Page 26 of Hat Trick Heart

I sigh loud and long. “If I get ready and we go do whatever the heck it is that you want to do will you finally lay off and let me wallow in peace.”

She crosses her heart and smirks. “Promise you. If you do this one thing, I will let you wallow for a whole damn week before I bug you again.”

“Fine.” I drag myself up and try to remember when the last time I took a shower was. “I did take a shower the other day. Somebody at work complained.”

Becca rolls her eyes and mutters. “Seriously? That shouldn’t never be a thing. Go get ready.”

I stalk into the bedroom and grab what I need to take my shower and then get dressed in a warm sweater and jeans.

“Hey! Where are we going? Am I dressed alright?”

Becca pops in the room and nods her head. “Yeah. But make sure you grab a pair of gloves. You don’t want your hands to get cold. Got to take care of your fingers.”

I scrunch my brow and stare at her. “You know. You’re acting really weird.”

“I’m always weird. It’s part of my charm.”

Cocking my head, I grunt. I can’t really argue with that. Instead, I grab a pair of gloves and shove them on. “Okay. Let’s get this over with.”

“Great. Sounds like we’re gonna have fun,” Becca mutters.

We pile into her car and I buckle up, tilting my head back and closing my eyes. I can feel a headache beating at the backs of my eyes again and I’m so damn tired that I just want to crawl into a hole and pull the dirt back over me.

I don’t open them until the car stops and I open my eyes and groan. “Are you serious? Since when do you think that I like ice skating?”

“You need some exercise and it’s a good time of year for this. It’s one of the few things you can do over the winter that’s outside. And you desperately need some sun and fun.”

I struggle out of the car, muttering under my breath. “I don’t think you know what fun is?”

But I follow her out and we grab two skate rentals and then start making our way around the ice. I shuffle my feet, remembering why I don’t like this.

“You better not leave me. I can’t do this.”

“I’ll be right back. I think there’s something going on over there.”

Then she disappears and I’m standing in the middle of the rink, trying not to spiral into a panic attack and wondering if I should just go down onto the ice and crawl my way back to the edge.

Then a song starts playing loudly and my head comes up. An old song comes on so loud that I can hear the words clearly. Tears start in my eyes when I hear the beginning of “It’s Not Over.”

Then my eyes widen and I see that the ice is clear and people are ringing the ice singing along to the song and then they start pointing behind me and before I can turn, they’re laughing and taking video.

A whoosh comes up behind me and then a man that I recognize from the Frostwolves swings past me dressed as a prince and I start laughing. The guy is huge and he’s wearing tights which I don’t know how he got them made that big. His thighs are stretching them out so bad that when he bows in front of me and hands me a rose without thorns on it, I’m not sure how he doesn’t rip those tights in half.

I take the red rose and then he skates off to just swing around the rink over and over again. Then I hear the whoosh again and another one of them comes past me and he stops right in front of me and hands me a pale pink rose.

About eight of the guys end up handing me roses in every color of the rainbow until I have a gorgeous bouquet that fills my arms and tears pouring down my cheeks as I watch them dance around to the song.

Then my very own prince comes out, his arms empty as he races around me, stopping on a dime in front of me. He pulls a glorious silvery-purple rose out of his waistband and hands it to me.

“Angel. I know what you thought you heard but that wasn’t what I thought about you at all. I never planned to let you go. I have spent the last week missing you every second of the day. I promise you that if you give me another chance I will protect you from every damn thing out there. I would gladly give up my life to protect you. You mean so much to me. I will never let another tear fall from your gorgeous eyes unless they’re tears of joy.”

“I want to go to sleep with my arms wrapped around you every night and wake with you every morning. I want the glorious blue of your eyes to be what I wake up to and the last thing I see at night. I want to smell you on my clothes and know that if any fucker out there even looks at you, I’m right there to let him know that you’re taken. You’re mine and you always will be. Even if you tell me to go pound sand, you’ll still own my heart until the day I take my last breath.”

I can’t stop crying and I stare at him like he’s a mirage. “I missed you too, Emile. So much that it almost killed me.”

All eight of the guys run around us in dizzying circles as he gets down on one knee and my mouth falls open, the song crescendos around us.

“I love you so much, angel. Will you do me the honor of finally being mine?”

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