“Never gonna happen.”
I laugh and wrap my arm around Mira when she snuggles into my side. “We’ll see, Byrne. We’ll see.”
MIRA
I can’t believe how much my life has changed in less than nine months. Who would have thought back in September, when I agreed to live with Griffin, that this is where we’d be in April? The guys just won their first postseason game, and I proposed to my husband in front of a room full of cameras and reporters.
Life is strange and beautiful.
Snuggled into the large corner booth with Griffin on my left and Isla on my right, I allow myself to get lost in the laughter and conversations. To think, I spent so many years of my adult life trying to separate myself from my big brother’s life and shadow, to make something for myself and prove I could do big things, too, and all I was doing was putting distance between myself and the people who love me. It’s never been a competition with Maddox, and if I felt like it was, it was all in my head.
Maybe our dad was a giant piece of shit who walked away, but my mom and my brother have always done everything they can to fill the space he left. I’ve been blessed to have blood family that loves and supports me. I hate thinking about the extra years I could have had with a found family who are just as supportive and loving.
“What are you thinking about?” Isla asks, giving my hand a squeeze. “You look a thousand miles away.”
As I scan the overflowing table full of massive men, a woman who is fast becoming one of my best friends, and one who is now my sister, I smile. “Thinking about family. And how lucky we are to have one this big and amazing. Even if the guys do make everything smell like sweat and hockey funk.”
Isla laughs, the sound bright and comforting. “The smell can be awful, but they more than make up for it, don’t they?”
I watch as Ryder hugs Lexi to his side and they both laugh at something Sebastian says. Logan shakes his head at them, but it’s affectionate and familiar. My brother and my husband are cracking up with a couple of other guys from the team, and Griffin’s laughter vibrates through me where he holds me to his side.
Jared isolated me. I let him, but he did. By the time I left Chicago, I didn’t have any friends left who would rally around me, celebrate when I had a win, or show up when things were falling apart. On paper, he’d been perfect. Everything I waslooking for. In reality, he was just another guy content to take and take until there was nothing left.
Griffin pulled me right into the center of his circle like it was the most natural thing in the world. He’s given me so much more than he’s taken, and even though he seemed like the opposite of what I should want, he’s everything I needed. He’s become my safe haven, my home, and my biggest supporter.
“They really do,” I finally say to Isla. “They’re the best men I know.”
“Who’s the best man you know?” Griffin asks, breaking away from his conversation with Maddox.
I snuggle into his side and let my hand drop to his leg, teasing my fingers up the muscles along the inside of his thigh. “You.”
Griffin’s hand on my hip tightens, the pads of his fingers biting into my flesh. “Sunshine…”
His tone holds a warning, but to me, it sounds like a promise. Isla giggles and I give her a wink.
“Yes, husband?”
“You’re playing with fire.”
I trail my fingers higher, pleased as fucking punch when his dick hardens and strains against his suit pants. “Am I?”
He stands when I let my fingers just barely graze the head of his cock, bumping the table and making all eyes turn his way. Clearing his throat, he grabs my hand and hauls me to my feet, then says, “Well, it’s been fun. I can’t wait to celebrate our next win, but my wife is tired, so I’m going to take her home.”
“I’m not tired,” I say sweetly.
Everyone laughs and Lexi shouts, “Get it, girl!”
Griffin shrugs. “You will be when I’m done with you.” Then he bends down, wraps his hand beneath my ass, presses his shoulder into my stomach, and lifts me over his shoulder like a caveman right there at the booth. He salutes our laughing friends with his free hand.
“See you guys tomorrow.”
For the second time tonight, he carries me out to the sound of cheers and laughter.
fifty-two
GRIFFIN
I breakat least four traffic laws on the way home. Honestly, I’m not even remotely sorry.
