Hayden

Standing at the window, I gazed out at the snow-covered mountains. They were beautiful, almost like a painting; I could see why Derek missed his home. Two months had passed, and everything was as it should be. It was Christmas, and I was spending it with Derek’s parents at their farm in Tennessee. His family made me feel at home, and I couldn’t help but feel like I belonged. Derek and I got closer every day, always learning more about each other. The more I was with him, the harder I fell in love. Stonebrooke was mine, and Michael had just moved back to town. It was nice seeing him happy with Aaron. Of course, a lot of the ladies around town were upset to see Michael not available anymore. He still had women throwing themselves at his feet.

“Hayden, you okay?” Derek asked.

“Yes,” I blurted, jerking my head toward him. “I was just thinking.”

He helped me into my jacket. “About what?”

I zipped up my coat and slid a toboggan over my head. “You, this place, life. Do I need to go on?”

Chuckling, he opened the door, and we stepped out into the foot of snow that had fallen overnight. His parents wanted us to eat breakfast with them, and since Derek’s old apartment was over their spare garage, we had to walk a ways to get to the main house.

“And what kind of conclusion did you come to?”

“No conclusion necessary. Just enjoying what I already have.” He walked a little ways ahead of me and I smiled. Bending down, I picked up a handful of snow and hurled it at his back. It hit him on the head instead.

He froze midstep and I prepared myself to run. It’d been years since I’d had a snowball fight. Going against Derek was a losing battle, but I was determined not to go down easy. Derek glanced at me over his shoulder and then turned around. His body tensed and I knew he was about to attack.

“You just messed up, love.”

“I got at least one good hit in, so I’m good,” I teased. It was the wrong thing to say. His reflexes were so fast that I barely saw him grab the snow before I felt it splatter against my chest. Snow blasted up into my face, which gave him the seconds he needed to tackle me to the ground.

We rolled around in the snow and I could barely breathe from laughing so hard. “What now?” he challenged.

“I still got you. That’s all that matters.” Luckily, my jacket was thick and covered me past my waist or I’d have snow down my pants. With Derek’s body covering me, I couldn’t even feel the bite of the wind.

Though his fingers were cold, he brushed the hair off my face and kissed me. “Merry Christmas, Hayden. I’ll give you your present when we get back home.”

“Merry Christmas to you. Your present is also at home, so you’ll have to wait, too.” There wasn’t much you could get a guy who had everything, but I’d gotten him a nice watch, since his last one fell off his wrist and into the lake when he was fixing the dock. Needless to say, it wouldn’t work after that.

“You didn’t have to get me anything, Hayden. You give me everything I need just by being with me.”

“What if I could guarantee you the Super Bowl win? Play-offs are starting soon.”

He shook his head. “First off, you can’t give me that anyway, and second, I have confidence in our team. We’re good players, and if we don’t win, it’s not the end of the day. We play hard, and that’s all I can ask of my teammates.”

I leaned in to his touch and smiled. “And that’s one of the reasons why I love you. You always try to see the good in people.”

He shrugged. “I wasn’t like that until I met you. You rubbed off on me.”

I giggled. “I’m glad I did something right.”

He smiled, but then he turned serious. “What do you see in your future?”

I looked into his eyes. “You. That’s all I ever see. What about you?”

“Mainly a girl with dark brown hair and sexy green eyes. She has a nice ass, too,” he teased.

I smacked his arm. “You better be talking about me.”

He chuckled lightly. “You know I am. I just wanted to make sure you felt the way I do.”

I held his face in my hands. “You know I do, Derek. I want a husband, kids, and a set of dogs running around the yard.” I nodded toward the mountains. “And I want to live in a place like this.”

“With me?”

“With you,” I murmured against his lips.

His lips touched mine, but then his face fell. “I wish we could live in a place like this, but we can’t. I can’t ask you to leave your practice.”

Tears burned my eyes. “You won’t have to.”

“What do you mean?”

“I haven’t told you this yet, but when I signed the contract for Stonebrooke, it was only temporary. For now I’m the owner, but when the time comes, I’m going to sign it over to someone else.”

His brows furrowed. “I don’t understand. Why would you do that?”

“Because I love you. And I know that once you’re done with football, you want to be a wildlife ranger. We could move here, or even Wyoming if you want. You can’t follow your dreams in Belmont. I was thinking about you…about us. Besides, I love the mountains. We can follow our dreams together.”

He stared at me, his eyes taking in every inch of my face. “Fuck, I love you. How did I ever get so lucky? I can’t believe you would do this for me.”

“I knew you would do it for me.”

The snow started to fall and he kissed me again, this time much deeper. “I would do anything for you, Hayden. I’m never going to let you go, so you can see. For the rest of my life, I’ll do whatever it takes to make you happy.”

“I already am.”