Page 49 of Flirty Pucking Wolf

I let out a shuddering breath. “Marriage, kids, a wife at home. I can’t do that, Trevor. I can’t be that woman. I don’t think I ever want children. I’m selfish. I want my career. My mother sacrificed years of dancing to raise us. My father’s horses and their races were more important than dance competitions. She trained me and Ian, and that’s when she started performing again. But that’s just because she was there for us. We were still the focus. It wasn’t until we were all grown that she joined the show.” She shakes her head. “I can’t do that. Iwon’tdo that. No matter how much I love you.”

My hands fly to my mouth, and I can feel my eyes widen in shock. Crap. I didn’t mean to say that last part. I do love him. But I didn’t mean to say it out loud.

I must have shocked Trevor too. That is the only reason that damn man should be laughing at a time like this. At least I don’t have to worry about tears anymore—the way my blood is starting to boil is evaporating them.

“Thrilled you find this so amusing, Trevor. Forget I said anything.” I turn and walk over to my phone to restart the song. We may as well get back to dancing. That’s all that matters now.

“No,” he says, jumping in front of me and grabbing my hands. He raises them to his lips and kisses the backs of them gently.

“My darling Sophie. I’m laughing because you are so incredibly wrong. I don’t want kids anytime soon, if ever. I want to focus on my hockey career and be free to travel. I don’t want to be tied down. Metaphorically. Literally, could be fun sometime. Our safe word would be pineapple.”

That gets a laugh out of me.

“Seriously. I grew up as an afterthought. I was a mistake. My parents love me, but I messed up their plans. They took care of me physically and materially, but emotionally, they were past the little kid stage. They were happy to have my aunts and uncles care for me. Put me in whatever activity would keep me busy and out of their hair. I won’t ever do that to a child. I like kids, but I don’t want to give up what I enjoy for them. One of the things I really like about kids is the ability to give them back. I don’t know if my opinion will ever change. I know how it is for wolf shifters. We’re supposed to want kids and a pack. Especially female wolf shifters. You come from a large family. I assumed that’s what you’d want.”

I blink up at him. I can’t believe what I’m hearing. “You don’t want to get married and have kids?”

He shakes his head. “Not anytime soon. Maybe not ever. That’s why I wanted a fling. I didn’t want to lead you on and have you expecting me to propose or want kids.” He leads me over to the chairs in the corner of the studio and kneels in front of me. I open my legs to accommodate him scooting closer.

“Sophie, I love you too. These past couple of months with you have been wonderful. I don’t want to stop seeing you. I know we both have our careers, and that means we won’t have a traditional relationship, but I don’t want to be with anyone else. We’re together whenever we can be. I can come to you when the hockey season is over. What do you think?”

“Yes, absolutely yes!” I exclaim, wrapping my arms around him before kissing him passionately. I could do this forever. I want to do this forever.

But we have five days until the finale. We need to focus.

Reluctantly, I pull back from our kiss. “Now that we have that settled, we can spend the next five days getting this dance perfect. Okay?”

He sighs but nods. “Okay, but after the five days, no more using dance as an excuse to put off talking about our future.” The wink he gives lets me know he’s teasing.

“What is it with your family and this song?” Trevor asks as we take our opening positions. We’re dancing to a slowed-down version of “(I’m Gonna Be) 500 Miles” by The Proclaimers. We’ve gone over the moves by counts and now we need to start doing it to music.

My brow furrows as I look up at him. “What?”

“Mac and Randi sang a duet version on New Year’s Eve.”

My heart melts hearing that. I wish I’d been there early enough to see it. “Really? That’s so cool! You know The Proclaimers are Scottish, right?”

He nods.

“It’s our father’s favorite song and what he’d sing to us when it was his turn to put us to bed. You’ve heard him, he has a deep, rumbly burr. My earliest memory is being held by him with my cheek resting on his chest as he sang and feeling it vibrate through me. I felt so safe and loved. I don’t know if my brothers felt the same way, but Dec is the most sentimental of us, so I could see him liking it for similar reasons.”

He nods, looking thoughtful. I wonder if knowing the personal connection I have to the song makes a difference. We start in opposite corners of the dance floor and jog toward each other, clasping hands as we pass and turning to face one another. He pulls me toward him and swings me into an inverted lift before gently lowering me back to my feet. The whole routine is a lot of pushing and pulling, pretty reminiscent of our relationship. But we always come back together even after we’re apart. We do a lot of lifts, but they aren’t the acrobatic and cheer lifts we’ve done previously—these are more ballet than football field. We don’t even discuss the moves—we do them instinctually, knowing what’s right for the music and for each other. It’s as if admitting our feelings for each other has torn down the wall between us and made dancing together effortless. I’ve never danced from the heart the way I am with this dance. To save my ankle, we do a lot of turns on my other foot and any landings are done softly. I know I’m technically healed, but I don’t want anything to jeopardize being able to dance on tour this summer.

Our ending pose is with us sitting side by side, facing each other. Trevor pulls me into his lap and kisses the daylight out of me. That’s not how we’re going to do it in the ballroom, but for today, for us, it’s the perfect ending. Or beginning. Whatever it is, it’s perfection.

21

SOPHIE

“You’re like a good luck charm!”Teagan says, laughing and hugging those of us in the owners’ box at the fourth wild card game. The Devil Birds won it, tying the series and forcing a game five in New York to decide who advances to the first round of the Dickinson Cup playoffs. Trevor broke his slump and scored hat tricks in both games, a first-time accomplishment in the PHL. He’s earned a place in the league’s history. No one can claim he doesn’t deserve his spot on the team now.

Laughing, I return her hug. “It’s all Trevor. He’s been working so hard. I’m thrilled for him and for the team!”

We’re a joyous group as we make our way down to the locker room area. I can’t wait to see Trevor and congratulate him. I know they have one more game to play in this round, but it really feels like they have momentum on their side. Players are being interviewed in the hallway, so we watch. Trevor’s talking to someone from the national broadcast.

“Great game, Trevor. Hat tricks in back-to-back games. That’s extremely rare. What do you attribute this sudden scoring burst to?” the extremely perky redhead asks as she thrusts her microphone in his face.

“Thanks, Hayley. Everything is coming together at just the right time. We’re a cohesive team. The hat tricks may be attributed to me, but they wouldn’t have happened without my teammates.” He sees me standing down the hallway and gives me a wink. Miranda gives a happy squeak and squeezes my arm. She loves that two of her best friends are in love with each other. Honestly, she’s in love with love. She wants everyone to pair up and be as happy as she is with Declan.

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