My Hockey Alpha

Chapter 305

Bonus 5: The Tease

Enzo

Dust and sweat clung to my skin as I wrestled with the new living room furniture.

It was a final touch to the renovations we’d been slogging through for months, transforming our once dull house into a vibrant home. Despite the exhaustion tugging at my muscles, a sense of satisfaction washed over me as I looked around the house. Our house.

Just as I was finishing up on the final bench for our massive dining room table, my phone buzzed in my pocket.

A picture of Nina lit up the screen, her smile making my lips curve in response. “Hey, love,” I answered, using my cleanest elbow to press the speaker button.

“Enzo,” she started, and I could already hear the hesitation in her voice.

“I… uh… had a little run-in with a raccoon. I maybe… sort of… kind of got myself stuck in a ditch.”

The last part of her sentence came out all at once like an avalanche. I could tell immediately that she was embarrassed. And I was a man; it was my job to capitalize on her embarrassment. What good would it be if I didn’t tease my fiancee a little?

chortled. “Are you

it!” Nina huffed on the other end of the line. I could

myself from teasing her relentlessly; to think that Nina Harper, the strong and independent woman who pretty much single-handedly saved the entire town of Mountainview from the Crescents, survived on her own

continued to tease as I stood and wiped the sawdust off of my hands.

said, ignoring

alright,” I sighed, trying to smother my laughter as my voice took on a more serious tone.

letting out a small sigh of relief. “Just artnoyed, both

to pick up Nina, I hung up and prepared to leave. Just as I was heading out the door, however,

forgotten in the whirlwind of renovations. I picked it up gently, tracing the image of her smiling face. I missed her. It wasn’t fair that she wouldn’t be there for my wedding with Nina, for all

As much as he could be a bastard sometimes after my mom died, I still missed him. I wanted nothing more than to make up for

renovations we made on this house; my mother likely would have loved the bright colors and the eclectic furniture. I think that my father would have liked it, too, although he seemed to pick up a fondness for the color gray after my

to punish himself, a way to convey the feeling in his heart

made a mental note to pick up

around the

spotted her. As I pulled up next to Nina’s car in the ditch, I found her sitting on the hood with a stubborn pout

concern, her sulky expression struck me as comical, and

really my father’s truck, but I

of ransacking my dad’s house was more of a way to show their disrespect than anything else. They may as well have spat on his grave. But I supposed that it was a