Page 56 of Much Ado About Hockey

“Shut up and take me home.”

“Heck yeah, babe.”

It had only been three days since they had ‘jumped.’They had come back to the condo, and Karen didn’t even remember walking into the door – just Jett.

He had whispered so many sweet words between them, made her laugh at the most inopportune times, and nearly brought her to tears with the beauty of the love they made together, welcoming the other deeply into their hearts, their lives, their universe. Neither of them were alone anymore. They were a couple. Sure, there had been bumps along the way. Some of them felt like mountains, but this was her husband, her partner, and her best friend… and she never expected someone like him.

Waking up to that crooked, infuriatingly sexy smile of his was everything. There was nothing better than cracking open an eye, seeing him there, and knowing that his heart belonged to hers – not in words, but in deeds.

What exactly was‘I’ ‘love’ and ‘you’ but eight weird letters thrown together to make a pattern of sounds and meanings – kinda like her precious hieroglyphs she’d once tried translating. Sometimes, there was just no describing it or the words felt paltry to the meaning that was behind it… and that was Jett.

Karen couldn’t be more in love with him.

The wordobsesseddidn’t even begin to cover it. No, what she felt was deeper, more consuming than that. It wasn’t just his looks or the way he touched her like she was something fragile and precious. It was everything—his soul-deep kindness, the way he lit up a room simply by walking into it, the way he could be sweet one minute and so ridiculously loud and obnoxious the next that she wanted to throw a pillow at his head or kiss him senseless.

Jett was outrageous in the best possible way—he was sunshine and thunder, a walking contradiction of chaos and charm. And still, he always found little ways to show her how much he cared. From surprise flowers on her nightstand to warming up her coffee just the way she liked it, from his open, shameless affection in public to the way he looked at her like she was the only thing that ever mattered.

He made her feel adored.

He made her feelseen, treasured.

But tonight?

Tonight was different.

Tonight, it washer turnto make a show of things. She was doing something so out of character for her, something just for him, something to make him feel even a fraction of what he made her feel every day. The man who had burrowed so deeply into her heart she wasn’t sure where he ended, and she began. This was all about telling the man she admired that she ‘saw’ him too – and was ready to take up the mantle.

And the best part?

Jett had absolutely no clue what was coming.

11

JETT

Where you at?

I had a flat tire – don’t worry!

Roadside Assistance is here, and I’m heading to get the tire replaced.

“Craaaaap,”Jett muttered, his voice low but sharp with frustration. The word ripped out of him as he stared down at the glowing text message. He slammed the phone facedown on the bench beside him, the hollow thud barely audible over the rising hum of pre-game energy vibrating through the locker room.

His heart twisted in two directions at once. Relief that Karen was okay. Frustration that, once again, she wouldn’t be there.

She hadn’t made it to a single Wolverines event yet, not a game – not a cookout – nothing. And with every excuse—valid or not—it was getting harder not to take it personally. Flat tire. Sure. It happened. But the little voice in his head—the one that whispered doubt and claims of abandonment at the worst times—kept needling him with the truth: she wasn’t here… again.

Not tonight.

And not for him.

He ran a hand down his face, trying to scrub the disappointment away. They had a beautiful connection, and that was what he needed to focus on.

He loved that woman with an intensity that bordered on insanity. If she told him she wanted fresh milk, he’d be bringing home a cow. All she had to do was give him a look or crook her finger, and he was melting like butter. He hadn’t been joking when he told her the meaning behind the nickname he’d dubbed her. Life would never be the same now that he’d experienced what loving her could be like.

Outside, the crowd was already building into a frenzy, their energy seeping through the concrete walls, pulsing with anticipation. The announcer’s voice echoed faintly in the distance, signaling it was almost time.

Jett picked up his phone again, hesitating only for a moment before tapping out a reply with fingers that didn’t want to move.

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