“I want to do it in my own time,” I explain. “When I’m ready. Not because tradition demands it.” I look over at Jayce again and smile. He gives me a wink. “When Jayce turns thirty-five and takes over Parker Global, we’ll merge the companies and havetwo headquarters. One in New York and one in Colorado. Until then… I belong in Colorado.”
Dad studies me for a long moment. Then he smiles. It’s not the professional, contained smile he usually gives. It’s a real, bright smile, and it’s focused entirely on me.
“And the Romero deal?” he asks.
“I’m going to use it to open my own Holloway branch right here in Colorado,” I say, chin raised. “I want to build something that’s mine.”
My mom’s smile trembles, and happy tears roll down her cheeks.
“You’re ready.” She sniffles. “You can do it.”
“Agreed,” Dad nods. “It’s a great idea, Sutt.”
Suddenly, Jayce’s arms wrap around my middle and he hugs me from behind, pressing a kiss to the top of my head.
“And I’ll be right by your side through it all,” he murmurs in my ear.
I lean back into him, soaking in his warmth while my parents look on us with pride. I’ve never felt so at ease before. So calm, happy, loved…and at peace. Both with my past and my future.
And it’s all thanks to the man at my back, holding me tight, who I know will never let me go.
EPILOGUE: HAPPILY EVER AFTER
JAYCE
The noise crashesover me the second the final horn blares. Red lights glow behind the net, and the scoreboard confirms what my body already knows. We did it. Again.
My chest is heaving, sweat running down my spine, legs burning from the last shift where I left everything on the ice. Zander slams into me from the side, yelling incoherently, and I laugh because there are no words big enough for this feeling anyway.
I look up, scanning the stands, and I find her immediately.
Sutton is on her feet, hands clasped to her mouth, eyes bright and wet, smiling like this win belongs to her too. In a way, it does. My throat tightens hard. The first Cup was everything I’d dreamed of as a kid, but this… this one feels different.
More significant, like the culmination of everything that’s happened the past few months has just been leading to this moment.
“Cap!” Wilder shouts.
Jensen skates up beside me, breathless, eyes wild with the same disbelief and joy roaring through my veins. The Cup is carried out, gleaming under the arena lights.
We take our places at center ice as a team, gathering around the Cup with Jensen in the middle. He turns to me and jerks his head, bidding me forward to join him in lifting the giant trophy. When my hands close around the silver, it’s cold and solid. Jensen meets my eyes and we lift it together.
The arena explodes.
I throw my head back, the roar of the crowd pouring straight into my chest, and for a split second I let myself just live in the moment, knowing Sutton is watching from the stands, supporting me and cheering my name.
I look for her again and she’s beaming. The look on her face tells me she understands how much this means to me. That hockey was never something I was willing to sacrifice, and I didn’t have to.
This victory isn’t just about winning, but about staying true to myself and what I want.
As confetti rains down and my teammates crash into me, laughing and shouting, I know, without question, that this Cup means even more than the first.
The week following our second Cup victory flies by in a blur as I go from one incredible high right into another.
The scent of flowers fills the air as I stand at the bottom step of the gazebo in the middle of the lush garden surrounding me. The June air is warm, late-summer sunlight spilling across the gardens of the private estate Sutton chose for the ceremony just outside the city. She liked the vineyard I’d found, but she fell in love with this place the moment she saw it. Rolling green lawnsspread out around us, towering oak trees cast wide patches of shade, and flower beds burst with color in every direction.
The gazebo sits at the center of the garden, white lattice wrapped with climbing roses and pale blue hydrangeas woven through the railing. Soft strands of lights are threaded through the beams above, ready to glow once the sun dips lower.
The scent of fresh flowers hangs thick in the air. It’s quiet and peaceful. Exactly the opposite of the massive, over-the-top society wedding both of our families imagined we’d eventually have.
