Page 148 of Dirty Pucker

My heart feels like it’s about to burst. I’ve never been this happy before.

I’m not the guy I was just a couple of months ago. And it’s all because of her.

As I go through warmups, I glance around the arena. At my teammates. At the fans.

The energy in this place is crazy. Already the fans are going nuts, cheering and screaming for us.

I stretch out my neck and roll out my shoulders. I’m ready to play my heart out for my team, for the fans.

A warm feeling courses through me. Even if we lose, I’ll remember this moment forever, when my team and the fans in the stands felt like home.

As I skate to center ice and get ready for the puck drop, a sense of calm hits me. No matter what happens, no matter if we win or lose, I’ll be okay.

I look off to the side and lock eyes with Ingrid. She blows me a kiss. Emotion soars through me. I still can’t believe I’m the lucky bastard who gets to wake up every day next to this goddess.

She’s my home. Forever.

Epilogue

Ingrid

3 months later

“Can I take off my blindfold now?” I ask Del, who’s in the driver’s seat of his car.

“Not yet.” I can tell he’s smiling, which makes me smile.

When I woke up this morning and saw him holding up a blindfold in bed, I was giddy. I thought we were about to try out a new kink. But then he told me to get dressed, he had a surprise for me.

I was thrilled. I love when my boyfriend surprises me.

For my birthday, he surprised me with a trip to Vegas. We stayed in the same hotel where we first hooked up, only this time he reserved a luxurious suite.

And when we moved in together last month, he surprised me by building a massive cubby in the pantry of our new place, designed specifically to hold my favorite time-of-the-month snacks. He always makes sure that it’s stocked full.

He always plans the sweetest, most thoughtful surprises. And I know this surprise will be amazing.

After a minute, the car eases to a halt. I hear him put the car into park and kill the engine.

“You can take off the blindfold now.”

I pull it off and see that we’re parked in front of our local humane society. I instantly gasp and squeal in excitement.

I turn to Del. “Really? We’re really doing it today?”

He flashes the widest smile I’ve ever seen him make. “We’re really doing it. We’re adopting a cat.”

I lunge forward and hug him. A low chuckle falls from his lips as he squeezes me tight.

We’ve been talking about adopting a cat for the past few months, but we decided to wait until we got settled in our new place.

We hop out of the car and make our way across the parking lot to the entrance.

As we walk, he holds my hand. When I look over at him, a small smile tugs at his mouth as he gazes ahead. Warmth pools in my chest at how happy he is.

It’s been a couple of months since the Bashers lost in the second round of the playoffs. They managed to beat Los Angeles and get through to the next round. But then they faced off with Boston in the next stage of the playoffs, who’s the second-best team in the country. The Bashers played their hearts out, but in the end, Boston beat them. It was a devastating loss. Del was sad about it for weeks.

I slink my arm around his. “I’m so happy you’re feeling up to doing this. Especially after the past few weeks,” I say softly.

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