[18+]
College student Hadley Bell is eager to return home for the holidays, but there's a problem. Her ex-no. 44 Nick Baker, Professional Snocross Racer and member of the Bell Race Team, still resides under her parent's roof.
Tensions run high, and...
Shout out to Mrsdeemo for helping me find a song for this chapter! 🎄 Be sure to give her a follow and check out her books 🥰
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Luke stepped aside, giving me a full view of Baker. The broad shoulders and tapered waist. The same well-fitted black shirt that accentuated every muscle. It's rolled sleeves collecting at the bend of his arm to reveal beautifully inked forearms.
I knew every inch of that body. Every line. Every mark and scar. And it wasn't solely because of nights spent worshiping one another—as fun as they were—it was because I volunteered to care for him after his accident.
My stomach twisted as the silence descended, and none of my family moved—all waiting in dreaded anticipation to see what either of us would do, including my mother.
She glided by, and I caught her toss her raven-coloured head in my direction—a firm order for Baker to get his ass over to the living room and greet me.
He looked like he'd rather go through ten more rounds of rehab, but he never argued with my mother. She'd been there for him more than his own and even attended parent-teacher interviews when his father couldn't be bothered.
My nerves tightened as he approached, but I wouldn't falter. The shit Nick Baker took me through was more than anyone else would have put up with. I didn't care that my heart still skipped a beat as he approached or the way it raced when his scent poured over me.
The smell of his seductive cologne brought me back to happier times. Of black spruce on cold nights spent racing through mountain passes, campfire smoke, and melted dark chocolate smeared across charred marshmallows and gram crackers. I remembered those days perfectly. When we'd escape and follow the boys to the cabin. And every heat inducing moment after that.
His laugh echoed through my mind like a ghost. Recalling all the times my fingers slipped into those dark strands. When his lips brushed against my own whenever it suited him.
He stopped before me, and I needed to lift my chin. Those earth brown eyes still ensnared even if the light had died. I searched every line of his face, hoping he'd give way to how he felt, but all he said was, "Your hair's different."
Wow. Eight months and that's all he could come up with. No apology. No argument. I think I would have preferred it if he called me selfish again. At least then, I'd have a reason to feel as angry as I was. "You're very perceptive, Baker. Does it help you on the track?"
"And here we go," Nate muttered to Johnny, who folded newly muscled arms across a broad chest.
My mother snapped her manicured nails at the boys in warning before saying in a language we knew all too well, "Enough—" then quickly went back to English, if only for my friend's sake. "I want you boys to show Janelle where she'll be staying."
