Perfectly Complicated Christmas Romance: A Sweet Hockey RomCom (Perfect Crush Hockey Romance Book 4) by Grace Worthington

Author:Grace Worthington [Worthington, Grace]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Poets & Saints Publishing
Published: 2025-11-21T00:00:00+00:00

EIGHTEEN

Janie

I wake up to light in my eyes—Christmas lights to be exact. For a moment, I just lie there listening to Rourke’s heartbeat, the steady drumming under my ear as I breathe in the scent of his soft shirt.

“Morning, angel,” he murmurs against my hair.

“Oh, hi,” I say, lifting my head to see him better.

He gives me a sleepy smile and brushes my cheek lightly, sending tingles through my body. So different from when David touched me and I felt nothing but the desire to flee the opposite direction.

The sound of Aria’s babbling comes through the baby monitor, and I reluctantly pull away from him.

When I return with her in my arms, Rourke is sitting up, his hair adorably mussed, a crooked smile on his face.

“Coffee or something else?” I ask, setting Aria on the floor to play.

“Definitely something else,” he says with a glint in his eyes, before pulling me onto his lap. “Something blonde…” He begins trailing kisses along my cheek. “…with pink highlights.”

“Careful, Riley, there’s a child in the room,” I brush the tip of his nose playfully.

“Yes, and she should see her mommy happy,” he murmurs next to my ear, leaving one last kiss on my earlobe. “For the record, I’m not going to stop spoiling you either.”

“As much as I like this, I have papers to grade today.”

“Papers?” He frowns. “I thought this was kindergarten? Just give them all A’s for their scribble drawings and call it a day. I thought we could spend some time together as a family.”

He just said the “F” word—family. And I’m trying not to overthink it. It’s not like one night watching Aria turned him into a family man, right?

“Such as…what?” I ask, curious now.

“Picking out a Christmas tree.” He casually loops an arm around my waist. “I noticed you don’t have one yet.”

“Oh.” My gaze shifts to Aria who’s chewing on a brightly colored ball. Getting a tree is the one thing I’ve been avoiding thinking about because the extra expense isn’t in the budget right now. “I wasn’t really planning to buy a tree this year.”

His brow furrows. “What do you mean you weren’t planning to? It’s almost Christmas.”

“We don’t really need one,” I say lightly, handing Aria another toy. “She’s too little to really understand, and with the pageant and everything, I’ve been busy…”

He studies me. “Janie.”

“What?”

“You’re the woman who spent an entire day showing me the most over-the-top Christmas festival around. You made me drink overpriced cocoa, forced me to build a gingerbread house, took me ice-skating, and then kissed me under the mistletoe.”

“That last one wasn’t planned,” I remind him.

His eyebrows lift. “And now you’re telling me you don’t want a tree?”

I let out a sigh. “It’s not that I don’t want one…”

“Then what is it?”

I look down at my daughter playing on the floor. “I can’t afford one, okay? I can barely pay for gifts for Aria.” I reach down to pick up the ball Aria dropped. “Nick hasn’t been paying child support. That’s why I’m doing the Christmas pageant—for the extra money.

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