Puck Pact: A Marriage of Convenience Hockey Romance (East Coast Series)

Aarya is the first thing I see when I open my eyes.

Which is fitting, because she was the last thing to flash through my mind right before I cracked my head on the ice.

Waking up, it takes me a while to understand where I am, as well as what happened, but my brain slowly pieces it together. I can’t talk right away either, which is so frustrating because all I want to do is tell Aarya how much I love her.

How sorry I am for worrying her.

How awful I feel for leaving everything on her shoulders.

I was out for a week. I missed a whole week. It kills me to know I scared my daughter like that. Aarya tells me she was a trooper, but I hate that I put her through something like this.

“Daddy!” Giuliana’s voice pierces through the quiet as she comes dashing into the hospital room. “Daddy, you’re awake!”

Aarya hoists her up onto the bed, whispering a reminder to be gentle, and then my baby girl is in my arms. Tears prick my eyes as I hold her little body, sick to my stomach over what she must’ve went through while I was in a coma.

“Daddy, you slept for a really long time. Is your brain all healed-ed now?”

“I think so.” I tap the band aid on my head. “I think it was Olaf’s magic that did it.”

She giggles. “No, it wasn’t. It was the doctors and nurses.”

God, the sound of her laughter soothes my aching heart. “I heard you were the best girl for Annie and Aarya this week.”

“I was the bestest.” She pulls away to look at me and pauses. “Why are you crying, Daddy? Did I hurt you?”

“No, baby. Not at all. I’m just so happy to see you.”

“You missed me while you were sleeping?”

I nod. “I did.”

“I missed you too. Could you hear me talking to you?”

“I heard your voice, but I didn’t know what you were saying. It was like I could feel you there with me, wherever I was.”

She purses her lips like she’s trying to make sense of what I said. “I got my cast off. Look! And I made you a picture while you were sleeping.” She points to the paper taped on the wall above my bed, but I can’t turn around to look at it.

Aarya reaches over and pulls it off the wall, a small smile on her lips as she hands it to me.

Four stick figures stand beside a tree—one a tall man; the other a little girl with curly hair; the third a woman with long, dark hair; and the fourth is a shorter woman with grayish hair.

Even Ellie and Dash made it into the picture, sitting together under the tree. Each of our names are written in perfect capital letters underneath our bodies, but it’s the one under Aarya’s stick figure that has my heart filling with emotion.

MOMMY.

“This is the most beautiful picture I’ve ever seen,” I whisper, unable to speak around the ball of sentiment in my throat. “I love it.”

Giuliana leans in and cups her hand around her mouth as she whispers. “Aarya took really good care of me, just like a mommy. She was so sad while you were sleeping. I heard her crying a lot at night. She doesn’t know I heard her, but I did.”

A tear slips down my cheek. I never want to be the reason that woman cries, and I hate that I was, even if it was out of my control.

“Thank you for keeping her company,” I whisper back. “I’m sure you helped her feel happy when she was sad.”

Giuliana nods. “When can we go home? This hos-bit-al smells bad, and I don’t want to come back here anymore.”

Annie laughs as she comes to stand beside my bed. “We’ll leave as soon as the doctor gives us the okay.”

I reach out and clasp Annie’s hand. “Thank you so much. For everything.”

I know she must be exhausted after this last week. Having Giuliana full-time is a lot for anyone, let alone someone at her age.

“You don’t have to thank me. I’m just so glad you’re okay.” She sniffles as she squeezes my hand. “Your parents were watching over you, and they guided you back to us.”

Giuliana reaches for Aarya, and I melt at the ease in which Aarya scoops her up into her arms.

“Why does everybody keep crying?” Giuliana whispers loud enough for us to hear.

“Sometimes, people cry when they’re happy. It’s how we show our emotions.” Aarya nuzzles her nose against Giuliana’s hair. “Plus, your dad’s a big softie.”

Giuliana giggles. “Like a giant teddy bear.”

“I can hear you, ya know,” I tease. “I’m not in a coma anymore.”

Annie turns to Giuliana and holds out her hand. “Come on, let’s go see if they refilled the candy in the vending machine.”

“Yay!” She squeals as she lets Annie lead her out of the room.

I let my head fall back against the pillow, lifting my hand for Aarya.

She laces our fingers together as she stands at my side. “So, your grandfather was here a couple days ago.”

I lift my head again and my body goes rigid. “What?”

“I debated on whether I should tell you now, or when you’re home, but decided it was best to have a medical staff around in case your blood pressure spiked.”

Oh, it’s spiking. “What the hell did he want?”

“He tried to pay me off.” She drops my hand. “And he actually made a pretty good offer, so I’ll be seeing you.”

I grip her wrist before she spins away, and yank her back to me. “It’s not nice to play games with a man in my weakened condition.”

She grins. “He still thinks we’re faking this marriage, so he offered me money if I gave up the act. I told him to shove his money up his ass.”

“And…?”

“And… I said some other choice words, and now we might need to hire a new bodyguard because I think Eddie is scared of me.”

I laugh. “I think we’re all a little scared of you.”

“Good.” She shoots me a devious wink before her eyes drop to Giuliana’s drawing in my lap. “So, Annie showed me your will.”

I pat the space beside me, and motion for her to climb up.

Aarya nestles in close and we get as comfortable as we can in this uncomfortable bed. “Why didn’t you talk to me about being Giuliana’s legal guardian?”

I run my fingers through her hair. “Because you’d find any reason as to why you wouldn’t make a good guardian and fight me on it.”

She heaves a sigh. “I probably would’ve.”

“Definitely,” I correct. “So, how do you feel about it now?”

“Well, I hope I never have to raise her without you again, but…I’m good with it.”

I smile with pride. “You make a really great mom.”

Aarya pushes to sit up so she can look into my eyes. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking this week.”

“Oh?”

She glances down as she fidgets with the wedding rings on her finger, so I tip her chin to bring those beautiful eyes back to mine.

“What’s on your mind, spitfire?”

“I’ve been wanting to tell you this for a while now, but I kept chickening out. And then when you got hurt, I didn’t know if I was ever going to get the chance to tell you. So, now seems like a really good time because I don’t know if I can wait another minute to say this.”

“Tell me what, baby?” I swipe away the tears falling down her cheeks. “Why are you crying?”

It takes a lot to make her cry. She looks so nervous, I can’t imagine what she’s going to say next.

Until she blurts it out. “Alex, I’m in love with you.”

The beeping on the machine I’m hooked up to speeds up. “You are?”

She nods as more tears fall. “I’ve never been in love before, and I don’t know if I’m going to be any good at it. You’re so incredible, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to live up to that. But I love you and I love Giuliana, and I never saw this coming but I want to be in this with you guys.” She sniffles, the tears now streaming down her face. “I want spaghetti dinners and tea parties and movie nights on the couch. I want our little family. I want you, Alex. I love you.”

I cradle her face, bringing her lips to mine. “I love you, Aarya. So much that I don’t know how I’ve held it inside all this time. But I don’t want to hold it in anymore. I want you to know how happy you make me. I want you to know how hard I’ve fallen for you. You keep saying that you’re not good at love, and that you’re not a good mom, but those are the two things you’ve blown me away with. You’ve showed up for me, time and time again. And you’ve been there for Giuliana, which means more to me than you’ll ever know.” My voice cracks. “I’ve dreamed of finding someone for not only myself, but for her; someone to love her and care for her; someone to teach her new things, and answer her incessant questions.”

“God, does she ask a lot of questions.”

“The kid is relentless.” A teary laugh comes out of me. “But I couldn’t have dreamed up someone better than you. Aarya, you’re everything I’ve ever wanted, so I need you to stop doubting yourself. Stop doubting your worth. Stop telling yourself that you don’t deserve everything I want to give you, because you do. You deserve the moon and the stars, and every single good thing in this world. And I’ll spend the rest of my life convincing you of that.”

She trembles as she rests her forehead against mine. “I love you so much. I was so scared this week. I was terrified that I’d lost you.”

“I’m sorry, baby. I’m so sorry that you had to go through that. But I’m here now. I’m here and I’m not going anywhere.”

She sobs, and it feels like a week’s worth of agony rolling out of her like the tide after a storm.

I hold her while she lets it out, and I cry with her. The pain and the heartache we’ve both endured, separately in our past, and since we’ve been together, has come to an end.

We’re together now.

We have each other.

Giuliana skids to a stop as she bursts into the room.

“More crying?” She shakes her head and throws up a hand. “What the fuck?”

I’m definitely going to kill McKinley.