Page 43 of Home for the Holidays

I have just enough awareness to collapse beside her on the bed, then pull her down on top of me so I don’t crush her.

“Mm.” She curls into me.

“Love you,” I murmur, before exhaustion hits.

And then I black out.

seventeen

. . .

Rachel

Snow falls steadily overnight. When I wake up to an email that school has been canceled due to yet another storm, I crawl back into bed and steal more of Jake’s body heat. He doesn’t mind.

We wake up for real a few hours later to the bleating of his alarm. He rolls over to turn it off, then nuzzles into me, still half-asleep. Lying in the comfort of his arms, I card my hand through his short hair.

How did I end up here? How did I go from not even thinking about him to being in a situationship with my ex’s younger brother?

Except that’s not quite true.

Jake is more than a high school ex’s brother. He’s a person in his own right, and the truth of the matter is, we probably have more in common than I ever did with Josh. Now that we’re adults, the slight age difference doesn’t bother me—not quite so much as it did a few weeks ago. We never would have worked before now. Good thing it happened when it did.

His hand on my hip grounds me, anchoring me. I’m not afraid of losing myself in him like I have in past relationships. I know who I am and what I want.

And what I want is Jake.

He releases me and stretches his impressively muscled arms. “I should get up. You have to get to campus.”

“Campus is closed today.” I burrow into his chest. “I don’t have to go in.”

He chuckles. “I bet I still have practice.”

Grabbing his phone, he flicks through it and makes a surprised noise.

“What?”

“No practice today.” He tosses his phone to the side. “We have a game tomorrow, but until then, I’ve got nothing but free time.”

“So… what do we do until then?” I prop myself up on my elbows, blinking innocently at him.

With a laugh, he lunges for me, tackling me back to the bed.

“You’re not going anywhere,” he teases, before he leans down and kisses me.

I wrap my arms around his shoulders, holding him to me.

“Good. I wasn’t planning on it.”

As he peppers my neck with kisses, I let myself relax and enjoy the moment.

There’s so much to figure out. So much to talk through. For now, I’m just going to enjoy it.

Later, after we’re sweaty and sated, we take a shower. He shampoos my hair and massages my back as he washes me, and I take extra care soaping him up and touching every inch of him that I can.

We curl up on his leather sofa in our sweatpants and t-shirts, my head on his chest. I’m a little worried about crushing him, but as he’s said repeatedly, he can handle it. I guess there are perks to having a hockey player boyfriend. His being able to throw my weight around is just one of them.

Threading his hand through my hair, he brings me close for a sweet kiss.