Page 59 of Puck Sweat Love

“Hey, Teach,” I murmur. “Good to see you.”

She turns, and my smile falls away so fast I swear I can hear it shatter to pieces on the floor.

Steph’s eyes are red and her cheeks are wet. She quickly wipes at her face, but it’s too late. “Sorry, I was just?—”

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” I cut in, my chest tight. “I’msorry. I’m sorry I was a selfish shit yesterday. And I’m sorry I didn’t reach out sooner and was too distracted to text today. Everything’s shitty at camp, but that’s no excuse to be shitty to the best person I know.”

“I’m not the best,” she whispers, the vulnerability in her gaze gutting me. “I know I shouldn’t be putting pressure on you at a time like this, but I just…” Her breath hitches. “I just want you to want me as much as I want you.”

“Baby, I do,” I say, but she’s already pushing on.

“Even though I know you need to focus on hockey right now,” she says, her eyes beginning to shine again. “This is your last chance, and I’ll never forgive myself if I mess that up for you. But I don’t know how to step back after getting this close, Tank. And I can’t make myself break up with you, even though a part of me knows I should.”

I can’t handle another word of talk like that. I willnotlose her, not if any amount of groveling can make this better.

I close the remaining distance between us and pull her into my arms, holding her tight. “Listen to me,” I murmur against her forehead. “You are the best thing in my life. The very best. I don’t want you to step back, Steph, and I sure as hell don’t want to break up.”

She sniffs against my chest. “You don’t?”

“Hell, no,” I say. “I want to put you in my pocket and keep your sexy little, snack-sized self with me twenty-four hours a day. Today, when things were going off the rails again, you were the only thing that kept me even a little bit sane. You were in my thoughts every fucking second. I’m sorry I didn’t reach out to let you know that. I’ll do better. I promise.”

She pulls back with a soft smile, and suddenly, I can breathe again. “It’s okay. I know how busy you guys are. I just…I just needed to know that you didn’t think this thing between us was a liability.”

“This thing?” I murmur, knowing it’s time to lay it all out there, to tell her just how important she’s become to me, even in such a short time. But as a man who’s been through hell, I guess I’m just better prepared than most people to recognize a piece of heaven when I see it. “You mean this thing where I’m crazy fucking in love with you?” Her breath catches, but the relief in her eyes gives me hope. “How could that be a liability?” I add in a softer voice. “Especially if…you might feel the same way?”

She blinks faster, her voice trembling as she says, “I do. I love you, too.”

My shoulders sag away from my ears with a rush of breath. “Thank God. Fuck. What a fucking relief. I promise I won’t make you regret it, baby. I will not fuck this up, Steph. I swear.”

Her smile widens. “I missed your filthy mouth last night.”

“Well, you won’t have to miss it tonight,” I promise, fingers curling into her hips through her yoga pants. “Assuming it’s okay for me to sleep over.”

“It’s very okay, I—” She’s interrupted by a snort from our feet.

We glance down to see Mr. Sniffles gazing up at us with an uncharacteristically chipper expression, especially for a pug of a certain age, who has fat folds hanging over his eyes.

Steph grins. “That’s right, buddy. I know you missed Tank, too.”

She bends to gather his sturdy body in one arm, lifting him up to join our little family hug.

Family…

I’ve never thought about family too much. I never had a family, really, not the kind you’d want to recreate anyway. And after the way things ended with Michelle, I figured I was better off riding solo. Or, at the very most, being the kind of guy who shacks up with a woman for a few months until she realizes he isn’t “keeper” material and moves on.

But with Steph’s arm around me and Mr. Sniffles snorting happily between us— putting his tongue to use on my neck with an enthusiasm that has Steph giggling again—I suddenly think maybe I might be able to make something like that happen.

A family. A future.

A home, with this incredible woman who finally makes me feel like I belong.

I’m pretty sure I’m about to say something sappy as fuck, when my phone buzzes in my back pocket.

Then buzzes again. And again.

Steph arches a brow. “Should you answer that?”

“Sorry, maybe,” I mutter, tugging my cell out to see Stone’s name on the screen. “It’s Stone, but I can talk to him later.”

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