Page 192 of Puck Me Secretly

“You sure?”

He groaned and pressed his lips to mine. “I want it all. You. A baby. Marriage. A lifelong commitment.”

“Sounds pretty distracting.”

“I’ve never felt more focused.”

I looked over my shoulder. He was skating me towards the team. “Where are you taking me?”

“The guys want to congratulate you.”

“What? No!”

“Rory,” he looked me in the eyes. “Trust me.”

He stopped and set me down where all the players still hugged and crowded around each other.

“Rory,” a big player screamed, putting his face in mine. “We did it.”

I laughed as he lifted me in his arms and spun me around. “We did.”

The entire team crowded around me.

“Rory, you were with us every step of the way.”

“Kid, you saved our team.”

“You better sit in the back of the plane now. You’re one of us.”

“This cup has your name on it, you know that, right?”

I ended up back in Max’s arms. I trembled like a leaf. He wrapped his arms around me and held me tight.

“You’re shaking,” he bent his head over me. “Why are you shaking?”

“They like me,” I whispered in his ear.

“Are you just figuring that out right now?”

“I wasn’t sure.”

“You had them wrapped around your finger when you stood in front of the room in your pink little sweater and schooled us all with your ideas about offensive plays.”

“Max,” I stared up at him. “I’m so happy.”

He lifted me into his arms again and spun us around in a circle. “That plane crash was the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“Me too.”

“I love you, Rory.”

I put my hands on the sides of Max’s face and we stared at each other for what felt like a million heart beats. “I love you, too.”

EPILOGUE

SPORTS WORLD NEWS REPORT

“Well,Dave, at the start of the season, Mark Ashford took a risk buying out Max Logan’s contract, and that gamble paid off when Max Logan scored the winning overtime goal in game 7.”

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