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Vaughn gives my hand a squeeze before letting it go. “I’m going to start the grill. O’Brian, want to give me a hand out here?”
“Yeah, man.” Then to me, he asks, “Your friend George coming over?”
I don’t have time to answer before Vaughn cuts in with a grumbled, “Jesus, Quinn, for the last time, she’s not into you.”
No. She's definitely not. And after what she told me, can't say I blame her.
Vaughn pulls me in, and the kiss he drops at my cheek has my heart doing flip-flops. It’s tender and sweet. Easy. Like it’s the most natural thing in the world. And I can’t believe this is what my life looks like.
A hand settles on my shoulder, solid and warm. Greg. “This what you want, Goon?”
I can’t help but smile at the decades-old nickname and the guy who wouldn’t let me shake it. “Yeah, this is what I want.”
“He still might get traded. You know how it works. The game always comes first.”
“Not always.” Not when it matters most. And that’s what I needed to know… what I never thought he or anyone would be able to convince me of.
“Yeah, guess not. I don’t know a lot of guys who would take that kind of pay cut or go through the shit he did to make this work. He says he loves you.” He’s looking at me like I’m about to take the car out for my first solo spin. “And I can see you love him.”
“I do,” I say, smiling into my beer.
He nods. Arms stacking higher across his chest, eyes going hard as he juts his chin toward Vaughn. “You want a ring?”
That beer wasn’t supposed to go into my lungs. After a few hacks, I gawk at my brother, but he’s already laughing, backing away with his hands up. “Gotcha. I’ll let you guys figure that out yourself.”
…And we do.
Six months later in Vancouver, in the hotel that started it all. I wake up in the very same bed I snuck out of almost two years before. Vaughn is lying beside me, a gorgeous sparkling ring pinched between his fingers and that sexy smile on his always-a-little-rough face.
He opens his mouth, but I cut him off with my kiss, and when we come up for air, that ring is on my finger and I say the most wonderful word ever spoken.
“Yes.”
* * *
