Page 83 of Pucking the Enemy

I burst into laughter. “Is this like last time?”

“Last time?”

“You’ve declared your love for me before,” I said.

His brow furrowed. “When?”

“Well, it was the same night that you were convinced a tree was your best friend and insisted on giving it all the hugs before you promptly vomited over my shoes and passed out, so I assumed you didn’t mean that.”

Seb ran a hand through his hair, the look of utter confusion on his face almost adorable. “I-I don’t remember that.”

“No shit.” I laughed. “You were drunk as a skunk.”

“I’m not drunk now, but it was the truth then, and it’s the truth now. I was just a chickenshit and afraid of ruining our friendship, so I never said it out loud and tried to be happy with other people.”

“Did you eat one of Cormac’s special brownies?” I asked.

“No!”

My chest tightened. He had made plenty of jokes over the years about us being together and perfect for each other, but they were just that—jokes.

“Wait, you’re being serious?”

“Of course, I’m being serious, Hazelnut!”

With a huff, I grabbed the nearest pillow, throwing it at his face, full force. “You have shit timing, Sebastian Alexander Coombs! Why didn’t you admit this months ago? I’ve had feelings for you since I was twelve years old and you accidentally pushed me out of a fucking tree! We would’ve been dating in a heartbeat if you’d said something. You know I would have told my parents to fuck off to be with you. You goddamned idiot!”

Seb couldn’t suppress the grin tugging at the corner of his lips as he did nothing to stop my pillowy assault. “I only pushed you out of the tree in revenge because you did it first. I am an idiot. When we fought after you told me you were pregnant… I realized what an ass I had been. For the first time ever, I was really faced with the reality that I could lose you forever. All this time, I thought you wouldn’t go for a pack, because your parents would never have allowed it, and that was the life I desperately wanted.”

He had never shied away from that topic.

“I always knew you wanted a pack, and I knew my family wouldn’t be okay with that idea. Though I liked the idea of a pack, I resigned myself to never having that,” I admitted. “I assumed they would set me up with some idiot of their choosing. I never let myself think about what could be, and then when I met the guys, it just kind of clicked.” I shrugged, running my hands through my hair. It wouldn’t have been a fun life if I did as my parent’s wanted, but it was the path of least resistance, and it wasn’t like I had anything better to fight for… until now. “We’re having a great time together, but other than Roman declaring I’m it for him every other day, we’ve had no real discussions about our future. I know they’ll be there for the baby, and by extension, for me as the mother of the baby, but otherwise?”

“Hazelnut… those guys are madly in love with you. I could never realistically stand in their way, and I wouldn’t want to. They clearly want what’s best for you, and that’s what I want too.”

“But you hate them.”

Seb sighed. “On the ice, they weren’t exactly my favorite people, but getting to know them? They’re not that bad.”

My breathing increased as I glared at him. “What am I supposed to do now that I know you love me? I can’t betray the others because you’ve decided to speak up finally.”

“They know how I feel.”

My entire body stilled as I gawked at Seb, my mind trying to process his words.

“What do you mean they know?”

“We discussed it. I wasn’t going to tell you, because it didn’t seem fair, given your current situation. I was just going to stay quiet and support you from the sidelines. It was actually Roman who convinced me.”

“Oh.” I wasn’t sure what to do with that information. My lover had told my best friend to confess his feelings to me…

“I’m going to be honest here, Hazel. I want to try this. I would always regret it if I didn’t at least lay my cards on the table and ask. I know my timing sucks, but we have the chance to be together and we’d have a pack. It’s a dream I never thought would come true to have a chance at both.”

My entire body tingled with excitement. A future not only with the Kingswood Pack, but with Sebastian as well? They had slowly been getting along better with every day. Could they really get along well enough for us to be a proper family unit?

“Will you let me court you, Hazel Giltbrook? While I may not have as much spare cash as Roman, I can still plan a good date.”

Regardless of the others… this was Seb.

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