“There’s my baby boy!” A petite redhead opened the door before we’d even reached the gorgeous wraparound porch. Her arms were around Eric’s neck the second he stopped at the bottom step.

I bit back a laugh, never once picturing Eric as anyone’s baby boy.

Not with how enormous he was.

I clenched my eyes shut against a mental fantasy of just how enormous he was. I’d felt but hadn’t seen, and we so couldn’t go down that road.

Didn’t say that in the locker room, did I?

Another wave of heat hit me despite the snow lightly falling around us.

I’d never, not once, had a man make me fly apart like Eric had. It was like my body obeyed whatever command he gave it. And I liked it…almost lo—

“And this must be Pepper Harris,” she said, releasing Eric as I timidly walked up behind him. She shifted the white cup towel hanging over her shoulder, her soft green eyes sharp as a razor as they trailed me up and down. “Well,” she said. “It’s a good thing he brought you,” she said.

My eyes widened, completely at a loss on what to make of Eric’s spitfire of a mom.

She lightly smacked my hip with the end of the towel. “You look like you don’t get enough home-cooked meals,” she said. “We’ll be sure and fill you up here.”

I chuckled, the tight air in my lungs releasing.

Eric smiled, the grin so much softer, somehow warmer than I’d ever seen it before—and he ran hot most of the time.

“Come on in now before you two freeze to death,” she said, waving us inside. “Eric, you get those bags upstairs, and then your Daddy will want to see you. He’s in the barn.”

“Of course, Ma,” he said, slinging both our bags over his shoulder like it was nothing.

“I can’t thank you enough for inviting me to your home for Thanksgiving, Miss Gentry,” I said, finally finding my voice.

“Marie,” she corrected me, her hand on my back guiding me through the house as Eric bounded up the stairs like he owned the place. “And naturally we couldn’t have you spending the holiday all by yourself. Besides,” she said, inching closer and lowering her voice. “You must be something special.”

I snorted, showing just how un-special I was. Ivy was always the one who was considered…special. Sparkly. Shiny.

Not me.

“Don’t deny it,” she said before I could respond. “He’s never, not once, brought a girl home.”

“We’re just really good friends,” I said, though the words tasted bad on my tongue.

Weren’t we?

Really good friends who wanted to claw each other’s clothes off.

But we couldn’t be anything else.

She flashed me a knowing look and then waved off my assuring gaze. “Come now. We’ll have some hot apple cider and chat. My daughter Faith doesn’t come home enough, so I’m constantly surrounded by men. It’ll be so refreshing to get a bit of gossip in.

I laughed. “Don’t know how good I’ll be at that but I’ll certainly try.”

She led me through the house, which was rich with farmhouse details that made it more than cozy. It made it a home. Warm, wooden floors with plenty of natural wear from raising a growing boy and girl, white-washed walls decorated with framed family photos, and wide snow-dusted windows all displaying the exquisite view of their farmland. The crisp snow sparkled across the distance and hugged the red barn a few hundred yards away.

Enough to steal my breath—the view, the home, the family that lived here. I’d only been here five minutes and already my heart had grown two sizes.

“I can’t imagine growing up in a place as amazing as this,” I said as she urged me to sit down at a breakfast-nook table that was tucked near a kitchen window. It had a perfect view of the barn.

“We are truly blessed,” she said, sliding a steaming mug of cider in front of me and taking a seat across from me. “I thank God twice a day and three times on Sunday for my children, my husband, my life. It hasn’t all been easy, but it sure has been good to me.” She shifted in her seat. “Speaking of good to me.” She smiled and looked over my shoulder.

I didn’t need to check to know Eric was standing in the kitchen entryway. I could practically feel him there. Like he cast out this kind of crazy, hot, pulsing energy whenever he was within five feet of me.

“Is dad working on the combine again?” he asked, stepping fully into the kitchen to stand at his mother’s side.

She shook her head, her short red curls bouncing around her face. “Heaven’s no. You took care of that,” she said. “I’m sure he’s in there tinkering with something, though. You better go check on him.”

“You got it,” Eric said and bent down to kiss his mother on the forehead. “Missed you, Ma. You have to fly out to Seattle more.”

I swallowed hard, suddenly a thick knot in the center of my throat. Missing my mother had been a constant in my life since the day she died. But it had been years since the craving for a motherly bond was so…intense.

She swatted his thigh. “Don’t pressure me! You know I loathe planes.” She glanced at me before setting her gaze on him. “Though, I suppose if I had a good reason.”

“Watching me play in the finals isn’t enough?” He challenged.

“Grandbabies would be better. A truckload of them.”

Heat stained my cheeks so much it stung.

Eric’s went redder than his hair as he huffed. “Ma,” he groaned. “How many times do we have to go over this?”

“What?” she chided, the picture of innocence. “I don’t accept that you’re married to the game.” She used a mocking tone for the last part, and I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Laugh it up, fuzzball,” Eric said, eyeing me as he walked out of the kitchen.

Star Wars jokes. Holy. Effin. Hot.

“He knows I’m just teasing him,” she said as we heard the front door open and shut. Then it was only a few heartbeats before Eric’s tall, muscular frame was hurrying through the snow to the shelter of the barn.

Damn that man was glorious even when walking away.

“I have to give him a hard time,” she continued.

“I support it,” I said, wrapping my hand around the mug and taking a sip of the cider. It was sweeter than syrup on a stack of pancakes with just a hint of spice. This was one-hundred-percent country living right here and I couldn’t feel more at home. What the hell was wrong with me?

“He wouldn’t like it if I treated him…” she slowly trailed her finger around the rim of her mug. “Well, if I treated him special.”

I tilted my head. “Because he is a huge NHL star?”

She rolled her eyes. “Heavens no!” she chuckled. “Though, I am damn proud of him. And he knows it.” She sighed. “No. He’s the reason this farm is still functioning. We wouldn’t have survived the last two winters without him. And I know he works so hard because of it…well, he’s always worked hard, but the way he helps us…” her eyes glistened, and that knot in my throat made a second appearance. “Anyway,” she waved off some imaginary offense. “He would hate it if I treated him differently because of it. He’s always told me that I raised him for eighteen years so anything he gives us is simply a return on investment.” She laughed, a rich, warm sound that I couldn’t help but join in. “Ed doesn’t know, of course.”

I hadn’t realized most of Eric’s income came here, but it sure as hell made a lot of sense now. His dedication to the game, his uncanny ability to stay off of social media and out of the bars, away from the bunnies and brawls.

Damn, no wonder Dad picked him to be my blocker. He had more riding on the game than the notoriety and thrill of victory.

I glanced out the window, peering at the barn like I could see through it.

My heart swelled despite me telling it not to.

Not only was he funny, gorgeous, a hero, smart, and the best kisser to ever take my breath away, he was a genuinely good man.

“Oh, you should have seen him on the ice that first time, Pepper!” Marie said through tears of laughter. We’d been mixing up pie crust and three different fillings for three hours, but it had gone by in a blink. “He was like a newborn deer!” She nudged me with her elbow, our fingers coated in flour, the kitchen practically intoxicating with the smells of sweet buttery crusts. “If Sports Illustrations would’ve asked me that week if I believed my baby boy would be a big-time NHL Shark, I would’ve laughed in their faces.”

My side hurt I was laughing so hard. Talking to Marie had proven easy, comfortable. Nothing like the nightmare I’d pictured on the flight over—worried they would hate my uber-nerdish personality. It rubbed people the wrong way sometimes. Or the fact that I wasn’t actually dating her son and yet he showed up with me to crash their family time. None of those fears proved feasible at all. Still, I never once considered I’d have such a good time, making pie crust and hearing stories about Eric’s childhood.

The realization hit me like a warm caress and settled in my chest. My heart whispered things, unimaginable things, and I quickly locked it up like an uncrackable safe.

I was simply drenched in nostalgia.

Swept away by the beauty and love surrounding this place.

Nothing. More.

“You finished with Pepper, yet, Ma?” Eric’s voice jolted me out of my thoughts. I turned, finding him leaning in that entryway, looking sexy as ever in a puffy-snowsuit and boots. He gaped at the apron around my waist while I gaped at him.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing,” he said, chuckling. “Flour looks good on you.” He stepped farther into the room, wiping some of the white dust off my cheek. I swear electricity crackled where he made contact with my skin.

“Yeah, we’re finished,” Marie said. “Just wrapped up the last one. Why? You have something important to do?”

“Yes Ma’am,” he said, his eyes pure mischief.

A bolt zapped my core, churning and aching and begging for another taste of this incredible man.

“Is that right?” I asked, washing the flour off my hands at the sink.

“Yes Ma’am,” he repeated, and a chill raced down my spine. “And you need to get out of those clothes.”

My eyes widened as I froze with the towel in my hands.

“Eric, stop teasing that poor girl,” Marie said, and my mortification went to an entirely new level. I knew this family was closer than any I’d ever seen but what the actual fu—

“I brought you a snowsuit,” Eric clarified. “It’s upstairs.”

“A snowsuit?” I blurted, the breath whooshing out of my lungs.

“Yeah,” he said, stepping so close I had to arch my neck to meet his eyes. He lowered his voice so only I could hear. “What did you think I meant, Pepper?”

I wetted my lips, my mouth suddenly dry. Had Marie turned the oven on again? It was at least ten degrees hotter than it’d been a second ago.

“Nothing, Iron Man,” I said, pushing him out of my way. The air in the dining room connected to the kitchen was much cooler. I glanced over my shoulder when I reached the stairwell. “Prepare to go down,” I teased, and it was his turn to gawk. I reached out and closed his opened mouth. “Snowball fight, right?”

He blinked out of his stare. “How did you know?”

I arched a brow at him. “I have a woman on the inside,” I said, winked, and hurried up the stairs like I was fourteen again, school canceled, nothing but a fun-filled snow-day ahead.

“You are such a cheater!” I hollered, ducking behind the fence post.

“You are!” Eric yelled, lobbing another perfectly round snowball at me that missed by an inch. “You have all the help!”

He wasn’t wrong there.

Eric’s dad, Edward, flanked my right, his toboggan covering his silver hair, while Marie had my right. Eric’s sister Faith, who had shown up just before we got started, hung by her dad.

“We couldn’t leave her with no cover, son!” Edward yelled before throwing a snowball toward where Eric crouched behind a row of hedges.

“Yeah, bro,” Faith hollered, her bright red hair peeking out underneath her bright blue beanie. “You’re like all of us combined! I’d say you have the advantage!”

I liked her immediately.

“Traitors!” Eric called, but I could hear the laughter in his voice. “I’ll take you all down before you get my flag!”

I shook my head, flashing Marie a can you believe this guy look. “We’ll see about that!”

This family. They were everything. They made snowball fights more complex by combining it with capture the flag. Whoever captured the opposing team’s flag was the first to be served at the dinner table for Thanksgiving.

Coolest. People. Ever.

And I felt damn lucky they’d included me at all.

“Marie,” I whispered so Eric wouldn’t dare hear us. “You lay down some cover. I’ll draw him out and give Ed and Faith the chance they need to steal his flag.”

“I knew I liked you for a reason,” she said, smirking before glancing at her husband. “Told you she wasn’t afraid of him.”

“How could I be afraid of a teddy bear?” I teased. “A six-foot-six teddy bear.” I exaggerated a fearful look, which got them all laughing.

“You’ve definitely pinned him,” Faith said, flashing me a smile. “Not many people can see past the primal giant male hockey star thing.”

I shrugged. “Dad’s a coach. I grew up around those types. Not all are what they seem.” I swallowed hard, the truth in those words catching up in my heart.

“Plotting is pointless!” Eric hollered, grounding me in the present.

“Better hurry,” Edward said. “I’m almost out of ammo.”

“On it.” I nodded to the three of them and then sprinted out of our cover with the team’s flag in hand. “If you want this,” I said, waving the flag at him. “Come and claim it!”

Eric darted from the hedges so fast I squealed before taking off in the opposite direction. Marie, the true teammate she was, lobbed ball after ball at Eric, but couldn’t make connection.

My borrowed boots crunched against the powder as I dug my feet in, racing away from Eric, but keeping steady enough that he stayed on my heels. Leading him far away from both our bases, into no man’s land.

It didn’t matter how hard or how far I pushed, Eric was there.

Fast and ferocious and when I couldn’t resist not glancing back at him, I stumbled.

Face first into a pile of ice-cold snow.

“Pepper!” Eric slid to his knees beside me, and I quickly buried the flag into the same mound of snow that assaulted my face so he couldn’t immediately grab it. “Are you okay?” His gloved hands were on my shoulders, rolling me to my side.

I leaped up, taking him by so much surprise that I gained the upper hand, and dug my knees into his shoulders. “I have him!” I screamed. “Get it, Ed!”

Eric’s eyes flew wide, his hands immediately on my hips. “You really are a cheater,” he said.

I laughed, leaning down to look him in the eyes. “Only when there’s a food-prize at the end.”

He chuckled, his chest vibrating with the laughter, which rocketed straight up my center.

Holy hell.

I sucked in a sharp breath, arching against him, my hands flying to his that still held my hips. In a blink he’d sat up, shifting me without any effort, until we were nose to nose. His cheeks were red with cold, his hair peeking out from his black beanie dusted with white flakes, and his eyes on freaking fire.

His hand moved from my hip to the back of my neck, our lips a breath away. Everything in me zeroed in on the heat between our bodies surrounded by cold, the way my heart raced, the way nothing else seemed to matter in that moment other than relieving the ache between my thighs.

“Pepper,” he said, my name a whisper. He inched, his lips brushing over mine.

I opened for him—

“I got it!” Ed yelled.

Eric’s freaking father yelled.

And snapped us right the hell out of it.

I leaped off of Eric like we’d gotten caught making out after curfew.

Eric sat there for a moment, his massive body melting the snow around him.

I offered him a gloved-hand up, and he took it despite not needing any help at all.

He towered over me, unspoken words flashing across his face.

I punched him in the chest.

What the absolute hell is wrong with me?

“You lose, Gentry,” I tried to tease, but my voice was low, coated in everything I’d been dying to have happen between us.

“Did I?” He challenged. “I think claiming you sounds like a win to me.”

I opened and closed my mouth too many times, watching as he brushed past me to congratulate his parents and grab Faith in a headlock that had her smacking him harder than I’d seen some of his teammates hit.

A steaming shower and fresh set of clothes later, I took my seat next to Eric at the crowded dinner table.

Edward sat at the head of the table, having carved and served himself first since he’d gotten the flag. Marie was on his right, Faith next to her, then Eric, then me. On the opposite side were Eric’s aunt and uncle.

Smells of roast turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and literally every side I could think of filled the dining room. I was certain I’d never been so ravenous in all my life.

Note-to-self: snowball fights are great cardio.

“I understand that,” Edward said, speaking to his brother, John, who sat to his left. “But can’t you sit on it for a couple weeks. It’s only the start of winter, John.”

I quickly focused on my second helping of turkey and dressing, trying like hell not to eavesdrop. Though, in my defense, we were only two seats away from the head of the table so it wasn’t like I could turn off my ears or anything.

“I can’t do that, Ed. They want the land. Bad. And I can’t afford to say no to them a second longer.”

My brow pinched as I glanced covertly at Eric. He sighed and leaned to whisper in my ear. “Big corporation wants John’s five-hundred acres. They’ve been at him for months, but it’s family land. My dad and him always agreed they’d never sell to anyone outside the family without offering it to the other first.” Eric’s shoulders wound with tension that had nothing to do with our no-holds-bar snowball fight.

“How long can you give me?” Edward asked, oblivious to Eric’s commentary.

John had set his fork down, rubbing his head. “I don’t want to do this here. On Thanksgiving. We can talk about it tomorrow.”

“No,” Edward said, the tone indicating authority but never coming close to snapping. “You brought it up. Might as well lay it on me. How long before you sell our family land to them?”

“Don’t say it like that,” John groaned. “You think I want to?” He shook his head. “If I could afford to say no to their offer then I would! You know I would. But my land isn’t producing. It hasn’t in two years. The only reason we’ve survived at all is because of your—”

Eric cleared his throat, cutting off what was surely to have been about him.

“How long, John?” Edward’s tone was lethally quiet.

“A week. Two max.”

A silence fell over the table that felt like a blanket of ice.

“I’ll go to the bank first thing Monday. I’ll get a loan—”

“You know as well as I do they won’t give you a loan for that much,” John said. “I already tried on my end. They see our farms as failing. Replacing equipment and upgrades put our profit/loss statements into the red again and you know it. ”

Edward shifted in his seat. “And we have a good year ahead of us because of those replacements and upgrades. I know it. You just have to give me a chance.”

“I can’t—”

“I’ll co-sign,” Eric cut him off, his eyes darting between his dad and John. “They’ll have to give it to you, Dad,” he continued, and I about damn near melted in my chair. Edward sighed, his eyes closing for the briefest of moments. “Spare me the lecture of standing on your own, Dad,” he said. “I’ve had a great season so far and I’m due for a re-sign on my contract. It’ll be big this time. The bank won’t be able to say no to you if I co-sign.”

Edward’s jaw locked, the war raging within him obvious.

“Dad, it’s my legacy, too,” Eric urged. “I just want to do my part for it.”

After several moments of held breath, Edward sighed again and nodded. “Thank you, son. And co-sign is all you’ll do. I’ll be able to meet the payments just fine.”

“Understood.” Eric nodded again, and I had a hard time breathing around my heart.

A few more beats and something solid clicked into place.

A few more after that nothing but hollow cold swarmed my soul.

We’d been reckless, giving into…whatever this was between us.

Risked way too damn much.

Eric was right; he was up for a huge contract. He’d more than earned it.

And he’d get it, too.

Just so long as he wasn’t caught with the coach’s daughter.