“Yes,” I moan.
“Wider,” he demands. I arch my back as he fucks into me faster now, my mouth pulling open.
I wish he could fuck me and I could suck him at the same time. Filled by Russ from all directions.
He pulls my face back to look at him, his attention on my wide open mouth now. His pupils dilate.
“Whose mouth is this?”
“Yours,” I pant before opening wide again.
“Good girl.” He spits onto my tongue. “Swallow it.”
I gulp, desperate for him now. Every small part of him.
He wraps my hair in his hand and tugs my head to the side.
“I love you,” he whispers against my ear. His hips snap, his thrusts slowing but getting harder.
My head goes fuzzy.
“I’ll love you forever, my dirty girl.” And he thrusts again, shoving me into a release I didn’t see coming.
I sob through it, clutching at him, and he follows, filling me up.
He stays inside me until all the aftershocks have rippled through to my extremities, and then he curls me up in his arms and covers us both with a blanket.
“You’re beautiful,” he says, kissing my temple.
And for the first time in forever, I believe it.
EPILOGUE
RUSS
April
Nothing about this season went to plan. When we gathered half the team at my cottage last August, we thought we knew what we had to do to win—and then the team fell apart and we lost so many games at the start of the season that everyone counted us out of the playoffs.
But by December, we had a new coach.
We went on a heater.
In January, the team named a new captain. The C looks better on Jenson Hale. It looks right.
And we rallied around our young leader. Ty had as many games with hat tricks (four) in the next month as he’d had in his career to date. Kieran led the league in assists for the last thirty games of the regular season.
We finished third in our division.
And tomorrow we fly to Florida for our first round series. We know it’s going to be hard. That’s the game.
But what don’t have anymore is a constant tense energy of needing to win or else. Wewantto win.
It’s a funny lesson that I learned from Shannon’s podcast of all places. The difference between feeling like we should do something, we need to do something, and wanting to do something.
Three things I know to be true:
I want to stay healthy enough to win the Cup.
I need to be with the woman I love.
I should probably retire soon.
But as we ease into the final chapter of this season, I don’t think I’m done yet. I have another ninety-eight games in me for next year, provided I avoid injury. And my wedding schedule this summer is pretty light. Two teammates are getting hitched, Ty and Hayden.
And then in August, on the terrace overlooking the lake at our cottage, I’m going to make Shannon my wife. My woman, forever. Finally.
THE END
