Page 138 of Meant for Mayhem

I cupped her face with both hands, thumbs brushing away tears that kept coming.

“I love you,” I said. “I think maybe I have since the first time you glared at me. Every version of the future I see has you in it—the house, the mornings, the nights, the hard days and the easy ones. I don’t want temporary, Shannon. I want you, forever.”

My throat tightened, the TV analysts from earlier still echoing in the back of my mind.

“But my life isn’t simple, and it isn’t set in stone. They announced an expansion draft tonight, and I could be sent to the new team in Austin.”

“What?” Her brows creased, eyes looking between mine. “When did that happen?”

“Right after we got here, while you were in Lori’s room.” My thumb swept across her jaw, but I was too tired to hold the rest of my thoughts back. “Would you come with us, even if it means leaving Linwood behind? Your job, friends, Lori… Everything you’ve built here? Because I can’t ask you to uproot your whole life unless you want this as much as I do. And I’m so fucking terrified that you’ll decide this is still just an arrangement, because I don’t know how to let you go.”

Her breath hitched. For a second I thought she might pull away, might put the walls back up the way she always had. Instead, her hands came up, framing my face the same way mine held hers.

“I’m so scared,” she whispered, the words cracking open between us. “I don’t get to keep the good things, and I don’t know how to do this without waiting for the other shoe to drop. But I love you, and I love her. And the thought of walking away feels like it would break me.”

She pulled back enough to meet my eyes, tears still slipping down her cheeks.

“If they send you to Austin, I’ll go. Linwood and everyone here will always be part of me, but you and Leena are my home now, wherever you are.”

I kissed the corner of her mouth, then her cheek, tasting salt and relief and every unsaid thing we’d been carrying.

“Then we figure it out together,” I said against her skin. “Whether it’s Denver or Austin, I’m not going anywhere, and neither is Leena. You’re stuck with us now, ‘til death do us part.”

Shannon’s fingers curled into the front of my shirt, pulling me down to kiss her once more. Her lips were cold from the night air and soft against mine, and I felt the last of the night’s terror ease as she leaned into me.

We stayed out there a little longer, watching Leena sleep inside. When snow started to fall once more, I guided her back inside and closed the French doors against the night.

Shannon flicked off the lamp, then peeled back the covers on one side of the bed while I took the other, the same as we had so many nights before. We climbed in carefully, trying not to wake Leena still sleeping soundly in the middle. Once we settled, Shannon reached across the bed and found my hand in the dark. I laced our fingers together over the top of the blanket and held on like it was the only solid thing left in the world.

Outside, the last of the snow drifted past the windows. Somewhere downstairs a clock chimed once for Christmas morning.

It wasn’t the first Christmas I’d imagined spending with them, but lying there—my daughter safe between us, the woman I loved finally mine to keep—it was the only one I wanted.

31

It was almost ten the next morning by the time I woke up, Leena’s little cast resting on my chest. I opened my eyes to find her sprawled between us—one hand in Mikko’s shirt, a foot in his armpit, and the rest of her in a position I wasn’t sure she’d be able to recreate. But seeing those grey-blue eyes gazing back at me…

It was the best sight in the world.

“Good morning, baby.” I leaned over and kissed her on the nose, making her giggle around her pacifier.

The sound was enough to wake Mikko, his hand sliding across the bed and finding mine again.

“Merry Christmas, girls.” He kissed the side of Leena’s head, then leaned over her and kissed me too. “A guy could get used to waking up like this.”

Right as he said it, Leena ripped her pacifier out of her mouth and launched it directly into his eye. I barely held back a laugh, covering my face with the blankets while he blinked rapidly. Leena turned to look at him, then crawled up onto her knees to kiss his face.

“So cute, and so mean,” he said, tears still streaming down his face. “Just like your mama.”

Before we knew it, she scooted toward the edge of the bed, ready to make a dash for it. Mikko hopped up first, hands out. I was proud of him for letting her do it by herself, even with the memories of last night still fresh in our minds.

“Feet first,” Mikko said, and Leena turned onto her belly, sliding down until her feet touched the ground.

“Can we bubble wrap her?” I asked. “Or maybe she needs to wear a helmet. How small do they make hockey helmets?”

He let out a shaky laugh, then grabbed Leena’s hand before she could sprint down the hallway without us. “I’m rethinking a two-story home. This feels dangerous.”

We all showered, then went downstairs to the sound of Christmas music playing in the kitchen, the smell of coffee and pancakes wafting through the air. Beckett, Emmy, Jace, and Mason were back again, having finished opening presents with Lori.