Page 82 of Ice Cold Heart

Eva pushed her way through the chaos to the bench, where Gavin walked right past his celebrating teammates to scoop her up. He didn’t break stride as he carried her to the locker room tunnel. When I scanned the blob of hockey players for Cole, I found him staring directly at me, surrounded by a wall of women.

I had to laugh because his expression was easy, but his eyes were begging for rescue. Good thing for him I knew something about rescuing golden boy hockey players from puck bunnies. I strode through the masses with my shoulders back and my head high, attitude in every step. People made way, including the puck bunnies, and Cole’s gaze ignited.

His arms came around me as soon as I was close enough, and I pulled his head down for a scorching, possessive kiss. I sighed and melted into him, uncaring we were at the center of attention. The puck bunnies, the arena, the rivalry with Easton, everything faded away, like it always did with his mouth on mine.

Cole stroked his thumb gently across my cheek, then cupped the back of my head, keeping me close.

“I love seeing my name on you,” he growled.

I grinned, fully aware of what waited for me under his gear. “Get used to it. You’re stuck with me now.”

“City girl, I’ve been stuck on you since the first time you walked past me in your ass-kicking boots. Glad you finally caught up.”

I playfully slapped at his chest, but he caught my hand and kissed my palm.

“Want to know a secret?” he asked.

“Always,” I whispered back.

“I love you, and one day, I’m going to marry you. Then you’ll always have my name.”

The thought didn’t scare me anymore, only filled me with excitement for the future we could make together. “I love you too, farm boy.”

“Then let’s go celebrate.” He grinned as he picked me up and carried me toward the locker room.

Marco let out a shrill whistle behind me, and I peeked over Cole’s shoulder. He waved, then pointed at Stephen with wide eyes that clearly said girl, I’ll see you later. I laughed and nodded, waving back.

Seb had asked me to submit an article tonight about the game, but it could wait until tomorrow. It could all wait until tomorrow. I was happy and free and in the arms of the man I loved. Tonight, nothing else mattered.

EPILOGUE

Four weeks later…

“Fuck, baby, just like that,” Cole groaned, shoving his face into the pillow under him.

I reminded my vagina, again, that we’d just had sex, and Cole had won the bet. He’d held out longer, and I owed him a massage.

Straddling his pert ass in my undies while I rubbed his back muscles wasn’t really convincing any part of my body we were done though. He looked over his shoulder at me, and I considered giving him a raincheck in favor of flipping him over for round two.

He met my gaze with a wicked grin. “If you’re going to ride me, you might as well grab my cowboy hat and make it official.”

“You have a cowboy hat?” My husky question didn’t sound at all as nonchalant as I’d hoped.

“I have boots too.”

I stopped massaging as the image of Cole in a hat and boots—and nothing else—assaulted me. “Wow, I think I just unlocked a new kink.”

Cole chuckled. “Anytime you want to play dress up, city girl.”

I was about to suggest a fun new game, but a string of shouted curses reached us through the closed door to his bedroom. Cole frowned, and we both threw on some clothes. I followed him into the hallway.

“That sounded like Mase,” Cole offered.

We hurried down the stairs to the empty main floor only to confirm the noise must have come from the basement. At the bottom of the second set, everyone was gathered around a storage closet no one used. Mase crouched in the small space over a pile of laundry, Reece and Gavin peered into the dim enclosure, and Eva held an angry-looking Henry.

“What’s going on?” Cole asked.

Mase moved his leg so we could have a better view of the clothes, and I gasped as I spotted the reason for his unhappiness. A little ball of yellow fluff stuck its head up and peeped at us.

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