Page 48 of Pucking Never

“Yeah, it was,” he agrees. “But, you’re my sister, and I love you so fucking much. I want you to be happy, Grace, and if Reece makes you happy… I can get behind this.”

She jerked her gaze back up to his, eyes wide with surprise.

“Really?” she gasps. “Then… are we okay?”

He sighs and answers, “We will be okay. I’m still pissed, but I forgive you. I love you, Grace. Just promise me, no more secrets. There is nothing I wouldn’t do for you, and I never want you to be afraid of telling me the truth.”

“I love you too, Carson. I promise, no more secrets.”

He pulls her into a tight hug and she wraps her arms around him and squeezes him hard. When he lets her go, I slip my arm around her waist and pull her into my arms.

Carson groans. “This is so weird. Alright, I’m out. See you both later.” He turns and walks away

I chuckle, and Grace giggles, and we rest our foreheads against each other. I close my eyes and savor the feel of her against me. There’s still plenty of things in my life to work through, but this moment is perfect and I commit it to memory. I have the woman I love, the blessing of my best friend, and a future that I’m going to make my own.

As far as I’m concerned, I’m the luckiest man in the world, and with this woman at my side, there isn’t anything life can throw at me that I can’t conquer.

Epilogue

GRACE

SIX MONTHS LATER

The sun caresses my skin, leaving me warm and content as I stretch out on the wide lounger next to the private pool by our cabana. Jensen is lying next to me, his hand brushing along my arm, his chiseled torso on full display as he soaks in the sun,. I tilt my sunglasses down and smile over at him, blatantly running my gaze up and down his impressive body.

“Enjoying the show?” he teases with a smirk.

I chuckle. “Very much so.”

He rolls onto his side and props his head up on his hand, removing his own sunglasses so he can gaze down at me.

“You’re looking pretty tasty yourself.”

I grin. “Apparently, Miami agrees with me.”

The hockey season is over and we are celebrating six months together with a tropical vacation, just the two of us. The past few months have been good to both of us. Jensen had a great season and I managed to gain a handful of new pro-hockey clients thanks to my work with Carson. Both our careers are flourishing.

Carson and I are closer than ever and he’s gotten much more comfortable with my relationship with Jensen. On the other hand, things with Jensen’s dad are still tense, but he’s at least stopped pushing Jensen so hard to do what he thinks he should do with his life. It’s put them on tentatively okay terms, and Jensen is trying to build a new relationship with him. It also helps that while Jensen’s father was angry at how I blew up at him, he also respected that I did it—and he eventually admitted that he’s grateful Jensen found someone who could always be in his corner so unconditionally.

Truth be told, I’ve never been happier. I’m so in love with Jensen, I can’t imagine my life without him.

“Hey, the sun’s going to set soon,” he suddenly says, tracing his sunglasses-covered eyes down my chest and between my breasts. “Let’s go for a walk on the beach.”

“Okay,” I grin.

Jensen gets up and helps me to my feet as well. Slipping his arm around my shoulders, he guides me from our private area down to the beach. We stroll along the edge of the water in content silence for several minutes, listening to the waves. It takes me a little bit to recognize where exactly we’re going, but when I see a familiar rock formation ahead of us, I gasp.

“Wait,” I murmur. “Is this…?”

He chuckles. “The place we spent our first night together all those years ago on Spring Break.”

I can hardly believe it.

“Oh, my God,” I whisper, shaking my head. “I can’t believe you remembered where this was.”

“There’s no way I’d ever forget this place,” he tells me, as he leads me to the rocks.

As we slip inside the alcove, my mind immediately returns to that night, all those years ago, when Jensen gave me the first taste of real pleasure I’d ever had. The sky is turning purple and the water shimmers like fire. From where we’re standing, hidden from the rest of the world, it looks like a paradise.

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