abigail didn’t care about the money. Yes, she expected Dean to pay child support to help raise Dani, but she’d never been the materialistic type who enjoyed the flamboyant perks of being a hockey wife. She’d bought the expensive clothes and spent the small fortunes on her hair and makeup because it was what Dean expected, what was needed to fit in with the other hockey wives.
Maybe This Christmas Page 24
