Chapter Nineteen
Ryder’s palms were sweaty as he once again lingered in the reception area outside Shane McTaggart’s office. He couldn’t tell from Shane’s tone of voice on the phone whether he had good news or bad. If it was bad, he’d likely be spending New Year’s Eve alone with a bottle of Murphy’s Finest, re-thinking his life. Even Hannah wouldn’t be able to love that pain away. If it was good, well. It was very, very good.
Always the early bird, he still had fifteen minutes until his schedule appointment. Time for a quick call to Hannah for fortification. Walter’s death had thrown him for a loop and with the Riot’s decision pending, a maelstrom of turbulent emotions had bubbled to the surface, refusing to be tamped down by his usual defense mechanisms.
“Hi gorgeous girl,” he cooed into the iPhone before she could speak.
“Hi yourself. Aren’t you supposed to be in a very important contract negotiation?”
He chuckled. God, he loved the way she always put him right at ease. Made his life so much better. So much brighter. “I like the way you think. Thanks for the vote of confidence but I’m still sitting in the lobby. I’m not going to check in with reception until it’s time. Important to collect myself and all that. First, I need to talk to you about something. I was up all night and it wasn’t just because of the Riot.”
“Oh?”
“I’m having mixed feelings about my dad,” he said on a deep sigh. “I’m not sure I did the best that I could where he was concerned. You know…at the end. I was so damn focused on making the team I kind of let everything else important fall to the wayside.”
“You did the best you could, Ryder,” Hannah said, empathy oozing from her soft voice. Ever since they’d returned from their weekend together, Hannah had become his best friend. He was so falling in love with this incredible woman. The first person to ever fully support him. He could count on her as surely as he could his next breath. “Your relationship with Walter was complicated. He wasn’t there for you as a father, not until the bitter end. It’s normal to have conflicting feelings about him leaving prison just to have him die. But think about the good times. You’ve told me some heartwarming stories about what a great dad he was before the demons of addiction overtook his good sense. And your last conversation with him went well. That should give you some closure.”
He wished he could reach through the phone and pull her toward him for a searing kiss of gratitude. “You’re right. As always. Hannah, I want you to know how much I appreciate your wise counsel. It’s nice to have someone who has normal family values and experiences to use a sounding board. I may just have to keep you.”
She laughed, the tinkling sound like music to his stressed-out ears. “Hmm…I’ll have to decide whether or not I want to let you. Now, go get ‘em before McTaggart gives you a delay of game penalty.”
After saying goodbye, Ryder nodded to Joyce, Shane’s personal assistant and waited until she pushed a few buttons on her office phone.
“Shane and Lou are ready to see you now, Mr. Martin,” Joyce said.
The door to the office opened, and Shane stuck his head out. “Come in, Ryder.”
Ryder swallowed and forced his feet over the threshold. Across from Shane’s desk sat the Riot’s GM, Lou Spieker.
“I believe you know Lou,” Shane said.
Lou nodded. “Ryder.”
Shane seated himself behind his desk. “Since it’s New Year’s Eve and I’m sure we’re all anxious to start the celebrations early, I’ll cut to the chase. Ryder, as you know, the players selected from the open tryouts were not guaranteed a contract, nor would they necessarily be offered a contract from the team they tried out with.”
Ryder nodded, nerves twisting his guts. “Yes, that was my understanding.”
“Right. And as you know, we have to consider the best interests of both the team and the players. Lou?”
Ryder’s head swiveled to face the man.
Lou smiled and nodded. “We liked what we saw, Ryder. We think you’re a great fit for our defensive squad and are prepared to offer you a signing bonus in addition to a competitive salary.”
Ryder blinked and glanced from Shane and back to Lou. “You’re offering me a position on the team?” he asked, looking for confirmation that he understood them correctly.
“Yes,” Shane chuckled. “We expect you’ll want to look over the numbers before giving us an answer of course, but we think you’ll be pleased with the offer.”
Ryder couldn’t speak. His dream had just come true. So why was the only thing he could think about was Hannah?
***
Hannah’s hands shook as she held the envelopes that El had brought from the mailbox downstairs. She stared at them as she stood amid packing boxes in preparation for the Fiorino’s move to their new house in Scenic Acres.
One bore the imprint of Franklin University, Columbus, Ohio, and inside, it held the decision that would change her life forever. Or at least the next few years. The other was from Mayo Health Sciences.
Which would hold the ticket to her future? One? Both? Neither?
“Are you going to open them or frame them?” El nearly shouted. “The suspense is killing me.”
She sliced the Franklin envelop open with a fancy opener from El’s desk. The paper inside felt thick and weighty. Official. She unfolded and read it, taking her time. Then she opened the second one, doing the same.
“Well, that’s that,” she said, folding the letters up again.
“What? Let me see that,” El scolded, reaching for the letters. Hannah handed them over. El opened one then the other, scanning them intently. Her eyebrows knotted in concern. “What the hell is this?”
“I’d better tell Ryder,” Hannah said with a sigh.
“Will it matter?” El asked, looking at the letters again.
Hannah shrugged. “I hope so. I’m meeting him at the restaurant in an hour, before my shift starts. I should get ready.”
It began to snow again as Hannah reached the entrance to Casa Fiorino. The neighborhood still sparkled with Christmas lights, and the area businesses had joined together in creating a public outdoor square to host New Year’s festivities tonight. Volunteers moved about, stringing up shiny fringed banners and tall poles with lighted shapes at the tops, and erecting a small stage for performers. Fireworks would be set off on the rooftops of the higher buildings surrounding the square at midnight.
The New Year beckoned with the same exciting sizzle and flame of the planned celebrations. A time for new hopes, new beginnings, and new plans, and Hannah hoped for all the above in what lay ahead for her.
For Ryder, all of that hung on the outcome of his meeting with the coach this morning. After leaving the hospital, they spent the night together in his apartment, sharing their hopes and dreams and fears. His brothers arrived the next day, so she’d left him to reconnect with them and deal with the inevitable outcome of Walter’s condition. That’s what families did, share the load and be kind to each other because you never knew how much time you had left.
When Walter died the day after his other sons arrived, she supported Ryder through the funeral. It was heartbreaking to see such a strong, alpha male cry. Hannah took solace in the fact that Ryder and Walter had come to terms with their relationship at the end. Nothing had been left unsaid.
Regarding her own family, Hannah decided not to confront her parents about her paternity. Why put them through such a thing when nothing would ever change about how she felt for them both? She just didn’t have it in her to break her father’s heart. Not right after she’d witnessed the familial conflict in Ryder’s life and the lingering aftermath.
Hannah chose a table for two near the windows, so she could watch for him and enjoy the activity going on in the square while she waited. Through the accumulating snow, she soon recognized his strong, athletic frame approaching the building, and then slip inside. She waved to him, and as he walked toward her, she could practically feel the anxiety and exciteme
nt emanating from him.
She stood and held her hands out to him. He took them in his, the skin on his gloveless palms cold to her touch. “How’d it go?” she asked. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. We better sit down,” he said, sounding breathless as if he’d ran the whole way from the arena. They sat across from each other, hands still intertwined on the tabletop.
“I got my letters today,” Hannah blurted, “but I want to hear your news first.”
“No, you go first,” he said. “I’m still trying to wrap my head around mine.”
“I got accepted,” she said, a bittersweet smile forming on her lips. “To Ohio.” She released Ryder’s hands to get the letter from her purse and showed it to him. “Read it.”
He sniffed inward as he spread the letter out in front of him, his nose starting to run from his walk in the cold. “You changed programs…” he said, his eyes scanning back and forth, then looked up in surprise. “Nursing? You’re going to be a nurse?”
She nodded. “I got the idea after hanging around the Mayo so much. I discovered I liked helping people, people who need it. Turns out I had better grades in all the prerequisites than I did for the accounting program.”
“That’s…” he looked down at the paper and then met her eyes again, “great. I wish you all the luck in the world. And I’m never going to forget what you were to my dad. He couldn’t stop talking about his pretty angel girl. You made his last days better. For that, I’m forever grateful. We didn’t have the best relationship, but at least we were able to connect at the end. It’s something…”
“Thanks, but there’s more.” She pulled out the other envelop. “I also applied to the nursing school at the Mayo, and I was accepted. Now I just have to decide which one I want to attend.”
A smile spread over Ryder’s lips. “I know which one I want you to attend.”
Her heart squeezed and a tear slid down her cheek. “Enough about me. Tell me about your meeting.”
The smile grew even brighter as he leaned forward and took both of her hands in his. “They want me, Hannah. They’re making me an offer. I still can’t believe it.”
She squealed and brought his hands up to her lips, kissing his knuckles. “I knew they’d make you an offer. They’d have been stupid not to.” She beamed at him. “Congratulations on fulfilling your dream.”
A grin formed on his fresh-shaven face that blossomed into his signature, full-on pearly smile. It felt like sunshine, melting away the ice and snow and drying the waterworks that sprung from her eyes. She could barely focus on what he was saying.
“Well, call it a dream or a fairy tale, take your pick. It still feels unreal to me. They offered me a signing bonus on top of a salary. I’m a Riot. Will you be a Riot with me? Two Riots have to be better than one.”
Her heart seemed to swell and take up space in her throat as well as her chest. It beat a joyful rhythm that would not be contained. She jumped from her chair and flew into his arms. He caught her and framed her face with his hockey-playing hands to deliver a kiss that consumed them both.
It was both a dream and a fairytale, Hannah knew. Her prince really had walked through the door to rescue the Princess and take her away. To a place where neither towers nor ice castles would stand in the way of their happy future together.
Epilogue
One year later…
“This time, we’re doing it right. Just like my NHL career, it’s a do-over. Our own personal rebound.”
Hannah snaked her arms around Ryder’s neck, snuggling into the warm skin of his throat. Her deep inhales picking up hints of a woodsy cologne and man. Her man.
His booted foot kicked in the doorway, and he carried her over the threshold as if she weighed nothing.
“Your house, madam.”
Hannah lifted her head from the safety of his arms only long enough to glance around the home Ryder had purchased with his savings bolstered by his signing bonus. They’d decided to create a permanent space for themselves in Rochester, only a short hop from the arena. Close enough that she could visit El and Christina anytime she wanted.
“It’s beautiful,” Hannah said with a sigh, even though her eyes only focused on the man before her and not the gorgeous home he’d procured for her, complete with a huge back yard for the dog they planned to adopt. Ryder’s expression gave nothing away. When she was with him, he always seemed to hold sway on all the oxygen in her lungs, as if his mere presence could suck the very breath from her body.
“You’re beautiful,” he purred, that melodious voice, velvety as honey washing over her like a soothing rain after a humid day.
Hannah met his soulful eyes, watching every nuance of his expression. She hadn’t seen him like this since that night at Lutsen in their suite. So open and emotional. Ryder liked to keep himself stoic and staid, never allowing his love to precede his lust. But tonight, things were different. Because he’d proposed and she’d accepted. And now it was time to seal that promise with their bodies. She couldn’t believe that just a few short weeks ago, Ryder had surprised her with a five carat diamond ring over dinner at Casa Fiorino. His planned proposal via Tiramisu had quickly turned into a huge party, Eloise directing all the festivities from her usual place at the helm.
“What are you thinking about?” Ryder brought her back to the present as he nuzzled his face in her neck.
She smiled. “That I love you,” she whispered, wanting to drink in the joy on his face and lock it away inside her heart forever.
“And I love you.”
Ryder was kind to her, but now there was more. She knew he adored her with every cell he possessed. That he’d keep her safe and protected. And cherished. Walter’s death had changed him for the better. His walls had come tumbling down and he understood the importance of family. He even welcomed it. Just for her and their bright future. Even Eloise had to admit the change in the man by the woman had been most profound.
Hannah leaned into their embrace and cupped his cheeks, feeling the stubble there. She loved his sexy scruff. Loved scraping her soft face against his rough one. They were opposites in most ways. Soft and hard. Light and dark. But in this way, they fit like a glove as one. She captured his lips in a fierce kiss, and he reflected her passion right back to her with fervor of his own.
His arms came around her. He cupped the back of her head, angling her for better access and ravished her lips. Hannah opened her mouth to grant him greater access so he could taste her. Ryder darted his tongue out, tracing the crease of her lips. When she gasped in pleasure, he took that opportunity to slide inside.
Ryder released her, and she slid down the length of his sinewy body. On the way down, she felt the swell of his cock sandwiched between them. Her blood rushed through her veins, pulsing and throbbing. Every cell firing with pleasure. She looked up at him in the dim light, her eyes seeking everything he had to give.
“Ryder?” she said on a moan, her voice cracking under the depth of emotion she felt for him. Her future husband. The father of her children. The man she wanted to grow old with as they rocked on the front porch of this house. Or any house. Anywhere.
“Do you want to stop?” he asked and then smiled that charming grin. Hannah knew he teased her, but she tugged on his sleeve just the same.
“Never. Bedroom.”
Ryder scooped her up, and in a few quick strides, she fell backward on the king-sized bed. He let his hand drift across her flat stomach and to her hip, tugging on the waistband of her pants. They came off in one motion and flew onto the plush carpet. Following the clothing to the ground, Ryder knelt between her legs. His soft palms caressed the inside of her thighs, stopping at the place she needed him most.
“This is all about you, Hannah,” he said. “This night. This house. I want you to understand how deeply my feelings run. There’s only been you from the moment I saw your hair shining in the fluorescent lights of Casa Fiorino.”
She nodded, unable to articulate anything that wouldn’t spoil the
perfection of the moment. Hannah froze as Ryder’s deft fingers opened the wet folds of her pussy and just settled his palm and allowed it to rest there when all she wanted was for his hand to move. To provide that delicious friction that she needed. She’d been craving it on the car ride over and had almost asked him to pull over and ease the ache.
“Please,” she finally whimpered, allowing her eyes to flutter closed against the lusty look he speared her with as he continued the torment. “Please touch me.”
“Where?” he asked, still immobile. “Where do you want me to touch you, fiancée?”
God, all she wanted was for him to rip off his jeans and boxers, slide his cock inside her to the hilt and possess her. Claim her. Make her his for this moment and for every moment she had left on this earth.
But he didn’t.
“Touch my pussy, Ryder. Make me come. Please.”
He rewarded her breathy admission by pressing his thumb against her throbbing clit, and she jolted, almost bucking off the edge of the bed. More like off the cliff of pleasure to soar downward toward a demise of pleasure. She started again when he slid one finger inside her. She flexed around him, savoring the sensation.
“I have never seen anything more incredible than you.” With his words, Ryder leaned over her body so he could use his free hand to remove her shirt. He pulled her lacy bra down to expose her erect nipples and captured one straining tip with his lips.
Hannah relaxed into the sensations he created with his hands and mouth. Ryder moved his finger inside her as he swirled around her clit with his thumb and thrust in perfect time.
“No,” she whimpered.
He looked up to meet her eyes. “What do you mean, no?”
She reached up to thread her fingers through his thick hair. “I want you inside me. I don’t want to come without you inside me. And I want you bare. I’ve wanted that since the first time… well, since that night.”
“You don’t have to ask me twice, woman,” he hissed. “I’m thirty now, it’s time to think about a family. Right fucking now. Sorry, you’re marrying a geezer.”
The Rebound: A Rochester Riot Sports Romance Page 17
