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.