Page 139 of Leave

I could barely even hear the crowd at that point. Was this real?

This man, whose trauma had turned him into a wallflower who didn’t like attention or spotlights, was right here… down one knee… in front of thousands…

Asking me to marry him.

As if I even needed to think about my answer.

“Yes,” I said, though I doubted he heard me. He got the message though, because his smile was huge. As soon as he wason his feet, I threw my arms around him and kissed him, and I genuinely thought the fans were going to shake the place apart.

“Oh my God, I love you,” I said, hoping he heard me over the noise.

From the way he smiled, yeah, he heard me.

We shared a quick kiss, then retreated into the Zamboni gate so we didn’t hold up the game longer than we already had.

“Congratulations, gentlemen!” the announcer called after us.

We turned and waved, and—yep, there we were on the Jumbotron again.

Finally, we were off the ice and behind the closed gate. As soon as we were away from the cameras, I pulled him in close again. Fuck military bearing. Fuck being in uniform. I was marrying the man I loved, and I didn’t give a damn who saw me kissing him right then.

“So, that’s a yes?” he asked with a laugh.

“Are you kidding me? Of course it’s a yes.” I kissed him again, then gazed into his eyes. “Last time we were here, you said hell no to just going out there.” I tipped my head toward the ice. “But now…”

His smile was the most amazing thing in the world. “That was then.” He touched my face. “Now I want everyone to know I’m in love with you.”

Holy shit. He was going to make me break down sobbing right here.

I held it together, though, and I kissed him one more time just before the arena staff herded us out of the tunnel and to an elevator. It took us up to the level where we could get to our seats. We didn’t have far to go, but it took us ages to get to where Nolan’s parents were sitting with Matt and Sophia. Every couple of feet, we were stopped by people who wanted to say thanks for our service, but also to congratulate us and tell us we made an adorable couple. I must’ve looked like an idiot, smiling that big.

It didn’t stop when we got to our seats. A camera found us a second before Nolan’s parents did, and the whole arena got a good look at my soon-to-be-in-laws congratulating us before we settled into our seats. We’d barely sat down before there was a chorus of “Aww.”

Nolan looked up, then he laughed and facepalmed.

I followed the trajectory of his gaze, and… dear God. They had us on the camera with an animated heart around us. We both laughed and shook our heads, and when Nolan wrapped his arm around my shoulders and kissed my cheek, I thought the crowd would blow the roof off the place.

“Oh my God,” Nolan said, still chuckling.

“Right?” I paused. “And this arena has a Kiss Cam, doesn’t it?”

Nolan snorted. “Yep. It does.”

“Think we’ll end up on it?”

He and his family—ourfamily—just laughed.

And yep, we ended up on the Kiss Cam that night.

Twice.

The plan had been to watch the game, then go back to our hotel and celebrate being engaged.

Halfway back to the car, though, Carol’s cell phone had pinged, and she stopped dead, staring at the phone. The rest of us also halted, exchanging concerned glances in between watching her.

“Everything okay?” Matt asked.

“It’s…” She looked up, and she locked eyes with Nolan. “Your brother wants to see you. As soon as possible.”

---