Page 84 of Pucking Knox
"While wet?"
"Like that's stopped us before."
We sway under the stars. The beach house lights illuminate our families inside – Ace arguing hockey stats with my father, my mother in the kitchen.
"I've been thinking," Knox says against my hair.
"Hmm?"
"About our first summer here. How scared I was of the ocean. Of loving you. Of letting myself be happy."
I watch him carefully.
"And now?" He spins me gently. "Now I'm not scared of anything. Except maybe..." He drops to one knee in the sand, pulling out a ring that catches the starlight. "Except maybe you could say no."
My heart stops.
"A year ago," he continues, voice rough with emotion, "I stood in front of scouts and cameras and risked everything because you were worth more than any dream I had before you."
My family gathers on the deck, watching silently.
"But that was just the beginning. Because loving you, really loving you, made me better. Made me braver. Made me believe in the kind of forever I never knew existed."
Tears blur my vision as he holds up the ring – emerald and diamond, matching my promise ring perfectly.
"Kennedy Walters, love of my life, best thing that ever happened to me, will you marry me? Let me spend forever proving how much I love you? Let me keep climbing through your window when we're old and grey?"
"Yes." The word comes naturally, completely, absolutely. "Oh my God, Knox, yes!"
His smile could light cities as he slides the ring on my finger. When he kisses me, my family cheers from the deck.
"About time," Ace calls, but he's grinning. "Though if you hurt her..."
"Never again." Knox pulls me closer. "Never again, my future wife. The mother to my unborn children."
He kisses me and I melt because this is better than anything I could have ever imagined.
Later, after champagne and celebrations, we sneak back to the pool. Sit with our feet in the pool.
"Happy?" Knox asks, playing with my rings.
"Very." I lean into him. "Though I have to say, Mr. Thompson, proposing where you once feared to swim? Quite symbolic."
"Thought you'd appreciate that." His smile turns wicked. "Though I was more thinking about all the times we've snuck out here since then..."
Heat floods my body at the memories. Some things never change – like how he affects me, how much I want him, how real we are together.
"Still can't believe you're mine," he mutters against my hair. "That blackmailing me was the best decision of your life."
I laugh into his chest. "Pretty sure falling in love with you was the best decision."
"Same thing." He tips my face up for a kiss that promises everything. "Virgin and villain no more, huh?"
"What?" I smile against his lips. "No, that’s not us. Not anymore."
Not the senator's perfect daughter and the hockey enforcer. Not the virgin and the villain. Just Knox and Kennedy, loving each other exactly as we are.
Building something lasting.
