Meet Me in the Penalty Box: A Small Town Hockey Romance (Orchid City Book 1)

I leaned against the doorframe to Harper’s bedroom as I stared at her in the kitchen. My hands were lazily tucked in the front pockets of my sweats and I watched her carefully as she turned around to face me. A pink tint crept up her neck and spread across her cheeks as her eyes searched mine with a brief panic.

“I woke up and you were gone,” I told her as I pushed away from the doorframe and began to close the distance between us.

Harper’s slender throat bobbed and she nervously shifted her weight on her feet. “I went to have my meeting with Phillip.”

My eyebrows pulled together as I stopped in front of her. “I thought it wasn’t until tomorrow?”

“I spoke to him yesterday afternoon and we changed it to today.”

I stared at her for a moment. “And you didn’t want me to go along.”

She shook her head at me. “It was something I needed to handle by myself.”

“What happened to us figuring it out together?”

Harper stepped into my space and laced her hands together behind my neck. “I don’t need you to fight all my battles for me, Nico. I love you but I also like my independence, and it’s important to me that it’s something I don’t lose.”

Her words hit me harder than I expected. I stared down at her as I slid my hands around her waist. “I would never ask you to give up your independence, love. If I’m ever overstepping, please just let me know. I promise that you won’t hurt my feelings.”

Her eyes widened as they searched mine. “So you’re not mad at me?”

I lifted an eyebrow at her. “Why would I be mad at you? Do I wish you would have told me you changed the meeting? Absolutely, but there’s no reason for me to be mad at you.”

“Thank you,” she said softly as a smile touched her lips. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I didn’t want you to get mad that I changed it and I didn’t want you to argue with me about coming along.”

Laughter rumbled in my chest and I slid my hands down to cup the backs of her thighs as I lifted her up into the air. I gently set her down on the counter and stood between her legs. “I might be stubborn and I might argue, but if you tell me no to something I will always listen to you, Harper.”

“You are pretty stubborn,” she mused as she played with the hair at the nape of my neck. “And you do like to argue.”

“I never once told you anything differently. That’s who I am, love. And where you’re concerned, I will always be protective and overly opinionated.”

She stared up at me as she hooked her legs around my lower back, pulling me flush against her. “You’re so unapologetically you and I love it.”

My face dipped down to hers. “Yeah, well, I love you.”

“Not as much as I love you,” she argued back with a smirk pulling on her lips.

“I beg to differ,” I chuckled before claiming her mouth with mine. I breathed her in, my tongue sliding along the seam of her lips. She parted them and let me in as our tongues tangled together. She was the only thing that mattered to me and I would spend the rest of my life showing her that. No matter what came our way, we would always find a way to make it work.

Abruptly, I pulled away from her. “Does this mean you’re going to move in with me now?”

Harper laughed and shook her head. “Nope.”

“Dammit,” I muttered, fighting the playful smirk that pulled on the corners of my lips. “What are your plans then?”

“I’m going to do my own thing,” she said quietly but her tone was filled with confidence. “’I’m officially starting my own photography business to do what I love. I have enough money saved up and I think I have enough clients to get things started. All I can do is try to build from here and hope it turns into a real career.”

I’d never felt more proud in my entire fucking life. Even the day I was drafted into the NHL didn’t compare to watching Harper blossom and grow.

“I’m so fucking proud of you, love. You are so fucking amazing and I know you will go far with this.”

She tilted her head to the side. “How can you be so sure?”

“Because I believe in you, Harper.”

She fell silent for a moment as she stared back at me. “How would you feel about maybe staying here with me more often? You know… since Giana is going to be staying at your place.”

My lips twitched. “Is this your way of asking me to move in with you without coming out and actually saying it?”

She shrugged and smiled shyly. “I don’t want to ask you to give up your place or anything. I was just thinking that if you were here, we would be able to spend more time together and not have to go back and forth.”

“Only if I can bring Ballsy with me.”

Her eyes widened as she lifted her eyebrows. “You’re kidding.”

I shook my head. “You’re not my only good luck charm. I need both of you in order to succeed.”

“I don’t know where we would put it. Can’t you just go back to your place to see it when you need to?”

I laughed out loud and shook my head. “You don’t understand how it works, do you?”

Harper stared at me. “You do whatever you need to do. If it needs to be here with you, then bring it along. I just thought if we stayed here, then your sister could have your place to herself.”

“You mean, so then I can fuck you on every surface of your apartment without someone walking in on us?”

She half choked, half laughed. “You’re bold.”

“I just know what I want, love,” I said matter-of-factly as my face dipped back down to hers. “And that’s you.”