Page 83 of The Prince and the Puck
"Does he stay with you until halftime?" I asked as we headed inside.
Joey nodded. "Once we’re up in the WAGs suite, I’ll put him on his leash. He’s pretty well-behaved up there—usually." Together, Joey and I headed up to the suite where the WAGs generally gathered to watch the game. It was a much better view than where I’d sat previously, though part of me felt sad to be farther away from the action.
Wilma, for his part, was well-behaved. He waddled around, sniffing everything, climbing up on whatever he could reach, and making little snuffling noises that I found adorable. But soon, my attention was pulled to what was happening outside the glass. When the Wombats took the ice for warm-ups, my heart skipped a beat. Declan flew out onto the center of the ice, looking gleeful—like a child back on the playground for the first time infar too long. I couldn’t see his smile, not with the beard and the helmet and all the gear, but I felt his happiness.
The energy inside the arena was electric, the tension thick enough to cut with a skate blade. At the end, the Wombats and the Quill Boars were tied with less than a minute left on the clock, and every single player on the ice was moving like their life depended on it. My heart pounded as I gripped the railing in the WAGs suite, eyes locked on Declan as he streaked across the ice.
He was so fast! The puck shot out from a scramble near the boards, and Declan took off, intercepting it at center ice. The arena roared as he broke away, and ducked past two defenders, cutting toward the goal.
"Come on, come on," I whispered, barely aware of Joey and the others cheering beside me.
A Quill Boars defenseman closed in, trying to force Declan out, but he didn’t take the bait. Instead, he faked left, his skates carving a sharp arc into the ice before he snapped the puck backward—right onto Rock Stevens’s stick.
Rock blasted a shot at the net, but the goalie deflected it, and the puck rebounded—straight back to Declan. Without hesitation, he flicked his wrist, sending the puck over the goalie’s shoulder and tucking it into the top corner of the net.
The goal horn blared and the crowd exploded.
My breath left me in a rush, my heart soaring as I watched Declan throw both arms into the air, his teammates mobbing him in celebration.
Joey grabbed my arm, shaking me. "That was incredible!”
I was laughing, cheering, and maybe screaming his name as he turned toward the stands, pumping his fist. It was too far to see it, but I knew he was looking at me. I pumped my arms in the air and screamed his name.
This was his home. This was where he belonged.
And as I clutched the jersey he’d insisted I wear, the one that bore his true name, I knew—it was where I belonged, too. Coming back to Virginia had been the right thing. For both of us.
At the end of the night, I waited. The team gathered for the coach’s comments, cleaned up, and met with the press before I was finally able to give Declan the hug and kiss I’d been dying to give him.
“Wife,” he growled in my ear as he pulled me against his hard body.
“You were amazing,” I told him. We were about to leave the arena, hand in hand, when a gruff voice called out from behind us.
"Lizzy?" I turned to find Coach Merritt waiting, a strange look on his face.
"Yes, Coach?" The coach looked uncomfortable, shifting his weight and rubbing a hand across the back of his neck like he was afraid to say what was on his mind.
"I just wanted to say that I’m sorry for doubting the importance of the PR work you were doing here."
"No, Coach, that was… It wasn’t like I knew what I was doing." Coach had been filled in on everything—from Declan’s true identity to the reason I had been here in the first place.
"I know that. But it doesn’t mean you didn’t do a good job. And I wonder, if you’re gonna be around anyway, if you might consider taking an official PR position with the team." I looked between the coach and Declan, who was grinning.
I wondered if it would be a bad idea—too much proximity? But there was nothing I wanted more than to be near Declan and the found family I had made with the Wombats.
"I would like that—if you and Declan don’t feel like it would be too much. Also, if you don’t mind that I actually have no formal public relations training whatsoever."
"Well, I just figured that meant we could get you for a steal," Coach said with a smile. Given that I was now a princess and money was not my concern, he was probably right.
I looked at Declan, not wanting to accept without his input, but my heart was jumping inside me. “What do you think?” I asked him.
"That sounds great," Declan said. "But no pressure. If you want to do something else—something unrelated to the Wombats—I totally support it."
"Who in their right mind would turn down time with wombats?" I asked.
And as Declan and I left the arena, I knew it was true.
Wombats really were the best.
