The plane ride home from Canada was a circus.
We’d managed to squeak out a win in overtime against Ottawa, who were the number one team in our division. And it didn’t matter that, really, we didn’t play our best, or that we got lucky on a shot that tipped off their own player’s skate and got us the W.
We partied like we’d just won the Cup.
It was a Saturday, and it had been an afternoon game, so it was just past nine when we touched down in Tampa. The night was young, it was the weekend, we had a late practice the next day, and we’d just won the game every sportscaster in the nation was sure we’d lose.
The energy was untouchable.
Jaxson shotgunned another beer as the front half of the plane debarked, smashing the can on his head when he was done. He shook his head with his tongue hanging out like a dog, and then started barking at Maven, which made her throw her head back in a laugh in such a carefree way it made my chest tight.
“You guys are insane!” she yelled in-between peals of laughter just as Carter started twerking on the seat in front of her.
“Come on, Maven. Match our energy,” he goaded her.
She snorted and waved him off. “I don’t think that’s possible.”
“The night is young, we are young, and Tampa is waiting to celebrate us,” Jaxson said, grabbing Maven by the hands and pulling her up reluctantly from her chair. “You’re part of this team now. Time to show it.”
“And exactly how do you propose I do that?”
Will smirked as he grabbed her shoulders from behind and gave them a little squeeze. “Show us your celly dance.”
“My what?”
The guys who were still on the plane cheered, clapping and whistling before Carter started a chant.
Cel-ly dance, cel-ly dance.
Our pilot played right into our hands, cranking the music on the stereo system. It was a club mix of “Ferrari,” and our cheers grew louder as Maven’s mouth popped open in an amused smile.
“You brutes are dreaming,” she said on a laugh. Her eyes found mine then, and I made a fake pouty face, clucking my tongue.
“Aw, I think she’s embarrassed, guys,” I said, crossing the plane until I was behind her. I rubbed her shoulders, brushing my thumb along the slope of her neck and loving that I made chills break out when I did. “It’s okay, Maven. We know you can’t dance for shit.”
The guys laughed and made a deep ooohhhh sound, watching as Maven narrowed her eyes and looked over her shoulder at me.
“Is that what you think?”
I shrugged, egging her on. “Prove me wrong.”
The team started chanting her name, and she arched a brow, breaking out of my hold with a determined nod.
Using the hand Carter had outstretched to help her, she climbed up onto one of the large leather seats, and then she started pumping her fists to make the team roar even louder.
When she had their attention, she cast me one last watch this look, and she broke it down.
She was goofy at first, waving her hands in the air and bobbing her head. Then, her shoulders shimmied, and she pointed at one of our wingers before doing his signature celebration dance — brushing off her shoulders with her brows pinched together before she pretended to shoot a basket. She held her hands up in the little flick and we all went wild.
One by one, she pointed at each teammate and mimicked them, whether by doing their dance or, like in Daddy P’s case, crossing her arms and scowling hard while imitating his crouched goalie position.
My stomach was in stitches, and just when I thought she couldn’t shock us all any more than she had, she pointed right at me with a wink.
Then, she bent in half, her hands finding the leather of the seat. She kicked one foot up behind her to balance on the head rest, and then the other, until she was inverted and stacking her hips over her shoulders.
The plane quieted a bit with confused murmurs, the music growing in a crescendo toward the beat drop. When it did, Maven knocked us all on our asses.
Because she started shaking hers.
She twerked upside down, her ass bouncing side to side, up and down, and then in a circle as she threw it to the beat. The team went absolutely ape shit, but when Carter wound up like he was going to smack her ass, I caught his wrist before he could, pinning him with a glare.
“Do you want to die tonight?” I asked him.
He just laughed, holding his hands up in surrender while he and Jaxson exchanged looks.
Trying to play it off before they could read too much into it, I picked Maven up and hauled her over my shoulder, dancing us down the aisle and off the plane with her little fists beating on my back, and the team following behind us with hoots and hollers.
I didn’t drop her until we were on the tarmac, and she came up breathless, laughing and smacking my chest.
“You interrupted my celly!”
“That’s because it was about to get me thrown off my team and possibly in jail, too.”
She grinned, leaning forward with a little shimmy of her shoulders. “What’s wrong, Vince Cool? Don’t like other guys looking at my ass?”
She waggled her brows as I leaned in and tilted her chin up with my knuckles. “I’m going to spank that ass later.”
“Promises, promises.”
Maven was so light, so playful in that moment that I couldn’t help but mirror her smile.
I wanted to kiss her.
Right then, right there, without a fucking care in the world who saw us. I wanted to kiss her until she melted into me the way she always did, until she begged me to take her home.
“SURPRISE!”
I didn’t realize how close my lips were to Maven’s until the sound broke through the haze, and we both jumped away from each other, snapping our heads in the direction it came from.
When I saw my family standing there with wide-open arms, my jaw dropped.
“Mom? Dad? Grace?” I shook my head in disbelief as they crowded me in a group hug. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“We knew you wouldn’t be able to come home for Christmas with your schedule,” Mom said.
“So, Mom insisted we bring Christmas to you,” my little sister finished, rolling her eyes. “Precious Prince Vince, always the favorite child.”
Mom narrowed her eyes, but we all laughed at the joke, the same one Grace had made for years. My dad clapped me on the shoulder, beaming, his chest puffed. “You look good, son. Damn good. And what a game!”
I was still in shock that they were there, shaking my head as my heart swelled. If I wasn’t surrounded by my teammates, I probably would have cried. It’d been so long since I’d seen them, my first season in the NHL sweeping me up and making it impossible to get back up to Michigan for a visit. It had been hard at first without them, but then I’d been so focused on the schedule, and most recently, on Maven. I hadn’t stopped long enough to remember how homesick I was.
Now that they were here, it was like a sigh of relief, a deep breath I didn’t know I had been needing so desperately to take.
My mom and dad were dressed to impress, just like always, Mom in a pencil skirt and elegant blouse, and Dad in slacks and a sports coat. Grace was in a simple sundress, which I knew she had probably been so desperate to wear that she put it on even before they left the freezing cold weather in Michigan. My sister was born to be a beach bum, and I knew it was just a matter of time before she’d leave our home state behind and find refuge in a state that didn’t have a winter. Where I was at home on the ice, she was at home in the sun.
I saw my own features staring back at me when I looked at them — the eyes I got from my mom, the smile I got from my dad, the way my sister’s nose was the same blend of our parents as mine was.
“Okay, you are so rude,” Grace said, flicking me in the arm before she brushed past me. She swept her long blonde hair over her shoulder and walked right up to Maven. “Hi! It’s so nice to finally meet you! Especially after the embarrassing amount of times you’ve seen me dance.”
Maven seemed as surprised as me, her eyes flicking to mine before she extended her hand for Grace’s. “Trust me, you’re better than I could ever be.”
Grace didn’t shake Maven’s hand. Instead, she grabbed her in a crushing hug.
“Don’t let her lie to you,” Carter said, popping up out of nowhere and grabbing my shoulders from behind as he joined us. “Maven just rocked that whole damn plane.”
“Oh my, I bet that was quite the show,” Mom said, smiling at Maven next. “I’m Lorraine. This is my husband, Derrick.”
“You,” Dad said, pointing at Maven before crushing her in an even more powerful hug than Grace had. “Are one talented lady. I downloaded Instagram because of you.”
Grace groaned like she was embarrassed.
“The videos you post?” Mom shook her head, smiling. “Just… incredible! Do you do all that editing yourself? The way the clips match up to the music?”
“It’s called a Reel, Mom,” Grace said.
“Well, whatever you call it, this one has turned our son into a superstar,” Dad beamed.
Maven smiled nervously. “Oh, he did that all on his own.”
Her eyes flitted to mine then, and my chest swelled in a completely new way.
“We’ve got cars coming,” Jaxson said, running over to join us. He smiled and introduced himself to my family, and I didn’t miss how he nearly swallowed his tongue when he met my sister.
I cocked a brow at him when he stared at her a little too long, and then glowered when his face turned like I’d caught him doing something he wasn’t supposed to.
I hoped that look told him not to get any ideas, because I loved Jax, but I’d kill him if he tried something with my sister.
“I think we’re going out without Vince Cool tonight,” Carter said, nodding toward Jaxson. “Let’s give him space to enjoy the family reunion.”
“I’ll hit you guys up later,” I promised, but the way they smirked at Maven, then my family, and then me — I knew they wouldn’t hold their breath waiting for that call.
Once they were gone, I turned back to my family.
“It was nice to meet you,” Maven said. “I’m just going to—”
“Come with us.”
I cut her off with the request, and she furrowed her brows, trying to communicate something to me with that look alone that I couldn’t decipher.
Or, maybe I could, but I chose to ignore it.
“Yes, please do not leave me alone with these three,” Grace said, linking her arm through Maven’s. “I’ll be the forgotten child in the corner. At least with you there, I’ll have someone to talk to while they fuss over their precious baby boy.”
“Grace,” Mom warned on a smile. And then, Dad took Mom’s hand in his and started walking, Grace following and toting Maven right along.
She looked over her shoulder at me, and I shrugged, smiling.
It looked like there was a change of plans.
• • •
We went to dinner at a chic rooftop restaurant on the Riverwalk, which was at Grace’s request. At Mom’s, we ended up back at my condo, she and my sister fussing over all my pottery, and even more over the garden room Maven had brought to life. Dad and I talked with the ESPN highlights on in the background until he whipped up some of his famous cocktails and we all ended up outside on the balcony enjoying the balmy Florida night.
We talked and laughed and shared stories of the past, most of which made me groan and hide my face because my family was all too eager to try to embarrass me in front of Maven. They seemed especially keen to tell her about the time I wore my underwear on my head for two weeks because we were on a win streak at Michigan, and I was convinced that was why.
Through it all, Maven fit in like she was already part of the family.
My mom all but interrogated her at dinner, but not in the way she would if she were sizing someone up. It was more like she was so genuinely curious about Maven and everything that she was that she just couldn’t stop asking. She lit up with every answer, fascinated by Maven’s upbringing and career.
Grace was just as bad, squealing when she found out Maven loved yoga and begging her to take her to a studio for a class while they were in town. She also told Maven repeatedly how jealous she was that Maven’s place was so close to the beach.
And while Dad was quieter with his interest, he loved how quick-witted Maven was, how she volleyed back and forth with me and with him. She made him bust a gut more than once throughout the night, and when Maven told him what her plans were once this assignment wrapped up, Dad’s eyes shone like she was his own daughter, and he had a right to be proud.
He pegged me with a curious look, too — one I couldn’t bear for long before I looked down at my cocktail and took a long pull.
It was surreal — having them there in my new home, having Maven there with us. And as much as I pretended to be annoyed with all the questions my family asked her, the truth was I loved it — because I got to know more about her, too. And every new little story she told, every piece of herself she revealed? It made me feel like a greedy kid in a candy store.
I wanted more of her.
I wanted all of her.
It was almost three in the morning by the time Grace dragged my yawning parents toward the door. They were staying at a hotel on the Riverwalk just a few blocks away.
“Thank you for changing your plans for us tonight, son,” Dad said, clapping my back in a tight hug. “Hope we didn’t cramp your style.”
“Please, he’s got no style to begin with,” Grace said, but she hugged me like she’d missed me, and I knew she had.
“It was a great surprise,” I told them earnestly. “Hopefully I can show you around a little before you have to go.”
“We know you’re busy,” Mom said, yawning again as I tucked her into my side. “We’re just happy to steal you away for whatever you can manage.” Her eyes lit up on a smile as she pulled away from me and framed Maven’s arms with her hands. “And you, young lady. You are just… sensational. It was so lovely spending the evening with you.”
Maven flushed. “You, as well, Mrs. Tanev.”
“I want to meet these amazing parents of yours. Let’s all have a little get together, yes?” Mom looked back at me with the question.
I glanced at Maven, who had the strangest look on her face then — like she was sick or sad or both.
“We’ll see, Mom,” I said, guiding them all toward the door.
Everyone hugged again, and I noticed my dad speaking to Maven in a low voice while Grace and Mom asked me about the International Mall in town. I tried to make out what he was saying but had no luck, and when he patted Maven’s arm with a grin, she smiled, but that same sad look was etched into her expression.
My stomach tied up in knots at the sight.
The goodbye dragged on for twenty minutes before they were gone, and as soon as the door shut, silence fell over me and Maven like a cold, wet blanket.
I stood there with my hand on the knob for a moment before swallowing and turning to face her. She looked as if she were in a daze, her eyes unfocused where they stared at the floor between us.
“Sorry about that,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck with a smile. “They can be a lot.”
“They’re lovely,” she whispered.
And then her eyes welled with tears.
I’d never seen her like that, never watched as her face warped and all the walls she held so firmly around her crumbled into dust. It tore through my chest like a gunshot, seeing her sad, seeing her in pain.
“Mave,” I said, crossing the room to where she stood. I wrapped her up in my arms, which made her go stiff before she softened and gripped onto me, burying her head in my chest. I held her tight for a long time, feeling the air around us growing heavier, colder.
“What’s wrong?”
She shook her head, over and over, sniffing before she pulled away from me. “I’m going to go. It’s late.”
I blinked as she swiped the tears from her face and grabbed her purse. “What? You’re leaving?”
“You have practice tomorrow. You should get some rest.”
Her voice sounded detached, dead.
“I can think of a more fun way to energize,” I said, hoping the joke would make her laugh, that we could slip back into the place we’d been on the tarmac when she was teasing me and I was trying not to kiss her in public.
Instead, her face warped, and she turned away from me so I wouldn’t see as more tears broke through.
“Hey,” I said, slipping my fingertips in the crook of her elbow. She wouldn’t look at me until I tilted her chin and gave her no choice. “Talk to me.”
She shook her head, over and over, swiping furiously at the tears that kept coming. She was the strongest, most stubborn woman I knew — and she was crying.
It fucking wrecked me.
I lifted my hands to take the place of hers, thumbing away each tear, and that made her sob before shoving me away. “Stop,” she pleaded, the word croaking out like it pained her.
“Tell me how to help.”
“Stop looking at me like that, stop touching me, stop…” She buried her face in her hands.
I didn’t dare reach for her again.
After a long moment, she let her hands fall to her thighs, her eyes pitiful when they found mine. “We can’t do stuff like this, Vince,” she whispered, licking the tears from her lips. “Because when we do, I… I feel like…”
My heart stopped in my chest before firing back to life with a thunderous kick. “You feel like what, Maven?” I asked, nostrils flaring as I took a step toward her. “Like I love you?”
Her eyes snapped to mine, wide and terrified.
“Like I am compelled by you, by everything that you are, by how you have annihilated whatever version of my life existed before you?”
“Don’t,” she whispered, but I couldn’t stop now.
I closed the last of the distance between us, grabbing her hand and forcing it to my chest. “Do you feel me holding on tighter every time you’re in my arms? Do you feel time slipping away too fast when we’re together?” My jaw tightened with restraint against the emotion strangling my throat. “Do you feel my heart fucking breaking at the thought of losing you? Is that what you feel, Maven?”
Her chin wobbled, two silent tears streaking down her cheeks.
“Look at me,” I begged, and when she did, I swore the world stopped spinning, waiting for us to give it the cue that we were ready again. “Tell me what you feel.”
Her eyelids fluttered, cheeks glistening under the soft light, but her gaze didn’t waver.
“Like I want to believe you,” she admitted softly.
Hope flittered through my ribcage.
“And like I’d end up broken if I actually did.”
Her words slammed into me, knocking my breath from my chest like a hard check against the boards.
This wasn’t her talking. I knew it like I knew every play in the Osprey’s playbook. This was the remnants of the one who came before me, the one who scarred her, who made her feel like she couldn’t trust another man.
Like she couldn’t trust herself.
I opened my mouth, but closed it again, shaking my head. I didn’t say anything.
What else could I say?
“I have to go.” Her voice trembled with the words, more tears searing her cheeks as she tore her gaze from mine. She brushed past me and ripped the door open, sliding through it and tugging it shut behind her before I could so much as blink.
She left.
And I had no choice but to let her.
