Read Online Breakout (A Dallas Demons Hockey Romance) by Aven Ellis - Free Book Online

but my heart tells me I can.
    So I put my cup down and extend my hand to him.
    Niko gently places his hands over mine, and the second he does, I feel nothing but pure electricity inside of me. His hands are warm, and he gently rubs my hand in between his.
    “Shit, Lexi, your hand is like ice,” Niko declares as he massages my hand.
    I can’t speak. I swallow hard. This gesture—of him wanting to simply warm my hands because they are cold—tells me so much about the man he is.
    “Okay, give me the other one,” Niko says.
    I give him my left hand and now Niko warms that one.
    “Thank you,” I say softly.
    “You shouldn’t be cold,” Niko says, a protective tone entering his voice.
    I don’t have any chance of leaving this coffee shop without falling madly for this man.
    “Of course, when you’re working in the studio, you’ll need to get some fingerless gloves so you don’t get frostbite,” he continues.
    I laugh. “Studios are always freezing. And I can only hope to freeze to death there soon.”
    Niko releases my hand, and I pick up my cup again.
    “Can you afford to do part-time work?” Niko asks, taking a sip of his coffee.
    I hesitate before answering. Normally I might keep this under wraps, or wait until much longer to speak so personally, but when I look at Niko’s honest and genuine face, I feel safe.
    Safe enough to tell the truth.
    “I have a trust fund,” I say softly, taking a sip of my latte. I stare down at the foam in my cup. “Um . . . I’m adopted. My birth father sent me a check when I tried to contact him at sixteen. He sent it with a letter from his attorney, declining contact with me.” I look up at Niko and continue. “My birth parents were teens when they had me. My birth father is a success in Silicon Valley now and didn’t want his family life interrupted. So I guess you could say the money was encouragement to disappear.”
    Niko is staring at me, an unreadable expression on his face.
    “So he wouldn’t even meet with you?” Niko asks.
    “No. My birth mom did,” I say. “She’s an editor for a fashion magazine in New York. She flew here when I requested to meet her. Met with me at a DFW Airport hotel for a few hours so nobody would know.”
    I pause for a moment, as her shame about me still hurts when I relive that awful day.
    “She said she never wanted to be a mom,” I say, continuing. “Her parents made her go through with the pregnancy. My birth mother selected my parents through an open adoption, so she knew them, but wanted no contact beyond that. She met with me one time to answer my questions. But she made it clear that she has her life in New York, that she’s happy, and her future would not include me.”
    “Lexi,” Niko whispers, “that’s a lot for anyone to handle, let alone a vulnerable sixteen-year-old girl.”
    I swallow hard. “It was devastating, to be honest. I had hoped to have the happy reunion. And have an extended family, you know? Because I love my parents-Charlotte and Andrew. Those are my real parents. But I always hoped that my birth parents could be a part of my life, too.”
    “I’m sorry,” Niko says softly.
    “No, don’t be. My birth mom gave me amazing parents. I’m thankful for them making that choice, especially seeing now how they don’t want me in their lives. I’m a scandal that they never want to revisit again.”
    I turn and gaze out the window for a second. Only Kenley and her family know about this. Kenley and my mom were the ones who held me after that horrible meeting with my birth mom, who let me cry, who assured me it was her loss and not mine.
    And now I’ve shared all of this—the most painful part of my life—with Niko.
    “Lexi.”
    I face him. Niko’s studying me, and I realize what I’ve done. I’ve taken a perfectly wonderful start to a date and dropped an emotional bombshell all over it.
    “I’m sorry,” I blurt out. “I . . . I never should have told you all that.”
    “What if I’m