Page 190 of Hat Trick

“Come inside, sweetheart, so you can rest.”

I let him lead me into his apartment and over to the living room couch. He unties my sneakers and slips them off my feet. I don’t put up a fight when he arranges me in his lap and kisses my forehead, a sigh loosening its way from the depths of my soul.

Finally, I think.

“I’m sorry for trying to push you away,” I whisper. “You should do whatever is going to make you happy, no matter where that is. If that means going to Minnesota, I’ll support you. Maybe they have a job opening, or I can look into the PWHL team. Or we can do long distance and go back and forth every other weekend. I know I want to?—”

“I turned down the interview. I’m going to stay in DC,” he says, interrupting me, and I pull away so I can look at him. “If I want to coach or scout, I can do that in ten years. But I want to skate. Odds are I’ll never make another team. No one is going to want to take a chance on me. I’m a liability on the ice, and I’m not even sure my prosthetic is legal according to the rulebook, but I want to fucking try because I’ve come this far. And I want to try with you.”

“Are you sure? You’re always going to have your Stanley Cup rings and statistics. Scouting could be fun. It’s something new, and you’d be so good at it.”

“I’m sure. This is where I want to be. I’ve made DC my home, and I’m not ready to say goodbye yet.”

“I have to tell you something,” I say.

“Yeah? What’s that, Lexi baby?”

“It’s really important.”

“I can’t wait to hear.”

I wring my hands together, and he waits patiently for me to continue. He doesn’t rush me. He doesn’t try to guess what I’m going to say, but he knows, because his smile is widening. His eyes are crinkling in the corners, and I can’t keep it in anymore.

“I love you,” I whisper. “I love you so much, and I hope you still love me too.”

“I never stopped. And I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon.”

“I’m scared, and I need your help. You’re going to have to remind me to express my feelings. You’re going to have to tell me if I’m not showing you enough affection or if I’m too demanding by asking for space every once in a while. I might freak out about some things, like when you?—”

Riley cuts me off with a kiss. It’s searing,grounding. He puts everything he has behind it, and I meet him halfway, every feeling of elation I’ve had recently in the press of my mouth. In my hands roaming up his arms and across his shoulder and the soft sigh I let myself breathe out when he holds me tight to his chest.

“I love you, Lexi. And everything that comes with being with you,” he says, and I start to cry again. They’re the most beautiful, sure words I’ve ever heard. “You can be scared with me. I promise I’ll take care of you.”

I’ve been told a lot of promises throughout my life, and this is the first time I actually believe it. Rileywilltake care of me, and I’m the luckiest girl in the world because of it.

“RiRi?”

“Ah. We settled on that as a nickname?”

“Until I think of something else.”

“What is it, Lexi baby?”

“Today…” I sniff. I laugh and trace over the stars on his arm, every one just as perfect as the one before it. “Today has been a very, very good day.”

“The best I’ve had in a while,” he agrees. “Ever, I think.”

“Until tomorrow,” I say. “I think tomorrow is going to be just as nice.”

FIFTY-TWO

RILEY

I don’t knowhow Lexi does it, but I fall more in love with her every day. I walk into a room and she’s there, a book in her lap and a blanket wrapped around her shoulders, and it’s a lightning bolt to the chest. A flashing neon sign that saysthere’s the love of your life,and it’s true.

The boys made it to the Eastern conference finals after clawing back from a 0-2 deficit in the semifinals, and we’re having one last team dinner at Maverick and Emmy’s before we head to Miami to see if we can make it back to the Stanley Cup finals.

“You know they’re going to lose their minds when we go in there holding hands, right?” Lexi asks, peering up at me as we stand outside the door. “If there’s not a champagne shower, I’m going to be shocked.”

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