His smile widened. “Hi, Star.”
Her hand whipped through the air so quickly I heard the slap before I saw it, but miraculously it didn’t dislodge the smirk. In fact, it only increased it, especially when he rubbed his hand over his newly reddening cheek.
“I’ve been waiting fourteen years to do that,” Marnie snarled.
A firm tug on my hand stopped me from gawking at what was unravelling, or happening, because Jupiter and Marnie were back in their standoff.
“Penn, come on,” hissed Lowe.
If Jupiter hadn’t had to move out of the way to let us get through the door, I doubted he’d even noticed we’d left.
“We’ll leave you both to it,” I mumbled, closing the door behind me, and then I turned to Lowe. “I hope they don’t end up fucking in there.”
“Not like we haven’t,” she shrugged.
“Yes, exactly! Yours is the only naked ass that belongs in my office; that should everbein my office.”
Lowe turned to me, putting her hand over my mouth to shut me up. “Penn, you did it. You built a team to beat The Yankees.”
I shook myself out my thoughts and looked at her. Calm enveloped me. Cupping my hands on either side of her face, I took a deep breath.
“You meanwedid. There’s no way I could have done it without you by my side. I’m so fucking lucky, Lowe.” I rubbed my thumb across her cheek. “Today, yesterday, tomorrow... This feeling will never go away. I have everything I’ve ever wanted, including you, andbecauseof you. I will never be able to articulate how much I love you, but I’ll make sure that I spend the rest of my life trying to show you.”
She ran her arms round my neck; the two of us standing in my hallway like love-struck teenagers.
“I love you, too. I never imagined I’d ever be this happy, or that you were right in front of me the whole time, and now I get to spend my life with you.” She brushed her lips against mine. “Okay, come on. Let’s go and find the others. We have a win to celebrate.”
“Yeah, we fucking do.” I stole a quick kiss, then took her hand in mine and kissed it too.
We headed back to the suite, back to our family and best friends.
Together.
Lowe’s hand in mine, my ring on her finger.
Where it was going to stay for the rest of our lives.
- THE END -
PROLOGUE
I’m not prone to smiling, though you wouldn’t know it from the way my reflection was grinning back at me like I’d just escaped from a 1950s asylum.
Even with my beard thicker than usual, I could still see the redness of my cheek through the whiskers; unsurprising given it was still stinging slightly. In fact, I could almost make out the form of her handprint.
Marnie Matthews had certainly put some force behind that slap.
So why am I beaming from ear to ear, you ask? Because she’shere. In New York. And for the first time since I walked away, since I left her standing there with tears streaming down her face while my own heart was lying bleeding on the porch in front of her, I felt hope that I mightfinallybe able to redeem myself.
That I mightactuallybe able to win her back.
That she would be mine again.
Because if she didn’t care about me, she wouldn’t have moved two thousand miles – or however fucking far it is from Houston to New York – and come to work for my new club.
And if she didn’t care about me, she wouldn’t have packed a punch harder than Anthony Joshua. No, that blow had emotion behind it. Power behind it. And as long as there was a shred, a sliver, the tiniest fragment of feeling, then I still had a chance.
How had I got to this point? The one where I’d traded everything I’d known, at a place I’d spent my entire professional career, so I could come to New York and play for the worst club in the major leagues?
