Page 117 of Power Play

“It’s true,” he said. “I’ll never lie to you. Not ever. It’s nothing but the truth, from here on out, and the truth is, I want you to be mine. My wife. My partner. My teammate. Mine. And I want to be yours.”

To my utter shock, Liam Locke, NHL superstar, got down on one knee and pulled a ring box out of his pocket. He flipped open the top, nearly blinding me with a square cut diamond in abeautiful simple setting. It wasn’t a huge diamond. It was small and it was perfect. “Tess and I picked it out,” he said. “She said it was the sparkliest.”

“It is,” I whispered. “It is the sparkliest.”

“Will you marry me?” he whispered and I nodded my head, words beyond me. He slipped the ring on my finger and wrapped me in his arms. “I know I’m a mess,” he said. “And I will make a ton of mistake-”

I threw my arms around him. Kissed him to shut him up. “No one talks shit about the man I love,” I whispered against his lips. “Not even you.”

He laughed and picked me up in his arms. His arms were where I belonged. “Oh,” he said. “Wait until you meet Wyatt.”

Tess and Ms. Rene came back in and we sat down at the table. I showed off my ring and Tess told me how much the ring cost. Liam groaned and put his head in his hand.

I sat around that table, a woman who’d been without family for so long, and wondered, my heart bursting with love, how I got so lucky.

EPILOGUE

Kit

Iwent to grab the mail while Liam made his disgusting green drink.

“You want one?” he asked as I slipped on my flip flops at the door.

I made a gagging sound.

“You’re missing out.”

“You’re delusional.”

He asked me every morning and every morning I said no. I wasn’t sure if he thought he was going to wear me down about it, but it wouldn’t work. The green drinks were gross.

So far, moving into Liam’s house had been about as painless as it could be. It had been three months of nothing but happiness and sex. He had a cleaning lady, not an ex but a legitimate service, so there were no arguments about his socks being left all over the place like he was a teenage boy.

Honestly. So many socks.

Also, his chef, an ex, but a really good chef, dropped some meals off for us every week, so I didn’t feel like I had to cook every day.

Tess was back to school, and we were figuring that out. Her school was on the other side of town, which made her staying at our place during the week hard. So we were seeing her every weekend. Liam drove down to pick her up from school twice a week after practice and team meetings. She came with me to some away games, which had been fun.

Last night,she’d spent the night and we’d binged some movies. Inside Out made Liam cry, so Tess patted his hand and told him everything would be okay, which made me cry.

When did kids’ movies get so freaking emotional?

Anyway, Tess was still asleep, and Liam was drinking his green drink, and I was… well, I was playing it cool, wasn’t I? Totally cool. Totes cool.

Rushing out to get the mail every morning was just a thing I did. No biggie.

Every morning when there wasn’t an envelope from The University of Southern Maine, well, who cared? Not me.

I’d applied to the Spring semester of the teaching program after Tess and Liam ganged up on me and had brochures mailed to me on a relentless basis. Every school in Maine. A few in New Hampshire. For a month it had been all they talked about with me until I finally relented and applied to three schools in the area. Southern Maine was my secret first choice.

Tess assured me I was a shoe-in. But she was a kid, what did she know about the intricate acceptance policies of non-traditional students with slightly checkered pasts? What did any of us know about it? Some days I thought there was no way I would get in. Some days I couldn’t stop myself from dreaming.

“Morning, Mike!” I said as I passed him on the front step.

Now, Mike was with us only when Tess was here. The season had started and Liam’s weird fan club was in full swing, so we tried to protect her as much as possible. Plus, Mike really did need the gig.

He gave me his Mike head-nod and I made my way down the driveway to the mailbox. It was colder in the mornings. Snow would be coming soon, and I wrapped my sweater more tightly around my body. I was wearing Bruisers sweatpants, which was a real perk of being with Liam. So many good sweatpants and sweatshirts. Endless supplies.

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