Page 134 of Puck Yes

“I am.”

Stefan pauses to linger his gaze on me. “And you look absolutely stunning, sweetheart.”

“I don’t know how we’ll last all night at the gala,” Hayes adds in a gravelly rasp, his eyes not leaving my body.

They look like they’re about to upend all of our plans this evening and take me here on this couch instead.

“Just think of tonight like foreplay,” I suggest. I’m helpful like that.

“Fair enough.” Stefan sets down his glass and gestures to the door. “Should we go?”

Not so fast. We have a surprise for him.

I turn to Hayes, anticipation bubbling up in me. I give him a quick nod, and he crosses to the U-shaped couch. Roxy’s sitting on the floor next to me. “Actually, Ivy and I have an early Christmas gift for you,” Hayes says as I scoop up the dog and set her on the couch.

Stefan furrows his brow, but amusement coasts across his lips. “Is that so?”

Hayes and I taught Roxy a new trick. He reaches into the pocket of his pants and takes out one, new Christmas sock with illustrations of presents on it. It’s weighted down in the toe.

He gives it to me. I dangle the sock before the dog. “Roxy, give the sock to Stefan,” I say.

She takes it.

Stefan startles. His expression grows more curious as Roxy trots across the cushions to him, the sock in her mouth.

I’m bursting with excitement, giddy before he can even open it. I meet Stefan’s eyes. “I love you both so much, and I don’t want a husband and a boyfriend. I want both of you as my partners.”

Stefan’s eyes glimmer with wild hope. My marriage to Hayes was a legality, born from a late-night dare that had me married to one man while I fell equally for two.

With us all living together now and sharing our lives, I don’t want the distinction anymore. Hayes doesn’t either. Distinctions might exist in the eye of the law, but we can make our rules for our world.

“Hayes and I got new rings. Three of them. They match,” I say, my voice trembling with emotion.

Stefan parts his lips, but he can barely speak. “I…wow…I’m…”

“Open it,” I say.

Stefan reaches into the sock, takes out the box, and opens it. When he sees three gorgeous, matching platinum bands, his eyes glisten. But he’s stoic—a hockey player after all. He swipes his cheek like there was simply dirt in his eye.

“Let’s do this,” Hayes says to his friend, intensely serious.

Stefan stares at the rings for a long, weighty beat then says, “Yes.”

Like if he said more, all the tears would fall.

He takes out the bands and turns one over, then the other, then the third. Studies each inscription on the inside. They’re all the same.

Home.

He looks up at us, his eyes full of love. He stands and holds out his hand to me. With reverence, I slide the band on his ring finger. Then I hold up my hand for him to see I’m no longer wearing my gold ring from Las Vegas. Hayes does the same. His finger is bare.

I slide another band onto Hayes’s finger.

Then they take the last one and together, they slide it onto mine.

A little later, we walk into the gala, three of a kind.

* * *

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