“You were my light when I thought I would be surrounded by dark for the rest of my life. You wouldn’t let that happen. You guaranteed me that we’d be fine, that we’d get our miracle, and we have,” she whispers, pressing her hands to her stomach. “I love you. I love you so much, sometimes I can’t believe it is true. But here we are, in front of the people who love us, care for us, and support us, and they believe it. Forever and a day, I will always love you.”
I didn’t even wait for the minister to tell me to kiss her; I did it out of turn. Fuck tradition. I need her lips at this moment, and I don’t regret anything.
I run my hand up her thighs, pressing them back as I start to thrust into her, our eyes unwavering. It doesn’t take long for me to be overtaken by passion, and when I come, I do it with my whole body and soul. She has me under a spell I refuse to recover from. I love it. I rock into her as she slides her hands up and down my arms, her eyes shut as she sucks in deep breaths over and over again. I fall to the side, holding her in the crook of my arm as our lips meet. Her hair has fallen out of her bun, and I push it out of the way as I kiss her face, her nose, her cheeks, her lips, and her chin. When I press my nose to hers, she searches my eyes with hers, and I sigh softly.
“I love you.”
“I love you,” she whispers, stroking her fingers through my beard. “I need you to know something.”
Gone is the sex kitten, replaced by seriousness. It almost scares me. “Okay…?”
“I know your mom wasn’t there today, and I want you to know that I hurt for you. I am mad she wasn’t there, but Boon, you will never ever be alone. No matter what, you have me in your corner. No matter what you are up against. No matter how alone you feel. I will be there.” Her eyes are misty as she presses her hand to my chest. “Right here. You understand me?”
I cup her face. “I had the only person I cared to have at my wedding, and that was you.”
Her lips tilt. “No regrets?”
“None in sight. You’re it, Posey. I only need you.”
“Same,” she whispers, and we share a smile. I thought there were so many moments from today that could never be topped, but this is Posey. She keeps surprising me at every turn. When she presses her nose into mine, I move my hand to the back of her head, pulling her in so her lips meet mine. Our kiss is urgent, full of passion, and I don’t know how in this life of mine I deserve this woman, but she is mine.
And always will be.
Chapter Ten
Posey
As wonderful, perfect, and the best day of my life as our wedding day was, it’s now a thing of the past.
I pinch the bridge of my nose as I lie in bed with Boon beside me, sleeping soundly, while I’m watching our gameplay. Boon is very much a dump-and-go kind of guy. He doesn’t dwell on games, and I applaud that. I haven’t learned how to do that. Instead, I obsess and dissect until I figure out a way to win. The IceCats have won three straight. They are murdering us. We have only scored one goal, and yes, they’ve only beat us by one each game, but it’s still killing me. We could win all these games, but Nico Merryweather is on. Their team is crisp, disciplined, and I guess they want it more. I don’t know. One thing I do know, though, is we are now in panic mode. And if we don’t win tonight, put a fork in us—we’re done.
I make notes on the screen with my pen to show Jakob in a couple hours. I should be taking a shower, getting ready, since I have to meet the coaches downstairs and head to the arena. I hate hotels, but being able to share with Boon now has been great. It’s calmed some of my anxieties, but not much since we are down three games and on the brink of elimination. I bite the end of my pen as I rewatch the play, trying to come up with some way to make a change, but I don’t understand how they are outplaying us. I may be biased, but I feel we’re better.
When I let out a sound of distress, Boon lifts his head and looks at me. “You good?”
“Fine,” I say, waving him off. “Sorry. Go back to sleep.”
He reaches for his phone and groans. “Did you even sleep, Posey?”
No. “Yeah. I just woke up early.”
He drops his phone back on the nightstand before setting me with a look. “Funny since when I fell asleep, you were on the tablet. And now that I’m awake, you’re back on it.”
I shrug. “There were a lot of hours in there for me to sleep. I don’t know what you’re implying.”
He gawks at me with one eye since he’s rubbing his other. “That you’ve been on your tablet all night, obsessing over something that can’t be changed until today.”
“I have to prepare. We have meetings and then morning skate.”
He drops his hand, now glaring at me. “And you need sleep. You sure as shit don’t need all this stress, so maybe quit.”
I glare back. “Boon, this is my job.”
“Mine too. And I get it. I do. But the difference is you’re carrying our baby. Take care of yourself.”
I narrow my eyes. “So, because I’m a woman, I can’t work like a man would?”
His whole face scrunches up. “I’m not saying that at all.”
“Sure does seem that way,” I snap as I save the notes I’ve made.
“I don’t care how you work as long as you take care of yourself and our baby.”
I shake my head. “I am taking care of myself.”
“No, you’re not. You aren’t sleeping, and you’re blaming yourself for the loss. It’s not you. It’s a team loss. It’s okay, we’ll figure it out.”
“Well, saying ‘It’s okay’ and ‘We’ll figure it out’ isn’t going to fix this. We have to find a plan to come back at them. Maybe if you worked the way I am, you could score.”
I kick off the blankets as he sits up. “Wow, please tell me how my scoring is lacking in your department!”
I get up, tossing my tablet on the end of the bed. “I’ve told you time and again, get in the fucking zone and stay sharp. You’re just throwing your body all over the place and not even scoring. You’ve had seven shots on goal, Boon! That’s nothing. You need to get your shit together, maybe worry a little more.”
I pull off my nightshirt, throwing it in my suitcase, as he yells, “I am doing my fucking best!”
He gets out of the bed, and I scoff as I grab a towel from the bathroom to wrap around myself. “Well, you need to find a better best because it’s not enough, just like mine is not enough.”
“Posey, what the fuck? We are only losing by one—”
“But we are still fucking losing!” I scream at him, glaring. “Don’t you see how important this is? Not only do I want to bring the Cup home for our team, our city, and our family, but it’s my coaching that will be scrutinized and talked about. I am the first female coach in the fucking NHL, and we are losing in the Cup final by three games. I look like a fucking loser.”
“Are you insane?” he yells back. “You took a team that was outside of a play-off berth, and you were a key factor in us getting where we are. You should be proud of yourself. I am! So, fucking relax.”