Page 142 of Lucky Laces
Probably because I’m slip the ring I bought her onto her finger.
“Huddy,” she whispers.
I touch her cheek.“Even when I’m out there”—a nod to the rink—“you’re in here”—I tap my chest and wink.“Now you just have the diamond to prove it.”
Her mouth opens.Closes.Opens again.“Are you seriously asking me to marry you right now?”
“No, baby.I know I don’t need to ask.Because you and me forever is an inevitability.”I grin.“This is just to show the assholes on the other team you belong to me.”
She freezes.
Then shakes her head.
Thenshe does what she always does—she powers through.
This time she does it by lifting on tiptoe, slanting her mouth over mine, and kissing me senseless.
“I like the ring,” she says, dropping back down onto her heels.“But don’t think me wearing it means that you’re getting out of a real proposal.”Then she tosses a pointed look over her shoulder and marches out into the arena.
Cheers ring out.
And I know my job here is done.
With a little dash of romance—literally alittle—Dee’s nerves have faded away and she’s right here.
In the present.In the moment.
Ready to kickass in the game.
And she just happens to be doing it wearing my ring.
I follow her out, wink again, and then hop on the ice, shifting into hockey mode.
But even as I do that, I can help by smile.
Because I cannot wait for therealromance that’s waiting for her at the house.
Because she may be already wearing my ring…
But I plan on kicking ass in the real proposal too.
Afterwe win this game.
Rhodes
I slip into the house,pausing only to drop my shit on the counter, before I’m hurrying upstairs to Finley’s bedroom.
Finn’sbedroom.
Because don’t let her hear you call her Finley.
Normally, that thought has me smiling.Finn’s fun and smart and beautiful.She’s also a spitfire who has no compunction about calling me on my shit.
And with a dead wife and a four-year-old determined to turn my hair gray—or, I suppose, if Chloe could manage it,pink—I have plenty of baggage.
Finn, I think has some of her own.
Not that she shares it with me.
