The Christmas You Crash (Going Rogue #2)

Chapter 47

forty-seven

RYDER

The piercing beep of my alarm jolts me out of sleep before a pillow hits me in the face. Aaron, my teammate and roommate, groans.

“Dude. What the hell? It’s like seven. Our flight isn’t for another five hours.”

A deep stretch helps my mind wake up, along with my body. “Sorry, man. Secret breakfast date with my girl. Cover for me if Coach comes to the room?”

“Yeah, whatever.” Aaron waves his hand at me.

I take the fastest shower ever, throw on some warm clothes, and quietly slip out of my room and down the generic-looking hotel hallway. A quick glance around reveals that the coast is clear, and I stride out of the warmth of the hotel and into the cold Chicago winter. The wind howls as it races between skyscrapers and down city streets before nipping painfully at my exposed face.

I’m practically an icicle by the time I make it to the little breakfast place where Lexi and I agreed to meet at. At least, until I spot her beautiful face. The sight of her wide smile thaws me instantly.

“Hey, gorgeous.” I slide into the booth next to her before cupping her cheeks and kissing her silly. We’re going to be one of those couples this morning. The ones that sit next to each other and can’t keep their hands to themselves. The kind of couple other diners roll their eyes at and secretly hate. I don’t give a shit.

Lexi hums against my mouth, her body melting into mine. “Hey, Handsome. Is it weird to say I missed you? I just saw you the day before yesterday.”

Her words are like a warm hug. “Not weird at all. I’ve been annoying the guys because I check my phone every five minutes to see if you’ve texted.”

That earns a sweet giggle from my girl. I love the sound of her laughter. Making her happy is practically a drug, at this point. It’s one of my favorite things in the world. I open my mouth, the words I love you ready to spill out like honey when our server approaches the table. That’s okay. I’ve got plenty of time to tell Lexi how I feel.

“That was a pretty tough game yesterday,” she says with a slight wince after our server leaves. “I watched the highlights.”

Every minute of the game was a battle. After winning the first game by the skin of our teeth, game two was even more brutal. By the time the third period ended, both teams had seen their share of players sent to the sin bin, there were a few times the game nearly devolved into an all-out brawl, and as the clock ticked down to zero, we were tied 2-2.

The Blizzard won in a hard-fought sudden-death overtime.

It was disappointing as hell, but at least my boys and I kept Chase from scoring any goals. I’ll take my wins wherever I can. Coach, though?

“Yeah. Coach was pissed. I swear, the man had literal steam coming out of his ears.”

Lexi winces again. “Yeah. I’ve seen him like that more than a few times. It’s not pretty.”

Did he yell at her and her mom the way he yells at us? “But he only acted like that toward his team, right? You’ve seen him yell at his players?”

She shrugs. “For the most part.”

“Jesus, OTG. I’m sorry he’s such a dick.” Pulling her closer to me, I wrap her in a protective hug and kiss her forehead before resting my cheek on her hair. I hate the idea of Coach yelling at Lex. Which is why I suggest the thing I’ve been thinking about for a couple of weeks now. “I’m going to talk to your dad. Alone. Tell him we’re together.”

Lexi sucks in a breath, pulls away from me, and looks up at me with wide eyes. “What? No, Ryder. You can’t do that.”

“I don’t want to hide this anymore, baby. I’m proud to be dating you. Hell, I’m the luckiest bastard on the planet. And your dad may be my boss, but he doesn’t have any right to tell me who I can and can’t see. But I also know just how much of a hothead he is, and I don’t want you there when I tell him. If he’s going to blow up, I can take it.”

“I can’t let you do that.” She worries at her lower lip, but I see the embers of hope in her eyes. She’s been worried about this. If I can convince her I’ll be fine telling him alone, maybe that will ease her fears. Still, her face crumples into a frown. “He could mess with your career.”

She’s right. He could. But crazy as it sounds, I’ve realized that, as much as I love hockey, it would quickly lose its luster without her in my life. I need to tell her. Lexi needs to understand that I love the hell out of her. And if I’m forced to make a choice between hockey and her? I know which one I’m choosing.

“Baby, you don’t need to worry about that. Lexi, I?—”

“All right, dears, here we are.” Smiling brightly and completely unaware that she has, once again, interrupted my attempt to tell Lexi I’m in love with her, our server sets our breakfast and coffee down in front of us. “Can I get you anything else?”

Yeah. You can rewind time and not choose the exact moment I’m about to spill my guts to drop off our food.

“No, thank you,” Lexi replies. She smiles warmly at our server, who cheerily offers to come back and refill our coffees in a bit, then tells us to enjoy our breakfast. When Lexi takes a bite of her French toast and hums her enjoyment, I know the moment is lost. Hopefully, another one will present itself before we part ways this morning. Now that I’ve decided to tell her how I feel, I don’t want to wait.

I also know I’ll have to keep working on Lexi to get her to agree with my plan to talk to her dad alone. She’s worried about his reaction and what it might mean for my job, but she’s an adult. It’s not like he can command me to stop seeing his daughter. I’ll earn his trust. And not that I need his blessing or whatever other old-fashioned bullshit thing, but I also don’t want to drive a deeper wedge between them.

Coach is a hard-ass, and a bastard at times, but he’s her dad. I know what it’s like to lose a father. That’s the last thing I want for her. Hell, my goal is to encourage him to repair the rift between them. Things with her mom are better than they were. I’m hopeful her dad will want to fix things too.

“How was your day with Rachel yesterday?”

That brings a vibrant smile to Lexi’s face. “So good. We went out, walked around the Art Institute before lunch, like we always did during college, did some shopping…” She lets out a soft puff of air, her eyes growing wistful. “I miss her.”

“Would she ever move to Minneapolis?”

“No.” Lexi shakes her head. “She loves it here. And she’s trying to get this job with the firm she’s interning at. I’ve tried to convince her to move a bunch of times, but she never takes the bait.” A lock of hair shifts, getting in Lexi’s way. I brush it away, tuck it behind her ear, and let my fingers linger. Any excuse to touch her.

“Well, then, you’ll just have to come with me to all of our Chicago games.”

“Yeah,” she says, huffing out a laugh. “My dad would love that.”

“Not really up to him, is it?” I place a quick kiss on her lips before taking a bite of my breakfast.

“Can we talk about anything other than my dad?”

“Course, baby.” We need to figure this stuff out, but I get why she doesn’t want to talk about him right now. And if it comes right down to it, I can talk to Coach and beg her forgiveness after. “The guys invited us to hang out with them at Maddox’s next week. I guess Isla and Mira have been bugging them to have us over. They want to get to know you better.”

That banishes the clouds that have begun to hover over Lexi’s head. She grins. “I’d like that. They seem really cool.”

Warmth fills my chest. When I started with the Rogues, I was in a pretty low place. I’d realized one of my lifelong dreams but had no one to share my excitement with. I was alone, and I hated it. Now, I’ve got growing friendships with my teammates and a woman I’m falling for. I have people to call when things go to shit and people who celebrate me when things go right.

It’s why I’m determined to find a way to tell Coach about my relationship with his daughter. Because nothing in life is guaranteed, and I’ll be damned if I let fear hold me back from being with the woman of my dreams. I’ve been alone long enough. And so has Lexi. But neither of us needs to be alone any longer.

My mind is swirling with plans as we finish eating. I don’t want to say goodbye to my girlfriend, even though I’ll see her tonight because she’s agreed to spend the night at my place. When she insists on walking back to the hotel with me, I know I’m not alone in that. She doesn’t want to say goodbye, either.

I text Aaron and ask him to bring my bags down from the room, so I can spend every possible second with Lexi. The wind howls as we huddle against the back of the bus. No one’s out yet, and Coach is always the last to board, so we have a few minutes before we need to break apart.

Lexi’s back is against the bus as I kiss her. Her little gasps and soft moans have me hard as a rock, and even though I shouldn’t, I press my knee between hers. And just like that first time at the cabin, she grinds against my thigh. She drives me wild. If we had time, I’d sneak her into the hotel and up to my room. But we don’t.

There are a few whistles as the first couple of my teammates make their way out of the hotel and over to the bus. They make kissing noises as they load their bags into the compartments behind us. It makes Lexi blush the most intoxicating shade of pink as she pulls away.

“I should go.” She blinks up at me, her swollen lips tilted in a sexy smile.

“Yeah,” I say. But I don’t let go of her. “Fuck, OTG, what are you doing to me?”

She giggles. “I’d say sorry, but I’m not. Besides, I don’t think I’m doing anything to you that you’re not also doing to me.”

“Who’s doing who?” Griffin waggles his eyebrows at us as he approaches with Maddox, Sebastian, and Logan. “What’s up, HCB?”

Lexi rolls her eyes at Griffin. “HCB?”

“Dude,” I warn.

Griffin ignores me. “Yeah. We needed a code name for you, and your boy wouldn’t let us call you OTG, so we came up with our own acronym.”

I laugh when she smacks me on the chest with the back of her hand. “You told them about that nickname?”

“Sorry, Oscar. It just kinda slipped out.”

The guys laugh when Lexi pinches the bridge of her nose. “And what, exactly, does HCB stand for?”

“Hot Cross Buns, obviously,” Griffin replies. As if that should be completely obvious. The rest of the guys try to hide their laughter. They fail miserably.

“Hot Cross Buns?” Lexi screeches.

“Sorry, Lexi.” Bash has the good sense to look apologetic. “If it makes you feel any better, Griffin’s first choice was Sexy Lexi, but Ryder vetoed that.”

“Oh my god,” Lexi says, shaking her head. She’s smiling, so I know she’s not actually pissed. I’ll still hear about this later, I’m sure, but she’s more amused than annoyed. “You guys are ridiculous.”

“Couldn’t have Coach hear us talking about you with the rookie,” Maddox offers. He glances over his shoulder, making sure the coast is clear. “And speaking of Coach, you two should probably say goodbye. He’ll be out here soon.”

I hate this. The sneaking around. I hate that I can’t claim my woman in a public way yet. I’m going to talk to Coach this week. Enough is enough.

Lexi’s sigh only hardens my resolve. “You’re probably right. I’ll see you guys this week, right?”

“That’s the plan,” Maddox says. “Isla and my sister have been bugging us to give them a reason to see you again.”

“Well, I’m looking forward to seeing them too.” She turns her attention back to me. “I’ll head over to your place tonight after I unpack and get a shower. Miss you already.”

“God, you two are nauseating,” Logan grumbles. I’m pretty sure someone smacks him upside the head, but I don’t see it. I’m too busy kissing the woman I’m in love with.

She wraps her arms around my neck and presses her body flush to mine. Our tongues brush and tangle, and by the time I pull away from her, we’re both panting. Pressing my forehead to hers, I open my mouth to finally say those three little words. I don’t even care that the guys are standing around us.

A deep, booming voice steals the words right out of my mouth. “What the fuck is going on here?”