The rink was loud with laughter from the children skating with their parents. The Christmas kickoff skate was one of my favorite events every year, but this was the best one yet. Pepper was here.

I watched her skating across the rink with Faith, and I had the strangest premonition that I was watching my future. It had been like that all weekend with her as if living in some alternate reality, where I’d brought her home as more than just my friend.

Then again, we both knew the just friends line was complete and utter bullshit. Truth was she my coach’s daughter. She was the one thing I was supposed to keep my hands off, and yet the only woman I wanted my hands on. Talk about irony.

“Sure is a sight,” mom said as she shuffled over toward me, holding onto the wall.

I took her hand before she could fall. It didn’t matter how many times she’d driven me to the ice, she’d never been comfortable on it.

“Sure is,” I replied, looking at the crowd of locals. I loved being home, close to my family, close to the community, close to the land. Like some players were addicted to the rush, the sex, the fame, or the money, my addiction was the small town I’d grown up in. “Good turnout this year.”

Mom raised an eyebrow in my direction. “That was not the site I was referring to.” She blatantly turned her attention toward Pepper.

I couldn’t help but follow her gaze. Pepper’s head was thrown back in laughter, her joy in the moment obvious and utterly intoxicating.

“That’s some girl you brought home for me,” Mom continued. “She’s good for you.”

“We’re just friends, Mom.” The taste in my mouth turned sour like even my body knew it was a lie.

Last time I checked, friends didn’t have the chemistry we did or share the kind of moments we did in the locker room. I swore, I could still feel her on my fingers, taste her on my tongue. I wanted more. Scratch that. I needed more of her. More of her laughter, her wit, her smiles, and a hell of a lot more of her body. If I wasn’t careful, my little hometown wouldn’t be my only addiction.

“Eric, in case you haven’t noticed, that look you’re giving her is darn near indecent for public venue,” Mom told me with a smirk. “But sure, if it makes you feel better to say you’re just friends, then go with it.”

“It doesn’t make me feel better, but it is what it is. She’s Coach Harris’s daughter.” My jaw flexed twice as I watched Pepper skate backward, her feet sure and steady across the ice. Of course, she’d be able to hold her own out here. She’d been raised on the ice, the same as I had, and she could hold her own anywhere.

“And that’s an issue?” Mom asked.

“Coach said hands off. It doesn’t matter how much I might like her. She’s out of my league and completely off-limits.”

Mom tilted her head as she looked up at me. “You weren’t always this big, you know. In fact, I believe your peewee coach said you were the scrawniest goalie he’d ever seen, and that we should consider asking you to change positions.”

“I remember. But I never wanted to be anywhere else but in front of that goal.”

Mom nodded. “That’s right. You practiced every day and every night. Do you remember what happened when you came back for the next season?”

The corners of my mouth lifted. “I told him I couldn’t be his goalie anymore.”

“Because you had made the travel team. You were moving up to AA. In that year, I couldn’t help but wonder if it was really that coach telling you you couldn’t do it that gave you the motivation to become what you are now.”

“And what does that have to do with Pepper?”

Mom looked across the ice as Pepper and Faith headed our way. “I always knew the one way to get you to do something was to tell you that you couldn’t do it. You’ve got a heart the size of Montana, boy, but a stubborn streak twice as wide.”

“Noted.”

Her voice dropped to a whisper as the girls came closer. “Just don’t forget while you’re in that fancy town making all that fancy money that life is about more than your next contract, or even what you can do to help us at home. We might not have always been rich in money, but we were so wealthy in love, and if I only had one wish for you, Eric, that would be it.”

Her gloved hand squeezed my arm once and then she turned her wide smile on the girls. “You ladies having fun?”

Pepper’s eyes were bright, her cheeks red with the chill of the rink. The tips of her hair matched the bright blue of her hat, and I wondered how many times she changed it over the course of a year and if I might be lucky enough to see every shade.

“This is amazing,” Pepper gushed. “I can’t believe the whole town comes out. It’s like something straight out of a Norman Rockwell.”

I glanced around the stands of our small rink, overflowing with locals drinking hot chocolate, chatting about the upcoming season, or in various state of skate-tying.

“Too small-town for you, city girl?” I teased.

“Too perfect,” she admitted with a wide smile. “Everyone knows everyone.”

“That’s what happens when you graduate with twenty people in your class,” Faith rolled her eyes—the same color green as mine. “Everyone knows everyone, dates everyone...it’s all very incestuous.”

Pepper shrugged. “I don’t know. It all seems...comforting.” Her eyes flew wide. “Except for the incest part. I’m not down for that.”

Faith laughed. “Yeah, well, it’s why I’m getting out of here next year. Goodbye community college and hello U Dub!”

My jaw dropped. “You got into the University of Washington?”

“Sure did! And a scholarship so you won’t be on the line for my tuition!”

“As in the University of Washington in Seattle?”

“That’s the one!”

I swept my sister up in my arms, hugging her tight to my chest. When Dad had gotten sick, Faith took so much on that her grades had fallen. She’d needed last year at community college to boost her GPA.

“So you’re not mad?” She asked pulling back.

I put her down. “How could I be mad? I get to have you close.”

She hugged mom and then tucked her long red hair behind her ears in an all-too-familiar nervous gesture. “I don’t know. I just don’t want to cramp your NHL player style.”

“I don’t really have a style to cramp. I mostly practice and sleep.”

“That’s true,” Pepper agreed. “He’s not like the other guys. You know the ones who were out drinking, clubbing, looking for…” She blushed.

Girls. Women. Sex. That’s what all the other guys were looking for when they went out on Saturday night. And now my baby sister, my naïve twenty-year-old sister, was not only going to be in the same city as the Seattle Sharks, but thrown in with them because of me.

I suddenly had the urge to vomit, imagining Crosby getting one look at how gorgeous Faith had grown up to be.

“You sure you want to be in Seattle?”

Faith smiled and nodded. “It’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

Then I was going to give it to her, protect her from that hedonistic group of guys I happened to call teammates.

“I can’t wait to have you there.” I gave her a smile to let her know I was genuine and then turned to Pepper. “Skate with me.”

It hadn’t been a request, and she knew it. She had the same restless look in her eyes that I felt in my soul, and in that moment I needed my hands on her in any way possible. I’d settle for holding her hand.

Our eyes locked, and it happened again, that jolt of electricity down my spine, telling me this was more than the friendship we kept claiming. I offered my hand and she took it.

We skated in the large circle of the rink, not an NHL player and his statistician, just two people lost in the crowd of a Christmas kickoff in a small town. How funny that in a town this small I had more anonymity than I did in Seattle.

She squeezed my hand, and I fought the urge to rip off our gloves so I could feel my skin against hers.

“I can see why you love it here,” she said softly as a couple of kids passed us.

“It’s my favorite place in the world. This is where I learned to skate, where I joined my first team, where I stood in front of the goal for the first time. I hope one day I can teach my kids to stay here, too.”

“You want kids,” she asked, looking up at me.

“Yeah. Always have. I used to think I was going to have to wait until I was done with the NHL.”

“I get that. Every hockey player I’ve ever met has been married to the game and the only thing he was worried about was raising his stats. Hockey doesn’t leave a lot of time for relationships, for marriages, for parenting.”

Her brow creased, and I hated the flash of sadness in her eyes.

“It doesn’t,” I agreed. “But watching McPherson and the others has really shown me that there’s a way to balance the two. That you can be at the top of your game not only in hockey but your personal life as long as you don’t let one overpower the other.”

“Don’t you think it’s bound to happen,” she asked, her eyes focused on the boards. “Not that I don’t think Gage is doing a great job, or Rory, or Warren. But I grew up in the NHL, and I guess twenty-two years of experience gets in the way of hoping that players have changed.”

“You think I’m like that?” I waited until she looked at me. “That my only concern is raising my stats? Not that I don’t thoroughly enjoy our statistician.”

She cracked a smile, but it was guarded. “I think you are unlike any player I’ve ever met.”

“That a good thing?”

“It’s a dangerous thing.”

Before I could ask her what she meant, I saw my dad flag us down. We’d already circled the rink twice, and we stopped just next to them.

“The snow is really starting to come down,” Dad told us. “Temp is dropping too.”

“What’s it down to?” Mom asked, concern etched across her face.

“Two degrees,” Dad answered.

I took out my phone and checked the forecast. “Man, looks like we’re headed for negative ten, and a blizzard warning? Kind of early in the season, isn’t it?”

Mom nodded. “We haven’t winterized yet. These kinds of temps don’t usually come until January. Never November.”

“Uncle John is with his in-laws, isn’t he,” Faith asked.

Dad nodded. “Yes, and he’s not due back until Monday.” He looked at mom. “We are going to need to go over to his place and open up his pipes. The last thing I want is him coming home to a wreck.”

“Of course. Faith, why don’t you come with us? That little car of yours is no match for this weather. We’ll come and get it tomorrow.” Mom left no room for argument.

“Okay,” Faith agreed.

“Eric, why don’t you take Pepper home and get our pipes opened, too. We’ll be there as soon as we finish at Uncle John’s,” Dad suggested.

“Not a problem. We’ll take care of it.”

About five minutes later, I walked out with Pepper, carrying both of our skates. “Holy shit.”

“You can say that again,” Pepper replied.

The snow was already a foot deep, if not more, and falling rapidly. The flakes were thick and fluffy. Not typical for blizzard warning, but all bets were off once the wind moved in.

“I’m glad I brought my truck,” I told her.

“Me too,” she said softly, looking up to the sky as if she’d never seen snow before.

“Carry these?” I asked, handing her the bag with the skates.

She nodded, and I bent slightly, picking her up into a bridal carry. She laughed, and looped her arm around my neck while her other hand held onto the skate bag.

My arms tightened around her, holding her close to my body to keep her warm, even though logically I knew she was wearing a ski coat. I trudged across the small parking lot and managed to open the passenger door of my truck without dropping Pepper.

“You didn’t lock it?” She chided after I’d come around to get in the driver’s seat.

“Everyone knows it’s mine,” I told her as I started up the engine. “That’s the thing about small towns. Not as much to worry about.”

“Yeah, well how about you just get us home, because I’m plenty worried about the snow.”

“Yes ma’am.”

The drive took us twice as long as normal by the time we reached the farm, and I had no doubt the snow was halfway or more up my oversized tires. The wind had arrived by then, too, and visibility was a bitch. We slid coming around the corner, but I quickly got us under control.

“Good reflexes,” Pepper said with a nervous laugh.

“Yeah, I guess and kinda known for those.” I threw her a smile and pulled the truck up to the main house. “Wait there,” I said to her before climbing down from the truck.

Yeah, this shit was getting deep. It was going to take hours to plow us out.

I opened her door and held out my arms.

“I don’t mind walking,” she said with a smile.

“Only because the truck is blocking the wind, and besides I’m pretty sure the snow is taller than you are by now,” I teased.

“Hey, I’m not that short.”

“Nope, you’re pretty perfect. Now let me carry that pretty perfect ass of yours inside before we lose you in a snow drift.”

She gave in, sliding into my arms like she’d always been meant to be there.

I carried her up the wooden steps of my home and across the threshold, kicking the door shut behind me in a way that would’ve had my mom yelling.

Fuck my life. The power was out and the house was freezing.

“Give me a second and I’ll get a fire going in the wood stove,” I told Pepper.

“No rush,” she told me, pulling off her snow boots and putting them on the boot tray under the bench. “How do we open the pipes?”

God, she was drenched in snow, facing a blizzard, stuck in a freezing hundred-year-old farmhouse, and there was no complaint, just an offer to help. If I wasn’t already half obsessed with her, I would have been at that moment.

“We set them to drip at every faucet,” I told her. “That should keep the pipes from freezing over, especially the ones along the outside of the house.”

“No problem! I’ll start upstairs.” And just like that, she was off.

Ten minutes later, we had every pipe dripping, and I had coaxed a fire to life inside the wood stove with left installed in our living room for just this kind of emergency.

“Looks like the power is out all over town,” Pepper said, looking at her cell phone. “Update says they expect to have it up by morning.”

“Good thing dad sold off all the livestock a couple years ago.” At the time I hadn’t seen it for what it really was, the first step in the overall decline of the prosperity of the farm.

I called my parents and verified that they would be staying at Uncle John’s house. There was zero reason for them to be out in this kind of weather.

Which meant I only needed to worry about Pepper tonight. I ran upstairs and grabbed a stack of blankets and pillows before returning to the living room.

“There has to be another foot out there,” Pepper noted as she looked out the window, rubbing her hands up and down her arms. “It’s beautiful.”

“Didn’t you see a lot of snow at MIT?” I asked as I laid out a bed in front of the wooden stove.

“Yeah, but it never felt this peaceful. The snow makes everything look new again, possible, reborn a little, I guess. When you’re around so many other people all the time, it’s hard to get that feeling.” She turned and walked back to me.

“Until the power comes on, this will be the warmest room in the house. We have enough wood stacked to get us through, no problem.”

She swallowed, and my eyes tracked the movement of her throat. “So we need to sleep in here,” she asked glancing from me to her makeshift bed.

“We do,” I answered. “With temps dropping this fast I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s ice forming on the inside of the windows upstairs already.”

Her mouth flattened and her nose scrunched like it did when she was trying to make a choice, or calculate numbers and odds. Then she nodded. Decision made.

“Okay. Then I’ll run upstairs and grab my pajamas and meet you back here.” She disappeared up the stairs, and I got to work.

By the time she got back down, I had laid out a secondary bed for myself further from the fire, and brought in bottled water and snacks. I closed the old-school French doors to the living room as she walked in, hoping it would be enough to keep the room a few degrees warmer. I’d never forgive myself if she got frostbite because she spent Thanksgiving weekend with me.

She was covered from head to toe, a long-sleeved, soft shirt and plaid pajama pants all the way to her socks.

I had opted for a white undershirt and fleece pants.

Pepper glanced from the beds to me and back again, and I swore the temperature in the room rose a good five degrees. Or maybe that was just the temperature of my body skyrocketing.

“Two beds?” She asked as she pulled her hair into some kind of knot on the top of her head.

I cleared my throat, suddenly feeling like a sixteen-year-old boy. “I didn’t want to assume anything.”

A small shy smile spread across her face. “I guess I thought body heat was the best way to stay warm.”

Body. Heat. Those were the only words I heard out of that sentence, and they kept replaying over and over in my mind. Body heat, the kind that friction created, the kind that began with her arms open and ended with her eyes shut in ecstasy.

“Eric?”

“Yeah,” I said with a shake of my head. “It is, but like I said, I didn’t want to assume, since we are… Friends.”

Her eyes raked up my body in a way that was anything but friendly.

“Well, I’m a big girl —”

“That’s debatable,” I teased.

“— And you’re a big boy. So I think we should be able to handle it. Besides survival comes first, right?” She tilted her head, and the light from the fire caught a sparkle in her eyes that let me know she was well aware this wasn’t a matter of life or death. This was a choice.

She slid between the covers of the first bed edging the side closer to the fire. Then she patted the blanket next to her. “I won’t bite.”

My fists opened and closed, my need to get my hands on her just as strong as my need to secure my family’s land.

I wasn’t a sixteen-year-old boy. I was a fully grown man. A professional NHL star, with years of experience on the ice and in the beds of women who didn’t even mean a fraction of what Pepper did to me. I could control myself.

“Friends can share a bed,” Pepper urged. “Besides, I know you can keep me way warmer than this fire.”

“Friends,” I verbally reminded myself.

“Think of it as your moral duty,” she teased with a shrug.

My moral duty was to take the second bed. My moral duty was to drive her ass to the nearest hotel with power and leave her there. Alone. Untouched.

But my morals meant nothing when Pepper was involved.

I sent a prayer up for strength, willpower, and impotence.

Then I climbed into bed next to the only woman I wanted more than my starting position.