Page 131 of The Love You Win

My answer is easy.

fifty-seven

MADDOX

I’m scared to breathe. Everything feels like it’s balancing on the point of a knife. One wrong move, one rogue breath, and all my hopes could topple over and shatter on the ice. The whole arena holds its breath with me.

Isla opens her beautiful blue eyes—eyes I’ve missed so damn much—and my heart stutters.

This is it. She’ll either agree to give me a second chance, or she’ll tell me to fuck off and never contact her again. I deserve the latter, but god do I hope it’s the former.

“Yes.” Her full lips break into a smile so brilliant it melts my insides. “I say hell yes, I’ll give you another shot.”

My knees nearly buckle.

“But if you ever do something stupid like that again, I’m getting your teammates to beat you up. Got it?”

The laugh that comes out of me is nearly hysterical. “You got it, Short-Stack. If I ever hurt you again, I’ll ask them to kick my butt myself.”

“You wouldn’t even need to ask,” Griffin calls out. “We’ve got your back, Teach.”

It starts with a smile. Then her body shakes. And then Isla’s laughing, tears streaming down her face. I hand the mic off to Bash and wrap her in my arms. Where she belongs.

God, I’ve missed her.

“I love you,” I murmur low in her ear. This confession is only for Isla. “I love you so much, baby. I’ve missed you. I’m so, so sorry.”

Isla tilts her chin up to meet my gaze, and I brush a tear away. “I love you too, Maddox. And I’m sorry. I should have told you everything when you called, but I didn’t want to ruin your game or make you stress when I was already bringing you grief. But I should have told you. From now on, I won’t keep things from you.”

My heart squeezes. After everything I did, she loves me. I’m the luckiest bastard in the world. But I hate that she feels responsible for any of this. Yeah, we shouldn’t be keeping anything from each other, but this is on me. I don’t want her apologizing when I’m the one who nuked our relationship over a misunderstanding.

“You have nothing to apologize for. I’m the one that’s sorry. I should have brought it up and talked to you about it instead of jumping to conclusions. Yeah, I’ve been hurt before, but that’s no excuse. You’re not like the women who hurt me, and you don’t deserve to be treated with suspicion. Forgive me?”

“I forgive you,” she whispers. Our lips are millimeters apart, and I feel the words as much as hear them. “Now kiss me, Ogre.”

So I do. I kiss the hell out of Isla Harding in front of my teammates, my mom and sister, and thousands of cheering fans. We kiss until we’re both breathless and the cheering becomes hoots and wolf-whistles.

Panting, I force myself to pull away. “Want to get out of here?”

“Please,” the love of my life says.

She doesn’t need to ask me twice. I bend down and scoop Isla up. She squeals and wraps her arms around my shoulders, pressing her face into my neck as the fans go nuts. I give a quick salute to my teammates—my brothers—and glide quickly over the ice. I need to get Isla home.

There’s a lot to make up for. Conversations need to be had.

But first, I’m going to worship Isla’s body and make her come so many times, she won’t be able to walk tomorrow.

We can’t get our clothes off fast enough.

The moment we step inside my apartment, her fingers grasp at my suit jacket. They shake when she undoes the buttons of my shirt. She’s just as frantic as I am.

“I didn’t think I’d ever get to touch you again,” she murmurs, more to herself than me.

Guilt lances through my heart. “Fuck, baby. I am so damn sorry. I can’t say it enough.”

“I know,” she says. “But talk is cheap, Maddox. I want you to show me.”

Oh, sweet Isla. I will show you. Again and again.

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