Page 104 of Overtime Goal
I laughed, shaking my head. “I’m sure you’re right. The guy I love is so young, he keeps me going all night.”
“Please. You’re not that old, gramps.”
I lunged forward and dug my fingers into his ribs. “Don’t call me ‘gramps’ again. I’m notthatmuch older than you.”
He caught my wrists, still laughing, before schooling his face into mock seriousness. “Old enough. You’re the one talking about how I keep you going all night. And I have to say, you do pretty damn good for a man your age. Nobody could fuck me better.”
“Because you set me on fire every time you look at me.” I couldn’t keep joking right then because I felt too much. “The sex is phenomenal, but it’s who you are that does it for me.”
Our gazes locked, and he said, “I never want to let this go. I love you, and I’ll do anything to make this work.”
“Itisworking. And I’m right there with you, exactly what you said.”
“Is love like hockey? You have to want it enough to work your ass off every day?”
Nodding, I said, “I think that’s a pretty good analogy. Loving you isn’t hard, but all relationships need attention. As long as we remember that, we’ll be fine.”
He traced a finger over my lips. “Nobody’s ever had my attention like you do.”
My breath caught. It was a moment before I could whisper, “Did you feel that? When you touched my mouth, I shivered. That’s how much I love you, and I’ll never stop.”
His grin tilted, more mischief sparking in his eyes. “We’re lucky, Blue Eyes. And if you’re ready, we’re about to get even luckier.”
“Mm. If you mean bedtime, I’m all in.”
He stood, helped me up, and twined our fingers together. “Definitelybedtime. Let’s go.”
We walked down the hall side by side, and the wonder hit me all over again. Ade was mine. My boyfriend, my love, my every dream come true. To paraphrase Walt Whitman, “We were together. I forget the rest.” The line was now my truth.
epilogue
RILEY
Two Years Later
Holy shit.I was really doing it. It was hard to believe things had come this far, that the day had finally arrived when I had to talk to him.
It wasn’t that I didn’t want to do it. Everything changed, sooner or later, and that included Logan and me. After two years of trying our hardest to make things work, we’d come to a crossroads. To be honest, I’d been waiting for him to say something, but he hadn’t. Now, as hard as it might be, it was up to me to do what was best for both of us.
Hewouldthink it was best, right? The signs had been there for at least a year, and deep down, he had to know it. He was twelve years older than me, and the coming season would be his last. Going into retirement meant he shouldn’t waste any more time. Neither should I, honestly. At twenty-six, I should be getting on with things.
Thinking about it made my heart go nuts. It hammered like a warped drum solo on fast-forward. If I didn’t get this handledwith Logan, the damn thing might implode. Great. Death by feelings.
Gabe and Brody’s driveway came up just in time. I swung in like a Formula 1 reject and screeched to a halt, at least by suburban standards. Really, I parked. I was still trying to catch my breath when someone knocked on the window. I rolled it down. “Hi, Gabe.”
“Riley.” He gave me an amused, good-natured smile. “Everything okay? You look like you’re ready to pass out.”
“Kind of feels that way. I was thinking things through.”
“What you’re going to do, you mean?”
I reached up to tug at my shirt collar, only to find it was wide open. So, I blew out a hard breath and broke into one of those stupid grins that looks like you can’t decide whether to laugh or cry. “Yeah. You’d have thought I was psyching myself up to dump him.”
Gabe reached through the window and put a hand on my arm. “It’s okay, buddy, but try to calm down. I’ve been there, and believe me, you’ll live.”
I grabbed onto his hand like a lifeline. “Really? Because it’s hard to believe I’m about to do the craziest, scariest, most incredible thing of my life and ask Logan to marry me. Fuck, do you think he’ll say yes?”
As his smile grew into a grin, Gabe slowly shook his head. “You poor bastard. I’d say the chances are 99.9 percent. About the only way he’d say no is if he has a mental breakdown between now and tonight.”
