Page 109 of Keeping it Real

He could have kicked himself when her smile deflated slightly.Pressing his forehead against hers, he softened his tone.

“Were you serious when you said you loved me back then?”

She nodded slowly.“Yes.”

“Do you—” He swallowed roughly.“Do you still love me now?”

“Yes,” she murmured.“Even more so.”

His chest felt like it was exploding when he kissed her.She laughed into his mouth while wrapping her arms around his waist.He would have stood there kissing her forever had Henrik not jabbed him in the back with a hockey stick.

“Don’t you have something to say to her, Ice-Berg?”

Sheridan pressed her palms to Alek’s chest and leaned back in his arms, arching an eyebrow at him as she did.

“I love you, Sheridan.”He surprised himself with the volume and ferocity of the words.“I was a fool not to tell you sooner.You and Finn make me a better person.And there is no one else I’d rather go through life with than you.”

“Well done,” Henrik said.“Finish this somewhere else.We need to get to the barn for a hockey game.You catch a ride with the ladies and the kiddies on the next trip.Put your skates on.”

Alek helped Sheridan down from the bus.A chorus of catcalls and wolf whistles filled the valet driveway when the bus pulled away.

“It’s about time,” Valentine called from an open window.

It was definitely about time for another kiss.Sheridan let him have his way with her mouth for several heartbeats before she pulled away.

“I have something to tell you,” she repeated.

“If it’s about you feeling guilty about what happened in the past, forget about it.There’s nothing to forgive.You acted out of love.”He dropped another kiss on her lips.“But if you need to hear it.I forgive you.”

“Thank you.”She kissed his chin.“That means a lot.But I’m talking about Jamie.”

Not this again.Alek was starting to get agitated.“No.You did nothing wrong.There is no way you caused that accident.You hear me?That’s all on that guy, Sergi.”

She nodded.“I know that now.This is about me not setting him straight about you and Madison.He figured it all out.At the reunion, one of the guys told him you’d bought Madison a ring and you had intended to propose.And that I knew all of that.”She waved Finn’s phone in front of his face.“He made a video for me.He said he wasn’t mad.In fact, he wished things had worked out between us.”

He dabbed his thumbs at the tears welling in her eyes.

“Jamie forgave me,” she whispered.“It’s all going to be okay.”

“It’s going to be better than okay, Sheridan.We are going to have the love Jamie wanted us to have.And we are going to shower that love on his son.”

“He’d like that.”

“What about you?”

“Mmm.I could get behind that after a little more convincing.”

Alek proceeded to convince her until they were nearly late for the game.

Epilogue

Alek ignoredthe stinger in his hip as he climbed the grassy bluff.He welcomed the soft breeze that lifted his hair off his neck.Hiking the New Hampshire countryside with Hattie and Finn in the July heat had him working up a sweat.Luckily, his destination resided beneath a decades-old black walnut tree.

He came to a stop in front of a granite headstone.A layer of walnuts and leaves were scattered over its top.Alek sighed as he brushed them away.He bent over and pulled several weeds from the ground in front before sliding down and resting his back against the cool stone.

“Jesus, Jamie, you’re still a slob.”

Stretching his legs out, he crossed them at the ankles and took in the view in front of him.Down below, Finn and Hattie were chasing a hacky sack ball.Sheridan was busy arranging flowers into two outdoor vases that she would stick in the ground next to her parents’ and her brother’s markers.She took her time, giving him several minutes of privacy with his best friend.

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