My Hockey Alpha by Eve Above Story PDF

Chapter 305

Bonus 5: The Tease

Enzo

Dust and sweat clung to my skin as I wrestled with the new living room furniture.

It was a final touch to the renovations we’d been slogging through for months, transforming our once dull house into a vibrant home. Despite the exhaustion tugging at my muscles, a sense of satisfaction washed over me as I looked around the house. Our house.

Just as I was finishing up on the final bench for our massive dining room table, my phone buzzed in my pocket.

A picture of Nina lit up the screen, her smile making my lips curve in response. “Hey, love,” I answered, using my cleanest elbow to press the speaker button.

“Enzo,” she started, and I could already hear the hesitation in her voice.

“I… uh… had a little run-in with a raccoon. I maybe… sort of… kind of got myself stuck in a ditch.”

The last part of her sentence came out all at once like an avalanche. I could tell immediately that she was embarrassed. And I was a man; it was my job to capitalize on her embarrassment. What good would it be if I didn’t tease my fiancee a little?

I couldn’t help but burst out laughing. A raccoon?” 1 chortled. “Are you telling me you swerved off of the road because of a little raccoon?”

“Yes, okay! It was scary, alright? And I didn’t wanna hit it!” Nina huffed on the other end of the line. I could almost see her pouting, her arms crossed in defiance.

I couldn’t stop myself from teasing her relentlessly; to think that Nina Harper, the strong and independent woman who pretty much single-handedly saved the entire town of Mountainview from the Crescents, survived on her own with a bullet hole in her leg, got spooked by a little raccoon.

alone anymore,” I continued to tease as I stood and wiped the sawdust off of my hands. “Raccoons today, and what’s next?

said, ignoring my

sighed, trying to smother my laughter as my voice took

fine,” Nina replied, letting out a small sigh of relief. “Just artnoyed, both at myself and that

as I was heading out the door, however, a glint caught my eye. I frowned as I approached the little

photograph of my mother in a cracked frame, forgotten in the whirlwind of renovations. I picked it up gently, tracing the image of her smiling face. I missed her. It wasn’t fair that she wouldn’t be there for my wedding with Nina, for all of the moments that 1

still missed him. I wanted nothing more than to make up for those lost years, to finally come to a respectful understanding with

on this house; my mother likely would have loved the bright colors and the eclectic furniture. I think that my

think that it was really just a way for him to punish himself, a way to convey

the photograph down and made a mental note to pick up a new frame

look around the nearly finished living

even ten minutes down the road, I spotted her. As I pulled up next to Nina’s car in the ditch, I found her sitting on the hood with a stubborn pout on

her sulky expression struck me as comical, and I

climbed out of my pickup truck – it was really my father’s truck, but I decided to use

as well have spat on his grave. But I supposed that it was a good thing that they didn’t know where he was buried. “I think we can safely

narrowed, but I could see a smile tugging