Finding Lacey Moon

by Donya Lynne

  And as she shattered around him as he exploded inside her, he knew neither of them would ever be lost again.

  Epilogue

  Three years later

  Mattie McCord stood at the top of the superpipe, focused with laser clarity on what she had to do to win her third and final gold medal. After this, gold or not, she was done. It was time to retire. At the age of twenty-nine, she was ready to begin the next chapter of her life.

  She’d earned the highest score in qualifications, and down at the bottom of the pipe, the woman who had qualified second had just scored higher, which meant Lacey had to pull out perfection—and maybe a little something extra—if she was going to edge her out for the gold. She knew what she had to do. The trick she had fallen on in the last Olympics. The one with the highest degree of difficulty. The trick no other woman had been able to land. If she nailed that, she’d guarantee gold.

  She had this.

  Starting her run, she flew down to the deck, swooped down the side, pumped across the middle to gain speed, and exploded up the opposite wall. The crowd gasped at the big air. Solid landing, back to the other side, up into an alley oop with a back grab. Another perfect landing, and it was time to throw down the clincher. No way was that other woman going to take what belonged to her. She was Mattie McCord, formerly Lacey Moon, the greatest goddamn snowboarding bitch on the planet. Once more, she flew up the side of the pipe. She soared. She flipped, rotated, and grabbed the back of her board. She flew through the air and back down toward the pipe.

  And nailed a perfect landing.

  The crowd erupted. Just three more passes, and the gold was hers.

  At the bottom of the pipe, she pumped her fist toward the crowd and skidded to a stop.

  She had done it. She had completed her last run near perfection.

  “Yeah!” She pumped her fist toward the crowd again and dropped to her knees, the elation overwhelming her as she kissed the snow. All around her, the crowd cheered at deafening levels. Chants of “U.S.A., U.S.A.” rose into the air. Gold was a foregone conclusion, but when the scores came up, they cemented it. It was the highest score ever awarded to a female snowboarder. She was retiring as not only a gold medalist, but as the reigning all-time-highest-scoring women’s record holder.

  She and the silver and bronze medalists hugged and shared congratulations with one another, and tears of joy moistened her eyes. For this one brief moment, she lifted the weight of a country on her shoulders and basked in the glory of delivering what she hadn’t been able to four years earlier. And it was all because of Scott. Her wonderful, supportive husband.

  As if on cue, Scott broke through the crowd and joined her, twelve-year-old Savannah hot on his heels. On his head, he wore a red, white, and blue Olympic skullcap, which she was sure would be replaced by his old, trusty Oregon Ducks cap with its cute little pom-pom as soon as they returned home. She had learned after moving in with him that his favorite winter headgear had been a Christmas gift from Savannah.

  “Lacey, how does it feel to be an Olympic gold medalist again?”

  Even though she’d changed her name back to Mathilda as part of her identity reinvention, everyone in the media, and most in the sport, still called her Lacey.

  “It feels awesome! Go U.S.A.!” She waved to the fans wearing stars and stripes. They went crazy, jumping, waving, shouting, snapping pictures with their phones.

  “After the last Olympics, you weren’t sure you’d come back. What changed your mind?”

  She glanced up at Scott, who smiled back at her, eyes full of adoration. “A lot of soul-searching,” she said, still gazing into Scott’s eyes. “A lot of tears. And…” She squeezed his hand. “This guy right here. I couldn’t have done this without him.” The last three years had been grueling, but it was Scott’s unwavering support that had carried her through.

  “What now? What’s next for Lacey Moon? Are you still planning to retire, or will you come back one more time to defend your gold?”

  She shook her head, glancing between Scott and Savannah. “No. No more competitions. This is it. I’m going out the way I always intended. On top. This is where I belong. This is where I’m staying.”

  “There are rumors you plan to go into coaching. Are those true?”

  “Yes, I’m thinking about coaching.” She winked at Savannah. “And I just signed a deal to design a line of women’s snowboarding attire and boards.”

  “Sounds like you’re going to be busy.”

  “Absolutely, but first, I have to celebrate this moment. Gold medal, baby!” She pumped her fist again for the fans.

  The reporter finally let her escape with Scott and Savannah, giving them a few minutes before they had to prepare for the medal ceremony.

  “Who’s the busy bee now?” Scott said, pulling her to him for another celebratory kiss.

  “Takes one to know one, right?” She pecked his lips then pulled back and drank in his heavenly face. “But there is one more thing I want to accomplish in the next year. One more grand achievement.” She said it with a slight flourish in her voice.

  His embrace tightened around her uniform. “Oh? What’s that?”

  Grinning from ear to ear as she leaned into him, she gazed into his perfect, kind eyes. “Motherhood.”

  A victorious smile spread over his face. He’d wanted this since they’d gotten back together. She wouldn’t make him wait another day.

  His gaze glided over her face, waking a fire deep in her belly. “Wouldn’t it be a great story to tell our child he or she was conceived on the night you won gold?”

  She raised an eyebrow. “What are you saying?”

  “Let’s get this medal ceremony over with, and you’ll find out.”

  Something told her she’d be carrying a very special, very tiny, very cherished package on the flight home. One Scott would give her later tonight if all went well.

  Let the next phase of her life begin. She was ready.

  * * *

  Thank you for reading Finding Lacey Moon. If you enjoyed the book, please consider leaving a review at the retail site of your choice or on Goodreads to help other readers discover the Hope Falls Series, as well as my other books.

  Now, turn the page for an excerpt from Good Karma, the first book in my Strong Karma Trilogy, which is already available for purchase, along with book two, Coming Back To You. Book three, Full Circle, is due out later this spring.

  Excerpt from Good Karma

  Tuesday night, Karma sat on her couch, finishing a plate of homemade lasagna. The TV was turned to some random movie she was neither interested in nor paying attention to. She simply wanted noise to drown out the barrage of voices that echoed through her head. So many questions, so much confusion. And no answers.

  Mark had left the office with Don at ten o’clock this morning to attend two off-site meetings and a client business dinner. She hadn’t heard from him all day, and now that they had entered into what felt like a covert affair, she was antsy to see him.

  At eight thirty, her phone dinged with a text. Snatching it from the coffee table, her heart skipped. The message was from Mark.

  Are you busy?

  She typed out her response. No.

  Less than thirty seconds later, her phone chimed again. Can I come over?

  Her mind screamed, Yes! God yes! Instead, she typed, Sure.

  She stared at the blank screen, biting her lip, eyes wide. Something about the fact that he was texting her gave her a perverse thrill.

  She actually jumped when her phone dinged again.

  Be there in fifteen.

  She hopped up, quickly cleaned her dishes, put away the leftover lasagna, rushed to check her hair, took a few deep breaths, and returned to the living room.

  A few minutes later, he arrived with a quiet knock.

  Butterflies took flight, angels sang, and rainbows and unicorns danced around her heart.

  “Hi,” she said, holding the door open.

  “Hi.” He had chang
ed into loose jeans and a faded-blue T-shirt, and he held a small, gift-wrapped box in his hands.

  She waved him in and gestured toward the couch. “I wasn’t sure I would hear from you tonight.”

  “I would have called sooner, but dinner ran late, and I wanted to pick something up before coming over.” He held out the box as he settled into the couch.

  “What’s this?” He was already buying her gifts? She had never received a gift from a man before.

  “Just a little something I thought might be fun to help us get to know one another.” His devilish smile told her this wasn’t just any ordinary gift. “Go ahead, open it.”

  “Is this going to embarrass me?” She removed the bow on top.

  “I guarantee it.”

  “Oh God.” She hid her face in her hand, making him laugh.

  “Oh, come on. It’s not that bad.”

  She ripped off the paper, pulled out a four by five box, and read the front. Cosmo’s Truth or Dare: Our Naughtiest Game Ever! Dumbfounded and speechless, her mouth flapped open, closed, and then opened again as she lifted her gaze to Mark’s. Was he serious?

  “Here, let me open that for you.” Mark took the box from her and lifted the side, which closed magnetically. The top opened like a book, and inside was a deck of cards.

  “What exactly did you have planned tonight?” She gulped and eyed the cards as if they were scary intruders. It didn’t take a genius to figure out by the cover of the box that this was a game for two consenting adults. And, yes, while she had agreed to move forward with Mark, consenting to whatever the dare portion of this game likely entailed wasn’t what she had in mind this soon in their relationship…or whatever this was between them.

  Mark thumbed through the deck—there had to be at least two hundred cards—then set them on the coffee table.

  “Don’t worry. I don’t plan on daring you to do anything. I just thought we could go through some of the truths and learn a little more about one another, and maybe have a little fun and a few laughs.”

  “Why do I get the feeling you just want to make me as uncomfortable as possible?” She had felt the color drain from her face the moment she read the game’s title.

  “That’s precisely why I bought the game.”

  “Huh?” Was Mark sadistic?

  “What I mean is that, sometimes it takes uncomfortable circumstances for us to find ourselves. The more uncomfortable the better if change is what you want.” He took her hand. “And I think you want change, or you wouldn’t have worn that brooch today. Am I right?”

  He made a good point. “Well…yes.”

  “Trust me. I just want to get to know you. That’s all. So I can take better care of you.” He searched her eyes for understanding.

  She liked his choice of words. So I can take better care of you. How many women could say that the men in their lives held such attitudes?

  “Okay,” she said, feeling her nerves ease.

  He let go of her hand and sat back. “So let’s just play Truth or Truth with our game. No dares tonight.” He nodded toward the cards on the table. “Just pick up a card, and ask me the question. I’ll answer then do the same. How’s that sound?”

  Karma took a deep breath and eyed the cards. “Okay. But if I die from embarrassment, tell my family I loved them.”

  His deep, throaty laughter tickled her ears. She loved his laugh.

  “I promise,” he said, crossing his heart. “Now, go on. Take a card and ask me a question.”

  She picked up the top card. Just reading the question to herself made her face burn.

  “Okay,” she said, sighing, “Do you like your hair pulled during sex?” She couldn’t even read it aloud with a straight face, let alone make eye contact.

  “Hmm, I guess that depends on the situation, but yes, generally speaking, I like when a woman pulls my hair during sex.”

  Curious now, Karma looked up. “Really? Why?” She figured it would hurt if someone pulled her hair, whether during sex or otherwise.

  He shrugged, and his left eyebrow shot up. “I guess I like it because it shows me the woman is really enjoying herself. That she’s completely lost to her passion.” He paused. “I take it you’ve never had your hair pulled like that.” It wasn’t a question.

  Karma briskly shook her head and set the card down like it was a hot potato. “No.”

  “Didn’t think so.” Mark reached for the deck and pulled off the next card. A crooked grin spread over his mouth as he read the question. “Who was the first person you ever kissed? Was it good or bad?”

  Well, that wasn’t too bad. A question like that wasn’t likely to send her into a queasy fit. She reluctantly told him about kissing Tony in high school and how she froze up, which made him laugh.

  “Okay then, how about the second guy you kissed?”

  “Hey, that’s two questions.”

  He crossed his hands in his lap. “Just getting to you know you.”

  “Fine, play by your rules.” She took a deep breath and blew it out. “The second guy I kissed was named Brian, and…” She cringed. “That kiss was kind of bad, too.”

  “How so?”

  Of course Mark would want specifics.

  “He and I were both…um…virgins, and I kind of froze up with him, too. Just like with Tony.”

  “How did you and Brian meet?”

  “At a movie theater where we both worked during senior year. Brian attended a different school than I did, but we got to be pretty good friends at work.”

  “Did you end up having sex with Brian?” Mark’s eyes never wavered from hers.

  Flames shot through Karma’s face and down her neck, and she dropped her gaze to her hands, which rested in her lap. “Yes. Eventually.”

  “Was it good?”

  She shook her head. “Not really.”

  “Tell me about it.”

  She knew what Mark was trying to do. He was trying to get her to open up and become more comfortable talking about this kind of thing—trying to enforce change. But right now, this had to be the most awkward, difficult conversation she’d ever had. Even worse than the time she got called to the principal’s office in junior high for calling a classmate who was bullying her a skanky bitch. Not her finest hour.

  She lifted her gaze to his and found warmth and safety staring back. Mark really did have her best intentions at heart, and he clearly wanted their time together—as little as they had—to mean something and make a difference.

  She gathered the courage and moved forward. “Brian and I were virgins. We met at work.” Each sentence felt labored, but as she forced herself to continue, it grew easier. “He was an usher, and I worked in the concession stand. After work, we often hung out together, and now that I think about it, he probably liked me more than I liked him.” Brian had been a nice boy, and, at the time, she had felt like he was as good a guy as any to lose her virginity to. Now she wished she hadn’t, but at the time, all she wanted was to get her first time over with in hopes it would make her feel more grown-up and help put her past behind her.

  As she relayed the story, the memories of that night six years ago rushed into her mind, and they felt just as fresh, just as raw.

  Brian’s mom had been out for the evening, and he had stolen a condom from her bedside table before rushing back into the living room where Karma waited for him, half naked, on the floor.

  He began to put on the condom, and then, “Damn it!”

  “What?” Karma frowned as Brian scampered bare-assed out of the living room and down the hall toward his mom’s room again. The only light came from the TV, which was fine by her. The less light, the better.

  “Condom broke,” he called back.

  Karma sat up in the shadow-strewn room and straightened her work shirt, which smelled like buttered popcorn, then pulled her jeans over her lap, waiting for him to return. The only way she could do this was if she could keep on some of her clothes. No one had seen her naked before. Brian didn’t seem to
mind her shyness, though. Then again, he was an eighteen-year-old virgin, too. He was probably just happy he was finally getting laid.

  She tucked her long, mousy brown hair behind her ears and looked around. Some B-rate monster flick was on TV, and the smell of two-hour-old pizza wafted from the open box on the nearby coffee table. This wasn’t how Karma imagined she would lose her virginity. On a hard living room floor, which was covered with carpet that looked like dirt and felt like fuzzy tree bark, but at least tomorrow she could wake up and know she had finally done it.

  She eyed the afghan tossed over the back of the couch. A blanket was a good idea. This carpet didn’t exactly look sanitary on her bare bottom. She pulled the afghan to the floor and spread it out, sitting back down and covering up with her jeans again just as Brian returned from his mom’s bedroom. He held two more condoms in his hand.

  “Just in case I break another one,” he said breathlessly, dropping to the floor in front of her as he tore one open.

  Unlike her, Brian was naked, and his erection strained toward her. It looked a little too big to fit.

  She gulped and took a nervous breath as he put the condom on.

  “There,” he said with a smile and wiped his hand on the blanket. “Did it right this time.” He laughed nervously. “I tried to put the last one on backward.”

  “Oh, okay.” Karma nibbled her lip. She hadn’t known there was a right or wrong way to put on a condom, but now that she thought about it, it made sense. “So…now what?”

  Brian clumsily lurched forward and kissed her, pushing her to the floor. She bonked her head.

  “Sorry,” he said, wriggling around on top of her.

  “No, it’s okay. Just…” Her leg was pinned, and she worked it out from under him. “There.” She bent her knees on either side of his hips as he fumbled around, pushing against her like an excited bull charging a matador.

  “Am I in the right place?” Brian grunted and shifted, and his erection bumped and pushed against her.

  “I don’t know…ow!”

  “Sorry.”

  “That’s okay. I don’t think that’s—ow!”