Page 179 of The Waiting Game

“Yeah. Maybe it’s just as well we didn’t get together when we were younger. Because I love you so deeply, Jo. In a better, healthier, deeper way than I’ve never loved anyone else. And I finally trust that I can be the man I want to be and the one you deserve.”

Jonah smiled, reaching up to cup his cheek. “I trust that too. And I think it goes both ways. I had things I needed to figure out too.”

The bright happiness in Felix’s eyes made Jonah’s heart stutter. He hated to dim that happiness for even a second but there was one more thing he needed to be sure of. “Are you mad I didn’t come after you last night? When you grabbed the bottle of rum.”

Felix blinked, looking puzzled. “What? No. Of course not.”

“I thought about it. Wondered if I could save you from making the wrong choice.”

“I don’t want you to be my savior, Jo.” Felix fiddled with Grandpa Cho’s ring before he slipped it off, holding it in his palm. “I want you to be my best friend. My teammate. My D-partner—in and out of bed.”

Jonah’s lips twitched like he was trying not to laugh.

“But I want you to be more than that. I want you to be the person I grow old with. I want you to be my husband.”

He held out the ring. Dazed, Jonah stared at him.

“Will you marry me, Jo? For real. Will you be my partner in every part of our lives? Will you wake up with me every morning and fall asleep with me every night and have a family with me someday?”

Wordlessly, Jonah nodded.

The ring didn’t really fit on Jonah’s ring finger. It was too small. But Felix lifted Jonah’s hand to his lips and pressed them to the spot where a wedding ring would sit, making Jonah shiver. “Will you be mine, Jonah Zachary Brewer?” He hooked his pinkie in Jonah’s.

“Yes,” Jonah rasped. “I thought you’d never ask.”

And Felix laughed. It was the bright, buoyant laugh of their childhood, the one filled with hope and glee and delight in the world.

It was the laugh that had made Jonah follow Felix everywhere since they were in minor hockey together.

The laugh that Jonah knew would make him follow Felix anywhere. Gladly.

And Jonah promised himself that he’d do everything he could to make Felix laugh like that for the rest of their lives.

“You know,” Felix teased. “We pinkie swore on the marriage pact and this engagement. That means there’s really no takebacks. You’re stuck with me now.”

Jonah beamed. “Sounds perfect to me.”

Felix leaned in, intending to kiss Jonah again, when a wet splat dampened his cheek. And then another. And another.

Jonah made a surprised noise and pulled away, rain already beginning to soak through his shirt. “Fuck. I think maybe we should go inside.”

“Agreed.” Felix had no sooner taken Jonah’s hand than the skies opened up, drenching them almost immediately. “C’mon!”

Hand in hand, they raced through the yard, laughing as they tumbled into the house.

“God, what is up with this weather?” Jonah said with a gasp.

“I don’t know but it’s ridiculous.” Felix looked Jonah up and down, gaze lingering where his damp clothes clung to his body. “You look pretty good like this though.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Felix rasped. “Think I’d like to get you out of those clothes now though.”

“Race you there!” Jonah took off like a flash and Felix laughed, a few steps behind. It felt right that while so much had changed between them, some things never would.

Despite the slower start, Felix gained ground by taking the stairs two at a time. He was right behind Jonah when they reached the bedroom and tackled him to the bed. Laughing, they wrestled for a moment. Jonah got the upper hand eventually, pinning Felix to the mattress.

He stared up at Jonah, drinking in the black slash of his brows, the rich brown black of his eyes, the soft pink of his lips, the inky stubble on his cheeks and jaw. He knew when Jonah had gotten that little scar across his cheek from a stray puck and that Jonah chewed absently at his lower lip when he was engrossed in something.

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