Page 31 of Married Into Love

“What doyoumean?”

“Gossip travels fast in the hockey world, and someone in the Golden Knights camp is probably hoping I’ll be open to the idea of playing in Vegas since I have a good reason to want to make my move herepermanent.”

“Whoa,” I breathed, dropping down onto one of the chairs across from him. “Is that an option? Is it something you’d consider? I’d assumed that since you’re a professional hockey player, you kinda have to go wherever the leaguesendsyou.”

“I’ll be an unrestricted free agent at the end of next season when my contract expires. I’ll be free to negotiate and sign a contract with any team I want.” He looked up from the pads he was strapping onto his shins, his blue eyes scanning my face. “Move to Chicago with me for the next year, and at the end of the season we’ll talk about our options and make the decision for where I should playtogether.”

“I—um—wow—” Istammered.

“Fuck, I promised myself I wouldn’t push you too hard,” he groaned, running a hand through his thick, dark hair. “You don’t have to decide right away. I can talk to Greg, set something up so I can use the rink, workout room, and trainers here for the summer. As long as I’m able to set that all up, I won’t have to be back in Chicago until earlySeptember.”

“Okay.” I took a deep breath and nodded, thinking about my decision just that morning to be an equal giver in my relationship with Alec. “I’ll think about moving to Chicago with you. Sooner, rather than later. After I make sure Ariana has her situation figured out in a more permanent way than staying at the hotel. And once I know what’s going on with my mom. She still hasn’t returned any of our calls, and it’s been a whole week since I left the first one. As unreliable as she can be, radio silence from her for this long isn’t herstyle.”

The blinding smile Alec gave me made my leap of faith well worth it. “Like I said, there’s no rush. Family is important. We won’t leave until you know yours willbeokay.”

“You did hear the part where I said I was going tothinkabout it,right?”

He flashed me a cocky grin as he stepped into a pair over over-sized, padded shorts with suspenders hanging off the top. “Yeah, but your only objection was related to shit I can easily fix. If you’d said you weren’t sure about our relationship or the idea of moving at all, then I’d know I have my work cut out for me. But finding an apartment for your sister and figuring out how to handle whatever mess your mom has gotten herself into? Those are problems with solutions Icanfind.”

“Don’t be too sure that my mom’s mess will be easy to fix,” Iwarnedhim.

He sat down and pulled on the skates. “It doesn’t matter how hard it is, if it keeps you by my side I’ll figureitout.”

AlecRourke.

My whiteknight.

The man I’d married on adrunkenwhim.

The best darn decision I’d ever made. And one I should stop secondguessing.

“Yes,” Iblurtedout.

“Yes,what?”

“Yes, I’ll move to Chicago with you at some point this summer, before you need to be back foryourteam.”

“Get over here,” he growled, dropping the laces he was in the middle of tying. My legs were shaky as I crossed the locker room to stand in front of him. He pulled me down on his lap and wrapped his arms around me. “We almost forgot our seriousconversationsrule.”

“Yeah, I guesswedid.”

“You really going to move to Chicagowithme?”

Inodded.

“That’s one hell of an anniversary present. I’m not sure I can top it, but I’ll do my besttonight.”

“Anniversary?”

“It’s Friday, beautiful. One week since we met. One week since we gotmarried.”

It was sweet that he was calling it our anniversary, but as much as I appreciated it I was also startled by how quickly things had progressed between us—and I wasn’t even thinking about the whole getting married the night we met thing. “I can’t believe it only took you one week to talk me into moving half-way across thecountry!”

“C’mon now,” he chuckled. “We’ve spent the past week together, non-stop. Going by the two hour per date rule, that’s about eighty dates. We’re definitely in moving in together territorybynow.”

“For real; I’m married to acrazyman.”

He kissed me until I was breathless and then set me back on my feet. “Crazy for you,beautiful.”

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