Page 83 of Perfect Score

I watch as Liam looks to his left, where I have a blind spot due to the walls blocking my view, and give Zoey a dumb-ass grin. I’d give up my five-year contract with the Hawkeyes to trip up his ass so he face-plants in the middle of the aisle.

I wait my turn… impatiently to see Zoey on the other side.

“Nervous?” Sarah asks.

“Not about walking down the aisle,” I tell her but don’t feel like divulging any more information about the pit in my stomach regarding the girl whose ex just told me he’s going to make a play for her again.

The second Sarah and I step into the doorframe, I finally get my first sight of Zoey in a long blush dress. Her hair flows down her back in curls. She looks like a goddamn angel when her eyes lock on mine, and her lips pull up into an almost giddy smile.

She pulls the camera up to her face as if to hide behind it while she snaps photos, and I know she probably just snapped one of me with a dopey grin on my face as well.

Fuck, what is she doing to me?

She’s doing what she always does to me.

Flashbacks of what we did last night play on a carousel rotation. Pushing her up against the shower wall while I took her against it, her legs wrapped around my shoulders while she lay on her back in the bed as I ate her, her on top again, straddling me on the bed while I fuck her from below for a second time. But my favorite part was the feel of her wet hair against my cheek as she slept in my arms all night.

She could have pulled away. She could have thanked me for taking her mind off Liam for those few hours, and that was all she wanted from me, but she didn’t. She let me hold her.

Sex isn’t going to clinch it for me, though. She can get that from any guy who takes one look at her and sees how beautiful she is. Our past is tainted with Liam getting to her first and from prom night. If I want to keep Zoey, it has to be because of who we are now. I’m no longer that young kid who only has hockey on the brain and thinks that I can wait out my time until I’m brave enough to tell her how I feel.

It has to be now.

I have to tell her now before she goes back to Liam.

Fourteen years have flown by in the blink of an eye, and I can’t wait another fourteen years for another shot.

I know what I want, but she hasn’t made it clear yet if she wants the same thing. After all, I found her crying over another guy when I came up to our suite last night.

She pulls the lens down after she gets her shots and smiles back at me.

“You look good,” she mouths to me.

My lips twist at the corner.

There are no words to describe how stunning she looks.

There’s no compliment I could give her that would be adequate.

“You look beautiful,” I mouth back.

I suck in my lower lip and wet it. Her eyes follow my motion, and I swear I can see her eyes dilate from here.

There’s my girl from last night.

When her eyes reach back up to mine, a little pinkness radiates from her cheeks. She’s blushing.

Fuck I’m in love with her, aren’t I?

Her eyes glance quickly to the couple behind us, and I know that’s my cue to stop stalling and move down the aisle.

The faster we get through these vows, the sooner I can pull Zoey into my arms for a dance and try to measure the pulse on this thing between us.

No offense to David and Phoebe, but I hope they planned on having a quickie ceremony.

I release Sarah’s arm as we get to the end of the aisle, and she and I part ways, taking my spot right next to Liam. I wish Phoebe would have made me switch spots with Ben, but David wanted to keep it all the same. No changes this late in the game.

I’m grateful to be getting to stand here with David. Playing professional sports sometimes means I miss a shit ton of moments like this with friends. So watching my best friend since pee wee football marry the woman who friend-zoned him until college is an honor. And I’m glad, for her sake, that she let him in. I’ve known almost no better friend than David in my life besides my Hawkeye teammates.

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