Page 193 of Hat Trick

“I hope she gets Emmy’s looks. Maverick’s nose is weird,” I joke.

Her laugh is soft, and she keeps the photos moving down the line. When her hands are free, she touches my cheek and meets my gaze. “Have I told you today how much I love you?”

She has. Once this morning when I handed over a cup of coffee while she was still in bed. Again this afternoon when I woke her up from a nap. When we hopped in the car on our way here, the three words slipping out of her like she’s been saying them to me for years.

I’m still giddy every time I hear them. I have to pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming, because a year ago, I would’ve laughed in someone’s face if they told me this is how things worked out.

“I’m not sure you did. Could I hear it again?” I ask, and she smiles when she kisses me.

“I love you,” Lexi murmurs. “So very much, Riley.”

“I love you too, Lexi baby.” I move my mouth to her forehead and kiss her there too. “Today’s been a pretty good day, huh?”

“No.” Her arms wrap around my waist, steady and safe.Home. “It’s been the best day.”

EPILOGUE

RILEY

Eight months later

“How are you feeling?”

I look up from lacing my skates and smile at Lexi standing in the entrance to the Comets’ locker room.

“You’re not supposed to be in here.” I sit up straight. I open my arms and sigh in relief when she marches toward me and drops in my lap. “You’re a rule breaker, Armstrong.”

“Girlfriend privileges. And I cleared it with Coach Thompson,” she tells me, mentioning the AHL team’s head coach. “Plus, you know I haven’t followed the rules a day in my life.”

“You haven’t, and that’s why I love you.” I rest my chin on her shoulder and wrap my arms around her waist. “You asked how I’m feeling, and it’s embarrassing to admit I’m fucking terrified. I don’t know why. I’ve played in more important games than this. It’s the AHL, not game seven in a playoff series.”

After months of intense strength training, skating every morning and every night, and getting reacquainted with the ice, Marcus renegotiated my contract to become on loan as part of a minor league conditioning assignment. It lets me swing between the AHL and NHL—which I doubt I’ll see again—and tonight, I’m making my debut with our affiliate team.

I’ve scrimmaged with my new teammates. I’ve been going to practice. Lexi stays at the rink with me until midnight while I work on speed drills and shooting on an empty net, but none of it is as important as this.

“You’re going to be great.” She reaches for my helmet and gently sets it on my head. “You’ve worked so hard for this, Ri, and you’re already a winner in my eyes. You always will be, even if you never play again.”

“Promise not to laugh if I trip jumping over the boards?”

“I promise.”

“You can laugh if my leg becomes detached during the game though.”

The prosthetic blade she had designed for me has worked well up to this point with its state-of-the-art technology, but I’ve never tested it in an intense scenario like game play. There’s a chance I could run into issues if I get slammed into the boards too many times, and I don’t want the boys to be assessed a bench minor because I have to fix the technology that’s allowing me to skate.

Lexi laughs at that, and she buries her face in my jersey. “I’m sorry. I’m picturing the logistics of that, and I don’t know what I’d do if that happened.”

“It would be the funniest fucking thing. The meme accounts would have a field day.” I run my fingers up her spine and trace over the letters stretched across her shoulders. “Nice jersey, by the way.”

It’s my first time seeing her in it, and yeah. My friends are right. Seeing the woman you love rock your name on her back like she’s claiming you is hot as hell.

“I had to steal one from your closet because the merchandise store is sold out. The fight strap is annoying as hell. And it smells like death. Do you ever do laundry?”

“You should’ve worn some of my pants for the full effect.”

“Is that a scene you want to act out? Me in all your gear?”

I slip my hand under the front of her jersey and stroke my thumb across her stomach. She shivers under my touch, and I grin. “It might be. You’d have to keep still while I took every piece of equipment off of you. I’d go slow, Lex, just to torture you. To see how well you can behave.”

---