Foster and Talon are missing when we walk into the house.
“Can I walk you to your door?” Cole asks.
I smile, “Of course.”
He takes my hand, and we walk up the stairs together until we reach my door, where he kisses me again. It’s meant to be quick, but we both push it farther.
I break my lips away, “Come in.”
He shakes his head, “Not tonight.”
And then his lips are on mine again, and he’s pulling me into his body. I grind myself on the hardness I feel, and we both groan.
“Are you sure?” I ask him huskily.
“No…Yes,” he says, not sounding convincing, but he pulls himself away and then walks back down the hall. I don’t know why he insists on this slow pace, but it might kill us both.
I sit in the high school ice arena stands where just last night I was sitting on the ice making out with one of my boyfriends. Months ago, I sat in this same arena and watched Talon’s father be honored while I dreaded a reunion with the three men who had broken my heart. My heart is still a little jagged, but those three men have worked daily to reassure me that we have found our happily ever after.
“Why are you smiling?” Cora asks from my lap.
I look into her sweet face, her brown eyes studying the goofy smile on my face. “Because I’m happy, baby.”
“Why?”
I tickle her side, “Because I’m here with my favorite person.”
Her giggles make my smile bigger. Life is so good right now, better than I could have ever imagined it could be. It might have taken years and a walk through hell, but I finally feel like I’m coming out the other side.
Tonight is Foster’s first home game as coach. The other guys couldn’t make it, so I’m joining Emma, Matt, and Cora. The three-year-old’s commentary of the game has been entertaining. She’s delighted that our team is winning, thanks to the goalie stopping all the pucks. She cheers for Foster every time our team scores a goal, no matter which player puts it in the net. She was particularly impressed when he was looking mad and arguing with one of the refs. I took a video to show him later. He’ll get a kick out of it.
The buzzer blares, signaling the end of the game. The Gladiators squeaked out a win by one goal in the last minute of the game. We stand up and cheer with the other fans before waiting for Foster in the lobby.
I let Cora get down to run around while we wait, and when Foster walks into the room, she makes a beeline for him.
“Foster,” she yells before throwing her arms around his legs. He looks at me in panic, making Emma and me snicker before he crouches down to her level.
She smiles up at him, “You won. Good job.”
She gives him a thumbs up, and he chuckles before giving her small body an awkward hug. Seeing this makes my ovaries twitch inside me as Cora runs back to her dad. Foster straightens up and walks over to me, pulling me into his arms and laying a short but effective kiss on my lips.
“I’ve always wanted to have you waiting for me in here and be the one to kiss you. I watched Cole do it so many times, and I wanted my turn.”
I wasn’t the only one reminiscing about this building.
“I never knew you felt that way about me,” I tell him.
“Because it would have killed me for you to know. You were always Cole’s, and I never stood a chance against him. He was the golden boy in every room he was in.”
“It’s so weird that you wanted me. I saw you so many times with a new girl on your arm, and you were always so confident and charming.”
He lays a hand on my cheek, “None of those girls could hold a candle to you, then or now.”
“So, was the kiss everything you’d hoped it would be?”
He pulls me in closer, “No, it was more.”
And then he kisses me brainless in the middle of the crowd.
