Page 67 of One Kind Goal

Sawyer sauntered over with his plate after filling it and sat on the other side of the table. Morgan felt a little bad about him having to get his own breakfast, but establishing solidarity with Nia seemed like the right way to go.

“I need to keep my eye on you two.” Sawyer pointed to them with his fork.

“Aw, don’t be a fuddy-duddy,” Nia said around an infectious giggle.

Morgan nearly spit out her eggs. “That’s what you get for teaching her new words.”

Sawyer balled up a napkin and flicked it at Nia. She bounded out of her seat, picked up the ball, and hauled it back at him. It pinged right off his chest with a smack.

“Wow, that’s some arm you’ve got.” Sawyer rubbed his chest. “We need to get a hockey stick in your hands.”

“How old were you when you started playing?” Morgan asked.

“About Nia’s age actually.”

“I want to play hockey!” Nia shouted. “Can you show me, Daddy?”

“Only if you call a truce to this girls against boys thing.” He waved a hand between all of them. “I want us to be on the same team together.” He caught Morgan’s eye, a little grin on his lips that turned her to oatmeal in her seat. She’d be on his team. Any damn day of the week.

“Okay,” Nia said. “We can be on the same team, but no more stealing seats.”

Sawyer raised his right hand. “I promise not to steal seats.”

Nia gave him a nod and they finished their breakfast. As soon as the last bite was consumed, she slid off her seat and stood beside Sawyer who was still enjoying a cup of coffee.

“Can we go play hockey now?” she asked.

“Why don’t we start with ice skating first?” Morgan took their plates to the kitchen. “We can rent skates and maybe later today we can investigate getting some sticks and pucks. Isabel probably knows where we can get or borrow that stuff.”

“Sounds like a good plan.” Sawyer got up from his seat at the table.

Nia looked a little disappointed, but then Morgan said, “Besides we have that helicopter ride with Charlie, remember?”

“Oh, yeah! I forgot!” Nia ran around the kitchen island a few times with her arms out like airplane wings. “There’s so much to do here!”

“It is a fun little town, isn’t it?” Sawyer brushed against Morgan’s backside as he headed for the dishwasher, sending ripples of desire through her body though they were both fully clothed.

“It gets more fun by the minute,” she said, purposely jutting her butt out when Sawyer had to walk past her again.

His large palm rested on her ass cheek for a minute, his fingers giving a little tweak before he moved away. The interaction had been short, but Morgan’s body responded. She craved this man like no other.

Thirty minutes later, the three of them slipped on skates by Brenton Lake. Other people populated the ice and the scene looked like a Norman Rockwell painting. Lots of colorful knit hats. Scarves streaming behind skaters. Some dogs rolling around in the snow along the banks of the lake.

“It’s as if the outside world hasn’t reached this place,” Sawyer said as he tied Nia’s skates.

“Or as if we’ve traveled back in time,” Morgan said. “I like it.”

“Enough to live here?”

Morgan considered the fast-paced, dance-club, overly-social party life she’d been living in New York City. She squinted at the ice and the leisurely pace at which the skaters glided along.

“Yeah, I think so.”

Sawyer gave her a big smile. “Have you told Austin yet about the shop?”

“I called him last night while you were in the shower.” The time he was in the shower without her because they’d taken a joint one she wouldn’t soon be forgetting. “He was supportive. He loves it here even though he doesn’t live here full time. It wasn’t hard for him to see why I’d fallen for the place myself.”

“Wonderful.”