Page 40 of In Every Chapter

“Know thine enemy. The more I know, the harder I am to snatch. Plane crash statistics do nothing for you. The minute you’re in that exploding tin can, you’re toast. End of story.”

He laughed again, and it rang out fuller than I was used to from him. His arms banded more tightly around my lower back, and he buried his face in my neck. “Gosh, I’ve missed you,” he whispered against my skin. “So much.”

I returned the squeeze. “Me too. Now will you please kiss me? I even brushed my teeth after I tossed my cookies at some point over Arkansas.”

He obliged me with a soft kiss. Then another. “There will be plenty of time to make up for lost kissing opportunities.”

“You promise?”

“Love, I guarantee it.” Hand to my lower back, he steered me towards the bag claim—since those bags weren’t going to collect themselves—and then out to his Suburban.

“Have I mentioned how glad I am you’re here?” I moaned, leaning my head against the headrest. “And that you aren’t stationed in Japan anymore?” My hands had stopped shaking, and I was almost over the initial embarrassment from nine hours ago when I’d grabbed the hand of a total stranger and hung on for dear life when the plane took off from Boise.

She was an older woman, grandmotherly, and she hadn’t protested. When we hit turbulence over Oklahoma, I nearly grabbed my seatmate’s hand again, but this time it was a guy—way too close to my age to not be weird—so I’d settled for picking off the remainder of my fingernails. So much for painting them for the ball.

“I need drugs if I ever fly again.”

Greyson shot me a concerned look. “And you did your first cross-country flight alone?”

“Yup. Pretty sure I deserve a medal for that.”

He chuckled as we pulled out of the airport parking lot. “The real medal might be for surviving Gabe and Ivy’s brood this week. Are you sure you’re okay with staying with them?”

“Positive. As long as I’m not putting them out.” I’d bunk just about anywhere to avoid being alone, but I hated inconveniencing people.

“Not at all. Ivy practically insisted.”

I sighed contentedly. “I’m just glad to be in the same town as you after five months.”

“That’s four months and three weeks too many,” he joked, and reached across the console to hold my hand. “And this week, I’m all yours, love.”

Lucky me.

I tried not to be a clingy girlfriend. Jared had hated when I did that, but I hated being left alone in crowds. Greyson didn’t seem to mind, though, that I used his hand as my own personal life preserver and wandered around after him all night.

He introduced me to his friends, Liam and Rhys, who I’d heard him talk about for months, and Gabe and Ivy, my best friend Stephanie’s older half brother and sister-in-law, were here, too. Gabe was Greyson’s commanding officer. I loved how our worlds collided like that.

Greyson and Gabe had sent Ivy and me out for the day to get ready. Hair, makeup, nails, the whole nine yards. I had never been so pampered and dolled up. Not even for my first wedding. And now, it felt amazing.

“Ready to dance?” Greyson leaned down to whisper in my ear.

I pursed my lips thoughtfully. “I’d rather kiss you, but I doubt your superiors would appreciate that.”

He chuckled. “They would not. But later? I’m all yours.”

“I’m holding you to that promise, Sergeant Satterfield.” I grinned. “You may have this dance.”

He pressed a quick kiss to my lips. “To tide you over.”

Chapter seventeen

Paisley

“Cool it, my dude.” Greyson lectured the television screen as Cal skated over to the penalty box.

I didn’t remember Cal being a hotheaded player, but as a defenseman he did get into more fights than, say, Myles, who was the goalie.

It was the final game of the Calder Cup Finals, and the Chargers were up 2–1 at the end of the second period. Tensions and excitement were high, since the Chargers had lost game seven last year. This was their shot at redemption, and they were gunning for it.