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“You told him we’d… fine. The arcade. But then this ass is mine.” He palmed my butt before pushing off on his skates and whizzing down the ice.
My smile was so wide my cheeks hurt. But this was family. Mason, Scottie, and their mom. The way they laughed and loved together. And now I was a part of that.
“Harper is on my team,” Scottie announced the second I reached them.
“Hang on a minute,” Mason said. “That’s not really fair. Harper’s good.”
“But she’s a girl.” Scottie frowned.
“Girls can play hockey. Some can even play better than boys.” My eyes flicked to Mason, and he arched a brow.
“Is that so, blondie?”
“Guess we’ll find out. Ready, buddy?” I asked Scottie, who nodded eagerly. “Okay, so in a second, you drop the puck in the middle.” I faced off against Mason.
“You’re going down, blondie.”
“Fighting talk for a guy who’s about to get his ass handed to him.”
Mason smirked. “Bring it on.”
“Don’t you hurt her, Mason brother,” Scottie chimed, and I fought a smile.
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Mason mumbled.
“Good. Because she won’t marry you if you hurt her, and then she won’t be my sister.”
Mason looked alarmed for a second, but then his eyes softened. “Yeah, bud. You’re right. I promise to be careful with her.” His eyes locked on mine, his gaze like a warm caress as he mouthed, “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” I mouthed back. Aware that we had a small audience but not caring one bit.
“I love you three,” Scottie shouted, flapping his hands with excitement, and Mason exploded with laughter, lunging for his brother and ruffling his hair.
This was family.
This was everything I’d ever wanted.
And I was going to hold onto it for as long as I could.
EPILOGUE
MASON
“We made you sugar cookies,”Scottie announced the second I stepped into the kitchen.
“I thought something smelled good.” I ruffled my brother’s hair before squeezing Harper’s shoulder and peering over her shoulder. “What are they supposed to be?”
“Hockey stick candy canes.” He pointed to half of the oddly shaped cookies. “And these are goalie Santas, obviously.”
“Obviously.” I stifled a laugh.
“Hey, don’t mock the cookies.” Harper twisted around to look me in the eye. “We worked hard on these.”
“We made a gluten-free batch, too. So Harper won’t get the cross-tamination.”
“Good thinking, bud. Can I borrow you for a second?” I asked Harper, and she nodded.
“Keep piping the icing like I showed you,” she instructed Scottie.
