Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 107667 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107667 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Our lips barely touch as I whisper, “So have I.”
“So, yes?” he asks, his eyes dancing with mine.
“Yes.”
As our lips meet, I wait for the fear. The thoughts that the distance we’ll have to deal with will break me or he’ll find someone else.
But it never comes.
Lordy, my daddy is gonna have some words for me.
In my half-up hairdo, I’ve tied a black-and-red ribbon for the IceCats. On my body, I’m wearing a huge #11 Miklas black jersey with glittery red trim. Not a lick of orange is on my body, and while I know it’s wrong in my mom’s and dad’s eyes, it feels right. This jersey feels like home. Like Dart’s arms are around me, holding me tightly, and he’s whispering sweet nothings in my ear. My ticket took me five rows up from the ice, and the game hasn’t even started, but everyone is ready. The air is electric, loud, and truth be told, I may be a hockey fan. A giggle escapes my lips just knowing my daddy is gonna lose his mind.
Because I’m not an Assassins fan, but a fan of the IceCats.
Or better yet, number eleven’s fan.
The crowd goes crazy when the jumbotron tells them to, and then the team is skating out onto the ice. I stand up to get a better look, and when Dart hits the ice, everything goes molten inside me. While I thought he was breathtaking on my ESPN app, nothing could have prepared me for seeing him live on that ice. He skates with such confidence and ownership. His stick is an extension of himself, and he takes a puck, bouncing it on his blade with ease.
That’s my man.
Lordy.
I’m knocked from the thirst trap that is Dart when someone comes to stand beside me. I look over as she smiles at me, and I’m taken aback by her beauty. Long, darkish-blond hair with the cutest bangs ever. Her green eyes are mesmerizing and beautiful behind her dark-rimmed glasses. She has on an IceCats jersey too, and I swear I know her from somewhere. Or maybe I’ve seen her before.
“Hey. Sorry I’m late,” she says happily, throwing her bag into the seat beside me.
I look around, confused. “Wait? Are you talking to me?”
She laughs. “Yes, silly! I’m Owen’s wife—” she starts, but then she giggles loudly. “I love saying that! Which is crazy ’cause when we were younger, I hated him.”
I just blink, utterly bewildered, then it dawns on me. “Owen, Dart’s best friend. You’re Angie! The bride to his dude of honor!”
“That’s me,” she says, tucking her hands into her pockets. “And you’re Tennessee. Man, girl, you put my boy through hell!”
I inhale sharply, my eyes widening. “Owen told me y’all didn’t hate me.”
“I don’t,” she says, waving me off. “I get it, believe me. I wanted to ghost Owen, but I didn’t have the distance you had to try to outrun him.”
“I don’t think there is any outrunning Dart,” I tell her, knowing it’s the truth. “Like my momma said, I was here a week and couldn’t resist him from the moment our eyes met.”
Angie snickers. “Yup, Dart called that.”
“Did he?” I laugh and she nods.
“God yes, he intended on scooping you up when you guys went to the coffee shop.”
My face burns. “I felt that, but he gave me space.”
“He didn’t want to. I can tell you that for sure.”
“I know,” I say softly. “I’m not a fan of space between him and me.”
“Who would be? Do you know what it’s like to be in a room with you two?”
I bring in my brows, and then I giggle. “I mean, I know what I feel… How do you know?”
Her eyes are bright. “Tennessee, I was at that party. A lot of people were.”
I gawk at her as I feel my face burn with heat. “I don’t even remember seeing anyone but Owen. Later…”
She laughs. “Exactly! You two are fire together,” she tells me. “I’m not even the least bit surprised you two have moved in together already.”
I press my lips together to keep from grinning like a fool. I don’t know why her approval of our choice to move in together means so much to me, but it does. “You don’t think we’re crazy?”
She scoffs, waving me off. “Not at all. When you know, you know.”
“Exactly,” I gush, turning to her. “I feel like I’ve known him forever.”
Angie’s eyes sparkle, or maybe it’s the lights flashing. I don’t know. “My girl Taylor Swift sang about twenty seconds and twenty years being the same thing,” she says with a wink, and I laugh at that.
Because lordy me, I feel those lyrics. Deeply.
I didn’t even hesitate when, after the Vols game, Dart packed up all my boxes and moved me out in a matter of minutes. Not that I had much to take. I really did sell a lot before I left Virginia, but I was ready. I wanted to leave that apartment; it held nothing I wanted. I want what his—I mean, our—home offers. Us, together.