Page 381 of Faking the Goal

Not his tiny little smile.

Not his smug asshole smile.

A huge, disbelieving, completely uninhibited grin that transforms his entire face.

My eyes immediately fill all over again.

"Oh my God," I whisper.

Beside me, Miho is openly sobbing.

"My brother is a national champion!"

"I KNOW!"

"And he got a shutout!"

"I KNOW!"

"And he's still ugly!"

I whip toward her. "Take that back immediately."

She bursts out laughing through her tears.

On the ice, Liam and Luke apparently decide normal congratulations aren't sufficient because the twins flank Kentaro and grab him around the waist.

Kentaro immediately looks suspicious.

I know that expression.

Don't you fucking dare.

They fucking dare.

With Elijah and Zach enthusiastically encouraging this terrible decision, the twins haul Kentaro off the ice just enough that his skates leave the surface.

I nearly drop my camera laughing.

Kentaro starts shouting something I can't hear over the crowd while his teammates lose their fucking minds, and for several glorious seconds, the number-one goalie in college hockey is being awkwardly hoisted around in thirty pounds of equipment like an extremely large, furious trophy.

"LOOK AT HIS FACE!" Miho shrieks.

"I'M TAKING PICTURES!"

"HE'S GOING TO KILL THEM!"

"I'M TAKING MORE PICTURES!"

And I do.

I take every single one.

Kentaro being crushed in Cody's hug. Zach is smacking kisses against the side of his sweaty head just to piss him off. The twins dragging him into another pile. His teammates tapping his helmet as they skate past. Kentaro laughing so hard at something that his head drops forward.

Every ridiculous, beautiful second of it.

Because beneath all my laughter, something enormous is swelling inside me until I feel like I can barely contain it.