Chapter Twenty

Zack

“You have a light in you that shines so bright it can’t be dimmed,” I tell her, and I’ve had enough of not touching her. I lean over, my lips finding hers, ever so gently.

All day, I’ve been dying for this one moment right here. From the time I drove her to work, it was a countdown to when I would be able to kiss her again. I kiss her and then softly kiss her lips one more time.

“You donated money for Evie,” she says softly, coming back in to kiss my lips.

I smile and then kiss her again. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Her hands wrap around my neck as she comes closer to me. “Fess up, Mr. Morrow.”

Now, I really laugh. “Using my last name? Seems so official.” My arms wrap around her waist as I tug her on me to straddle my waist with my back to the couch.

Her hands rub my face. “You might have just saved her life,” she tells me seriously. “Do you really want to remain anonymous?”

I push the hair away from her face as she looks over me. “The bigger picture here is that she is going to be given a chance. I don’t think it matters who gave her the money for that.”

“If I didn’t find you hot before, that right there just pushed you up to the top of the list.” She smiles as she comes in and kisses me, and this time, my hand roams up her back as I press her closer to me.

We kiss for what seems like hours. We start with her straddling my lap, but then we fall sideways, chest to chest. I could kiss her all night long, and it wouldn’t be enough.

“I’m just going to close my eyes for a minute, and then I need to leave,” she says, putting her head on my biceps while I hold her. Pulling her closer to me, I rest my own eyes. That minute turns out to be five hours, and we are only waking when Jack yells for me from upstairs.

“Daddy!” he yells.

“Downstairs, buddy,” I say, blinking my eyes while Denise opens one eye.

“What time is it?” she asks me, then brings her wrist up and looks at her watch. “It’s seven thirty.” She sits up frantically. “I spent the night.”

I lean up, kissing her neck. “Definitely need to explore this part of your body more,” I say when she shivers under my touch.

“What are we going to tell Jack?” she asks, pushing me away.

“That you came for breakfast,” I say, getting up and fixing my morning boner as she laughs.

“Definitely need to explore that more,” she says, pointing at my dick.

I put out my hand for her to get up when Jack comes into the room. “Dr. Denise, you’re here.”

“Yeah, buddy,” she says, walking to him. “I wanted to come and have breakfast with you.”

He smiles at her. “You’re wearing the same clothes.”

“Um, I was at the hospital all night and came over just now.”

“Oh, okay, do you want to have some toast?” he asks as if he’s her host. He grabs her hand, pulling her into the kitchen while I follow them.

“We have peanut butter also.”

“That sounds so good,” she says, and I hold her hips to move past her when the front door opens, and her eyes fly up to mine.

“Good morning,” Sarah says, coming into the room and stopping in her tracks.

“Morning,” I tell her, trying not to let this get awkward.

“I just finished my shift at the hospital and came to have breakfast with Jack,” Denise says, but you can still see the sleep in her eyes.

“Well, aren’t you lucky,” Sarah says, turning to Jack who just nods at her.

The coffee starts to pour out, and I look at them. “I have to go get myself packed. I leave tonight,” I tell her, and she just looks up. “I’ll be ready to go in thirty minutes, so I can give you a ride.”

“Okay,” she says softly and then goes to the cupboard to grab the bread and make Jack toast.

I nod at her, grab a cup of coffee, and then walk out to go upstairs and start packing my bag for the overnight game in Boston. I zip up my bag twenty minutes later, packing a suit to change into at the rink.

“Will you come back tonight and have dinner with us?” I hear Jack ask Denise.

“Aren’t you sick of me yet?” she asks him, laughing. “Okay, fine, I’ll come and eat dinner with you.”

“Yippee!” Jack yells, and when I walk into the kitchen, I see him with his hands up in the air. “Daddy, Dr. Denise is going to come over and have dinner with me tonight.”

“Is she?” I turn to her, and she just nods her head.

“He made me an offer I couldn’t refuse,” she says with a smile, picking up her coffee cup and placing it in the dishwasher.

“Give me a kiss,” I tell Jack. “You be good for Sarah.”

“I will,” he says, kissing me on the lips. “Can you score a goal for me?”

I laugh at him. “I’ll try my best, buddy.”

Denise kisses his cheek, then walks out of the kitchen and follows me to the front door. We walk out, and she looks down at her clothes. “I can’t go into work with these clothes; it would basically look like I’m doing the walk of shame.”

“Want to swing by your place on the way to the hospital?” I ask her, unlocking the truck doors and placing my bag and suit in the back.

“Would that be too much trouble?” she asks me, and I just shake my head. “Then yes, please. It will take me literally five minutes.”

I drive her over to her loft parking. “Want me to come in and help you change?” I wiggle my eyebrows, and she smiles and shuts the door, running inside.

I’m shocked when she comes out less than five minutes later. “Told you.”

“I will never doubt you.” I laugh, pulling out of her parking lot thinking to myself that there was no way she would be ready in that time. I hold her hand as I drive her to the hospital, pulling up to the front.

“When are you back?” she asks.

“The game is tonight so tomorrow afternoon,” I tell her, leaning over the console. She meets me halfway and gives me a kiss.

“Play hard,” she says, kissing me one more time and then climbing out of the truck. I watch her walk into the hospital and only leave when I can’t see her anymore. For the first time in what feels like forever, I can’t stop smiling as I make my way toward the rink.

I walk into the rink and run into Olivier first. “Hey, I was looking for you.”

“Me?” I ask him, and he just nods at me. “Let me put this down and I’ll meet you in the office.”

I walk into the room and see that most of the players have arrived. “Someone looks like they got lucky,” Mark says. Matthew looks up, and he smiles big, looking over at Max.

“Definitely looks like he got lucky,” Matthew says, and Max’s eyes come up, looking at me. I try not to make eye contact with him in case he can really tell that I got lucky. I mean, not lucky, but I was lucky enough to spend the night with his sister.

“Do you guys have a radar for this shit?’ he asks, looking at me and then down again.

“No one got lucky,” I tell them. “I just had a great morning.”

“Yeah, sure,” Mark says. “I had a great morning also, but you don’t see me walking into the locker room like I just won the Miss America pageant.”

Matthew slaps his leg, laughing when Phil comes in, looking around. “He got lucky,” he says, pointing at me.

“You guys are way off base,” I say, walking out of the room and going to find Olivier. I knock on his door, and he tells me to come in. “You wanted to see me?”

“I did. Can you shut the door?” he asks, and I have this sudden sinking feeling in my gut. He must see this because he just smiles. “Relax, I’m not going to ask you to strip for me.” He laughs and then looks at me as I sit in the chair in front of his desk.

“Well, that’s a relief,” I joke with him.

“How open are you about Jack and his cancer?” he asks, crossing his hands on his desk.

“Not very,” I tell him, and then a knock on the door sounds, and he says to come in. Matthew opens the door, and he and Max look in.

“Are we late?” they ask, coming into the room and closing the door behind them.

“No, you’re right on time,” he says and then looks back at me. “As you know, Max has his foundation that is huge and getting bigger.”

Max leans against the door and crosses his arms over his chest, almost as if he’s puffing out his chest. “We, and by we, I mean, me and someone I’m close to.”

“Steve,” Max and Matthew both say, smiling. “Your boyfriend.”

“Don’t be childish,” he says. “I don’t have a boyfriend; he’s a friend.”

“A friend you date, exclusively,” Max says, and then Olivier glares at him.

“We don’t put a label on our relationship,” he says, leaning back. “We are two consenting adults having fun.”

“With only each other,” Matthew points out. “What would you say if he was also dating someone else?” It may have been the wrong thing to say because he stops, and his smile goes serious.

“Have you heard something?” He looks at both of them.

“Simmer down there, big boy. Just pointing out that you’re more than just two consenting adults.” Matthew puts up his hand and then asks, “Can we just continue why you summoned us?”

“As I was saying,” he continues, “we donate a lot of money to the Max Horton Foundation, and this March is the big St. Baldrick’s one. It’s a foundation that funds grants for childhood cancer research through head-shaving events, so kids with cancer can live long, healthy lives.”

“Okay,” I say.

“Would you be okay if we did it in Jack’s honor?” he asks, and I look at everyone in the room.

“That’s ...” I say, trying to find my words. “I ...” I bend my head and feel Max’s hand on my shoulder.

“I’ll do it,” Max says. “I’m sure every single one of those guys in there will do it also.” He motions with his head.

“I’ll do it, and I’m sure I can even get Cooper and Doug to do it,” he says of his stepfather and father-in-law. “I would love to get the twins on board.” He laughs.

“Isn’t Zara dating Evan?” Olivier asks, and Matthew glares at him.

“No.” He shakes his head. “It’s a rumor.”

“Really? Was it the same rumor that you were dating Karrie, or that Max was with Allison?” Olivier points out and then raises his hands. “I kid.”

“I want to talk to Jack first,” I say, “but I think it would be very cool and an honor for him.”

“Michael will do it,” Max says, and I look at him.

My chest fills, knowing that so much love surrounds my son. I don’t say anything because I’m afraid that I’m going to sob like a baby, so I just nod. Knowing my son is surrounded by support while others have none. Lucky I can give all the resources to my kid while others go without.

“Great, so I’ll wait for your go and then announce it,” Olivier says.

“I want to do it,” I tell him. “If he’s okay with it, I want to tell the team.”

“Will do,” Olivier says, and I nod at him. Max turns and opens the door, and we all walk out. “We leave at two for Boston.”

We all nod and go back to the room and get ready for the morning skate. We have a game tonight, so Coach doesn’t ride us hard at all. When we get ready and load the bus, I see a text from Sarah saying that everything is going smoothly. I also text her that I’ll be back tonight late.

I pull up my text and text Denise.

Hope you’re having a good day.

I press send and put it away when Max sits next to me. “Did you hear that we might just turn around and come home tonight?”

“Really?” I ask and then Olivier comes in and makes the announcement that we are able to come back home tonight. Since we’ll have two days off—tomorrow and the following day—everyone is happy.

We load up, and when we get to Boston, we head straight to the rink, and our equipment is there when we walk into the room. By the time we suit up and hit the ice, I’m bouncing with energy.

The game runs smooth, with us going into the third with a 0-0 tie. “It’s coming, boys,” Matthew says when we get up and walk to the ice for the last period. The puck drops, and I watch Matthew lose the face-off, so I skate backward, watching the puck as it comes over the blue line.

When the puck is passed to my side of the ice, I hold my stick out, tipping it away from the forward as I skate past him. I hustle past him and see Max clear across the ice with no one near him.

I pass it to him, hoping no one intercepts it and that he can accept the pass. It lands right on his blade, and he uses the board to knock it round the defenseman trying to block him. Making his way around him, he winds up for a shot and is lucky when he hits the crossbar and then slides it into the net over the goal line.

I skate to Max, who high-fives me for the pass. “Great fucking pass,” he says, and we skate to the bench to high-five everyone. The game ends with us going for an empty net goal ending in a 2-0 score.

We shower and make it out to the bus when I take my phone. I see that Denise sent me a picture of her and Jack watching the game.

The next is a text message.

Not a goal but you still killed it.

I laugh at her and send back.

Did you have fun?

I don’t expect her to answer me back, but she does.

I did, a lot.

What are you doing up?

Waiting for you to text me. What time are you guys getting to the hotel?

We are flying back now. We just boarded, so I should be back home in maybe an hour.

Really???

Really. Why?

Oh, no reason, just happy you’ll be home.

You and me both.

She doesn’t answer me back. When the wheels finally touch the ground, we all walk off the plane, and I get into my truck. I make my way over to Denise’s, and I don’t even know if it’s a mistake or not. My truck has other ideas. I park in her parking lot and send her a text. I’ll wait five minutes, and if she doesn’t answer, I’ll go home.

Are you up?

I stare at the screen, waiting to see something when her text come through.

Yeah, why?

I smile when I text her back.

I’m sitting in your parking lot.

What???????? I’m in number four.

I get out, walking toward the door. The buzzing lets me in right away, so I don’t have to wait. I walk up the steps, and I see her. Her hair piled on her head, she’s wearing a white tank top with matching white shorts. A long beige knitted sweater falls off one of her shoulders while one bare foot is on another.

“Hey,” she whispers, and I don’t say anything. Instead, I walk to her and pick her up. Her legs wrap around my waist, my arms wrapping around her waist. “You came to see me.”

“I did,” I tell her softly. “I wanted a good night kiss.” She smiles at me, my lips going to hers. “Good night,” I tell her before she pushes her lips on mine.