Page 1 of Golden Rule

Chapter One

—PROLOGUE, VALENTINE’S DAY?—

Blue

“Best. Husband. Ever.”

I speak those words as my palms move up West’s arms, slinking over smooth plains of inked skin. My fingers lock behind his neck, warmed by the dark, shower-dampened curls he’s grown out to his shoulders.

“I take it you had a good day,” he rasps, but before I can answer, his lips lightly brush mine, and I breathe against them.

“Understatement.”

A satisfied smirk spreads across his face, and his green stare hooks me. “Tell me your favorite part.”

Thanks to a heatwave, we got to cancel our dinner reservation and think outside the box—wine tasting on a hot air balloon overlooking the vineyards of Sonoma; dinner with a view of the beach as the sun sank into the Pacific; a moonlit drive up the coast with the top down.

But nothing compares to how much better the night got once we made it home.

Suddenly aware of the gentle throbbing between my legs, I recall the details and smile up at him. “The shower.Definitelythe shower.”

He flashes another grin and the sight of it takes me back in time. Back to when the NFL was just a far-off dream, and there weren’t multi-million-dollar endorsements on the table. Back to when I first laid eyes on him through the dancing flames of a bonfire. When I was just a scrappy girl from the other side of the tracks, and he was the arrogant asshole who thought he was the shit.

I’m smilingnow, but honestly? Nothing about our journey was rainbows and roses. Which is why we never could have predicted what we’d become. Okay, yes, it was impossible to imagine, because we absolutelyhatedeach other’s guts at first, but the way our story began only adds to the sense of awe I feel when I consider what this man is to me now.

My husband.

My best friend.

There were some incredibly dark days. Days that would’ve crushed the souls of most, but we made it throughallof that.

Together.

“I love you.”

His confession brings me back to the present, and I smile. “I love you too.”

He shakes his head and things suddenly feel more intense than before. “No. I mean… Ireallylove you, Southside. With my whole fucking heart.”

I fight another grin hearing the nickname he’s called me for years roll off his tongue.

“With my whole fucking heart, West Golden.”

Moonlight bathes his solid physique. We’re clothed on the balcony tonight—me in a bra and underwear, him in dark pajama pants that leave little to the imagination—but we’re not always so modest. Let’s just say we’ve gotten very comfortable knowing our property backs up to the ocean and there isn’t a neighbor for miles.

The kiss I’d been waiting for is finally mine. It’s soft, it’s familiar, and I melt against him as his tongue pushes between my lips—the cherry on top of this already perfect day. He squeezes my side, then I’m jarred from the moment when he abruptly backs away.

“One more surprise,” he whispers, and I arch a brow.

“And here I was, thinking it couldn’t get any better.”

When I hold the side of his face, raking my fingernails over his neatly trimmed beard, he smiles. Maybe remembering how, once upon a time, I was very much against him growing it out, but thank God I caved on that one. It suits him.

Quite well, actually.

“Give me one sec.” With that, he pulls my hand from his cheek, kisses the center of my palm, then I lean against the banister as he walks away.

My eyes are trained on the broad, muscular swell of his upper back, proof that the long hours he puts in at the gym have paid off andthensome. When he was a boy, he was my weakness. But now that he’s every bit a man, he’ll be the death of me.

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