Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 23556 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 118(@200wpm)___ 94(@250wpm)___ 79(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 23556 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 118(@200wpm)___ 94(@250wpm)___ 79(@300wpm)
He passes the puck between his legs to our dad, who carries it up the ice to where Quinn stands in as goalie. Since there isn’t a goalie bone—or hell, even a hockey bone—in our baby brother’s body, and Dad is a beast, he scores easily. Quinn glares as Dad, Posey, and Evan tease him relentlessly, but I just grin, not caring one bit that they’re kicking Shelli's, Aiden’s, and my asses. You’d think with two star hockey players, we’d be sweeping them. But Posey is damn good, Shelli isn’t, and Dad scares us all. Oh, and I don’t think anyone really wants to truly compete against Evan since we’re all just happy he’s on the ice.
Mom scolds everyone as she holds a huge cup of hot chocolate, shivering but not giving up on the game. I wish she’d play, but she complains her hip isn’t the same. I blame it on those heels she wears; I know that’s why Shelli isn’t good anymore. She traded her skates for her heels and hasn’t looked back. Tragic, really.
Beside my incredible mom is my girl, my everything, my Angie. I skate toward her, and when her eyes meet mine, my grin widens even more. Her hair is down under the large beanie that almost covers her eyes. Her face is red and I can tell she’s cold, but I don’t think she wants to be inside with all the craziness going on there. Everyone is in stitches over Asher and Ally’s new baby. I don’t know how they keep things a secret, but I swear, Asher has been doing that since the beginning. I guess he and Evan are cut more from the same cloth than Evan and I, because Evan has been keeping it a secret that he is going to propose to his girl since May, I think.
I don’t get it. When I knew I wanted to marry Angie, I said yes since she beat me to the question. I couldn’t wait. I called Mom and Dad five minutes after she asked. When I thought I had knocked her up, I was ready to call my parents the moment the test came back. Yeah, I was scared, and I knew we weren’t ready for kids, but I couldn’t wait to tell everyone. Even with the test coming back negative, I still wanted to tell my parents there had been a moment I’d thought Angie was pregnant. I don’t know, maybe I’m overly proud of my relationship.
With one hell of a woman.
“I don’t know how he beat me,” I say, and she laughs as she leans over the makeshift fence to kiss me. I kiss her eagerly, our kiss warming me up a bit.
“He’s always been faster,” she says, fixing the collar of my shirt. I just threw a hoodie on and didn’t worry about the collar of my undershirt at all. “But you’re way hotter.”
“Hey!” Callie protests, and Angie laughs. “My man is super hot.”
“Some would say they’re identical,” Mom teases, and I grin back at her.
“No one says that but you, Mom,” I remind her, and everyone laughs as the rest of my family gathers around. Evan skates to where Callie is, and man, it makes me really happy to see him so happy. I don’t think I can ever thank Callie enough for how she helped save my brother. His mental health has been so much better since she came along. It isn’t cured, not that I think you can cure mental illness, but he’s better. He’s maintaining his meds, and he’s skating. After not being able to—for almost a year. For me, that’s winning.
Angie leans over the fence thingy and wraps her arms around my waist. I kiss the top of her head before stabbing my stick into the snow. I wrap my arms around her as Mom says, “Hey, I think your parents are here.”
We all turn to where a car is pulling in. Angie doesn’t move, though, and I hate how nervous she is. She has “gained weight,” as she tells me, but I don’t see it. All I see is my gorgeous, thick, sexy queen, and it kills me how she is letting her weight define everything. She says she pushed the wedding back because of a dress that wasn’t available until Christmas, but I think it’s because she hasn’t met her “goal” weight. She frustrates me, but damn if I don’t love her.
I look over to where her beautiful mom is getting out of the car, waving excitedly at us. Mom and Dad start for them as everyone else begins to pick up the sticks and equipment. We were waiting on the Paxton family to arrive for us to eat dinner. I kiss Angie’s head when I hear her groan. I look over to notice that her younger sister Charlotte is carrying a white dress bag.