Page 77 of The Sweetest Risk

She grabs my jersey in the middle of my chest with both hands and pulls me down so our noses are touching. She bites her lower lip before speaking, which makes my insides fucking melt like they always do when I’m in Brooke’s presence. “Yeah, you’re right. I took a risk when I came here tonight. Good thing the risk was worth it.”

She collides her mouth with mine so hard that she almost knocks me off-balance. It starts to turn into a messy, fervent kiss. I hear whistles and cheers from the crowd. I begin to think that Brooke forgets where we are because she basically attempts to climb up my body. She grabs onto my hair and pulls it slightly. She is kissing me like it’s the last time and I am kissing her like it’s the start of forever. Brooke laughs and lets out a smallsqueal as my hands travel from her face to her butt and I lift her up. “Tristan, you better not let me fall,” she says in between her unrestrained kisses.

“I’m never letting you go, Cupcake.” I continue to kiss my girl with unrelenting fervor when I feel a tap on my shoulder.

“Um sorry to interrupt this love fest, you two. But we kind of have a game we need to start,” Bradley interrupts what is probably the best moment of my life. To be fair, he is reminding me that I am about to fight like hell for the second-best moment of my life.

He hands me my black helmet. I lower Brooke to the ice. Her eyes crinkle as she looks up at me with a smile that completely wrecks my whole world. I fucking love that smile.

“Plus, it’s kind of nauseating watching you make out with my sister.” Bradley grimaces as he puts on his own helmet and skates away.

The arena lights come back on and the clock on the jumbotron sets to twenty minutes. I hold onto Brooke’s hand and lead her toward the entrance to the tunnel. Once she reaches the black padded surface, I release her hand. She turns toward me and grabs my helmet. She gestures to lean down. When I do, she secures the helmet on my head and taps it twice. Her hazel eyes meet mine as her hand caresses my chest and traces the Storm emblem on my jersey.

“Go get ’em, Hot Shot.”

I wink at her, causing that smile to return to her gorgeous face, as I skate back and find my way to center ice for the second time tonight. I take my position for the faceoff. The main referee is about to drop the puck and funnily enough, all the pressure built up from the anticipation for this game, this integral game in my career, is lifted. I realize that no matter what that scoreboard says, no matter how many goals I score, no matter how many assists I do, or whatever else happens on thisice – there is someone in those stands who is going to love me anyway. I know whose face I am going to search for every time in the crowd. Forget the trophy. Brooke has always been everything I’ve ever wanted.

EPILOGUE

Atie is covering my eyes…again. My only guidance is Tristan’s voice. I clutch onto his hand for dear life. “What is it with you and ties? Are you trying to channel Christian Grey or something?”

I can practically hear him smirking. “Are you into that sort of thing, Cupcake? Based on past experiences, you seem to like it when I take control.”

“Maybe Iamfantasizing about Christian Grey while you are doing those things to me,” I tease. I totally am not fantasizing about anyone. Why would I when I am dating the hottest hockey player on the planet?

Tristan pulls me closer to him and takes the tie off my eyes. He’s smiling down at me with my favorite smile. “You take that back right now.”

I look straight into his eyes. “Nope.” I still love messing with him. I don’t think that is ever going away in our relationship. It keeps things interesting.

I look to my left and notice we are in front of the storefront that I scoped out months ago with Tess.

“What are we doing in front of this empty storefront, Tristan?” Then I gasp dramatically. “Is this where you are actually going to murder me? Was that your plan all along? To seduce me and then once I fall in love with you, you kill me Dexter style? West Village is a little conspicuous, though.” I smile.

Tristan grabs the sides of my face and intently looks at me. “You know, for someone with such a sunny and bubbly disposition, you sure have some dark thoughts. I bet it’s all of those true crime documentaries you watch on Netflix before bed. I am voting to veto those from now on.”

“They are so interesting though.”

“They are ruining moments like these for me. Here I am trying to be romantic and you confuse it with me wanting to murder you. I will never have that thought, Cupcake. So get that out of your head.”

“You could’ve fooled me with the blindfold and your weird behavior all day. What’s going on with you? Can you please enlighten me how an empty storefront is romantic?” I check out Tristan fully for the first time tonight. When I arrived at his house, he immediately insisted that I put the tie over my eyes. He said he had a surprise for me and that I needed to trust him. I was not able to bask in his hotness like I am able to right now.

I never want him to stop wearing his hat backwards. It literally makes me weak at the knees every time I see him. A white short-sleeved hooded shirt is hugging his torso and arms, and the way his pants are fitting him makes me breathless.

“Will you just read the sign rather than undress me with your eyes, Cupcake? I promise you can actually undress me later.”

I wanted to decline that request but just to satisfy him, I pry my hungry eyes away from his body and look up.

“Oh my God.” The sign screwed into the side of the storefront says:Brooke’s Bakes. There is a vinyl sign hanging underneath that says:Coming Soon.

Tristan comes up behind me, wraps his arms around me and says, “It’s for you.”

“Tristan, this is too much…”

“It’s not nearly enough, Brooke.” He turns me around and holds up my chin so that I am forced to look into his eyes. It takes me back to when he called me his girlfriend for the first time. Full of hope and promise and pure happiness. “This is your dream. I get to live my dream every time I step onto that ice. I know what that feeling is like and I want you to have the same feeling. Not that you aren’t an incredible teacher, but I can see the passion you have on your face anytime you’ve ever talked about opening up a bakery. Or rather, cupcakery.”

Tears well up in my eyes and I press my lips together to push down all the emotions I am feeling at this moment.

“You deserve to live out your dream, too, Cupcake. Besides, you can’t back out now. I bought this property. For you.”

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