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Her grin falters, only a bit, as her eyes shine for me. “I didn’t know that.”
“I do,” I say, rubbing her injured hand with my thumb but never breaking eye contact. “When I’m not reassuring you with words, I will make love to you. And when you need more, I’ll give you whatever you need. I want to love you through all our accidents, good and bad.”
“Ciaran,” she breathes just as a tear escapes down my cheek. She wipes it quickly, her eyes a deep bluish-green, shining with love. “I want all that. I do. Only with you.”
I feel like I can’t breathe; I’m lost in her eyes. Lost in the love she has only for me. I wish I had prepared better, but how was I supposed to know she’d get hit by a truck and I’d be asking for her love for the rest of my life? “I don’t have a ring.”
“You don’t need one.”
Inside my chest, my heart skids to a halt for her, and my breathing stops as I stay trapped in her beautiful gaze. “I love you, Lou.”
“I love you,” she promises, and I kiss her again, needing to feel her lips. Needing her to encourage me that this is really what she wants. That she wants me. That she’ll always want me.
As we part, our eyes lock, and I let out a heavy sigh. A small, shy smile forms on my lips, but when she smiles, I feel like I’m on top of the world. “Give me your future, Lou. Let me help shape it into something our kids, grandkids, and beyond will speak of. Something they’ll be as proud of as I know we will be. Be at every one of my games you can make it to. Let me put away books with you. Let’s make the big plans, because I want nothing more than to make a life with you. You are the heroine in my story, Lou. Let me love you like your favorite book boyfriend.” Tears stream down her cheeks, and I go to wipe them away, but then I notice something in her hair. I reach for the straw paper that’s stuck in her strands. I lift her left hand, wrapping the paper around her ring finger and then twisting the ends so it’s a makeshift—yes, also cheap and maybe a bit tacky—ring, but when I look up at her, she’s beaming just for me. Her eyes ease my guilt over not having a ring, and then the words leave my mouth just as quickly as I get the puck off my blade. “Will you marry me, Louisa?”
Her breath catches, but she recovers, cupping my hand with the one I just put a paper ring on. “Yes, because loving you endlessly is my big plan anyway. I was just hoping you’d be on board.”
“I am.”
“Good, then kiss me.”
And I do, deeply, as all the love in my soul pours into the kiss, just for her.
For this girl who owns my heart.
When she pulls back, her eyes flutter open and our lips still linger close to each other. I kiss her top lip, then she kisses my nose, and I look deep into her eyes, loving what I see with every bit of my being.
My future.
EPILOGUE
Louisa
The crowd is electric as I sit in my seat on the glass wearing my number four Knoxville Bears jersey. My sisters all sit up in Dimitri’s box, but I wanted Ciaran to see me when he hit the ice. I wanted him to know I’m here and that I’m so proud of him. It was hell getting me down here since my ankle is still a shitshow. I had some complications from surgery that no one knew about, and because of that, my ankle scooter has become my new best friend. I should have gone to the suite, but like I told the girls, Ciaran needs to see me.
I spin my engagement ring around my ring finger with nerves. Ciaran and Eliza had surprised me by taking the paper ring that Ciaran had made me all those months ago in the hospital and setting it in resin to keep it forever. I love it, and I don’t want anything else, much to his dismay. He wants me to have something flashy, a huge diamond, but I want no such thing.
I want our paper ring that he proposed with.
I want his love.
And I know it’s all mine.
Everyone around me wears Assassins jerseys, but Ciaran isn’t on the team yet. After my accident, he was sent back to the Bears for more development. I was devastated and guilt-ridden, but he promised me it was all good. He said as long as I was okay, everything else would play out how it was supposed to. He believes it was fate since someone has had to carry me around the shop and up to our apartment.
He is the book boyfriend authors write about.
It took time for me to accept that he had lost his chance because of me. Though, he claims there was no choice to make. Whenever I get in my feelings, he reminds me that he’d make the same decision over and over.
And each time he says it, I swoon.
I don’t know how I got so lucky, but thank God for pomegranate-orange muffins and hot hockey players with sinfully filthy mouths.
The horn sounds for the players to hit the ice, and I struggle to my feet. I lean on my good leg, patting the glass with my palms as I wait for him to come out. Ciaran was right when he said he’d make it back to the Nashville Assassins. It only took fifty-nine goals in forty-one games, but he proved himself, and here we are.
Me cheering, and him living the dream he’s worked for.
Just how I love us.
