EPILOGUE
WAR
Hell,nerves weren’t helping this situation.
I stopped my endless pacing near the glass wall and stared out at the yachts moored in the bay, their lights twinkling like a chain of stars disappearing into the distance.
Hockey season hadn’t started off well with close calls for the first two games, but it sure as hell ended in a helluva bang, turning out to be our best season ever. With me being captain of the Cheetahs now, it wasn’t gonna go any other way. But tonight, I was playing for the biggest win of my life. I inhaled sharply at the thought.
Being on tenterhooks was eroding my calm.
I slid my hand into my pants pocket, wrapping my fingers around the little box there. I’d had it with me for the last five months. My heart did a crazy flip. Hell, it always did when it came to a certain brown-eyed beauty I fell for so hopelessly from the get-go.
Unfortunately, what I’d overheard at Charli’s mother’s house still lingered between us, even two years later. No matter how much I pointed out she was nothing like her prenup mother, she just shrugged it off and stuck to her guns about not being interested in a formal commitment.
But I wanted more. With her.
And with all the cues I’d picked up, she appeared to have finally come around.
Surprisingly, she hadn’t found what I’d done nearly two years ago to make it official. And because I loved that woman, and she was it for me, I couldn’t wait any longer.
I glanced back at the corridor.
What was keeping her?
CHARLI
“Blue, you ready?” War called out again.
“Almost!” I yelled back, slipping on my heels, while wondering what to do with my hair.
“You said that five minutes ago.”
“Stop watching the clock!”
“You know we’re running late, right?”
“We’re allowed to,” I grumbled.
He walked into the bedroom, and my heart skipped a beat. Even two years later, he still could do that to me.
Dressed casually in black dress pants and a gray shirt, he leaned a shoulder against the jamb and cocked an eyebrow. His hair was overgrown once more, falling onto his brow.
Two years ago, after filming the shampoo commercial, and the required months not to touch his hair had passed, he had it cut. But during the season, no scissors came close to his mane at all. Players and their quaint superstitions. I would have rolled my eyes, but then he would ask why, and since I couldn’t lie with a straight face, he’d come after me, and we’d end up in bed.
“Might I ask what is taking so long?”
“No, you might not.” I rolled my eyes, finally giving up and pinning my rioting curly hair into a messy bun. So much for looking sleek and elegant. “How are you not tired?” I demanded, running my gaze over him. “We just returned from New York, and you’ve been on the road, playing since mid-September. All I want to do, now that the season’s over, is crawl onto the couch, watch Netflix, and veg out for the next couple of weeks.”
“You can hibernate tomorrow. But tonight, we’re meeting with our friends at the bar after months away. Don’t you want to see Ila and Ray?”
“God, yes!”
He chuckled. I smoothed my hands over my retro black and gray fitted check dress, picked up my red evening bag, which matched my heels, and glided over to him. “Now, I’m ready.”
He drew me into his arms and tucked a curly lock of hair behind my ears. “Do you truly hate all this?”
I sighed. “It’s just me being grumpy from exhaustion and wanting to sleep in our bed. But you, I love with all my heart.”
