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?

A raccoon?” 1 chortled. “Are you telling me you swerved off of the road because of a

on the other end of the line. I

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 with a bullet hole in her

leave you alone anymore,” I continued to tease as I stood and wiped the sawdust off of my hands. “Raccoons today, and what’s

you to come pick me up,” she said, ignoring my jabs. “And we

I sighed, trying to smother my laughter as my voice took on a more serious tone. “I’m on my way.

letting out a small sigh of relief. “Just artnoyed, both at myself and that damn

up Nina, I hung up and prepared to leave. Just as I was heading out the door, however, a glint caught my

the image of her smiling face. I missed her. It wasn’t fair that she wouldn’t be there

I wanted nothing more than to make up for those lost

would have liked the 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

just a way for him to punish himself, a way to convey the feeling in his heart that his life had become void of color

mental note to pick up

satisfied look around the nearly

and headed to the car. Not even ten minutes down the road, I spotted her. As I pulled up next to

struck me as comical, and

raccoon,” I quipped as I climbed out of my pickup truck – it was really my father’s truck, but I decided to use it rather than let it sit in the garage and collect dust. It was a

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