I clenched my eyes shut. “Who told you?”
He chuckled. “You do realize our friends are all married to each other?”
Damn them, though I wasn’t really mad. He would’ve found out eventually.
“But it was actually Coach who came to talk to me.”
I snapped my eyes up to his. “What? Why?”
“He needed to confirm some things with me.”
“What things?”
“He wanted to be certain I wouldn’t fuck up my career,” he said, and I tilted my head at him.
He inched his lips toward mine, pressing me with a soft, too-quick kiss that stole my breath.
“Bentley,” I said, the ache in my voice too evident. I tried to step back, but he placed his hand on my hip, gently keeping me there. “We can’t. We both know it. And I’m okay. I’ll figure this out. I won’t risk your position, not when you’ve worked so hard to earn it.” I sighed. “We both know if I stay we won’t be able to keep away from each other. But just because I’m transferring doesn’t mean you had to do this, had to pay for this.” I motioned behind me, guilt bubbling in my chest.
Guilt because I wanted to take it but knew I couldn’t.
It was too much. All of it.
My heart filling in my chest at his touch, his scent.
Breaking all over again because I knew I couldn’t have him.
“I didn’t pay for this because you asked for a transfer,” he said, running his fingers down my arm, warm chills shuttered my skin, spinning my senses. “I did it because your mom deserves the best, as do you.”
“I can’t let you—”
“You can,” he cut me off before he dropped to his knees before me.
I choked on air as he pulled out a small black velvet box.
“You can,” he continued. “Because you’re my world. And what’s mine has always been yours.” He opened the lid, a single diamond ring shining from its center.
I gaped at him, my hands flying to my mouth.
“I’ve loved you since the first moment I saw you, Chloe. I fell harder for you as we grew older, and I’m still so deeply in love with you that I can’t think straight when you’re not near me.”
I couldn’t breathe—the past and present and a possibility of a future swirling together, shaking my world.
“What about the transfer? I don’t know where I’m going, Bent.” I hated that my mind went to the logical complications instead of simply screaming what my heart said.
“I know where you’re going,” he said, still looking up at me with those eyes that could cut right to my soul. “To my house . . . unless you want to build a new one. I don’t care. As long as you’re with me.” He smirked. “And Coach knows. He wants you to stay.”
I gasped.
“No secrets. All on the level. You and me, Chloe.”
“Yes,” I said, crying as I threw my arms around his neck.
He caught me against him, a laugh ringing from his throat.
“Say that again,” he demanded, lifting us to standing.
“Yes, Bentley Rogers. I’ll marry you.”
He slanted his mouth over mine, kissing me in that all-consuming way that I felt right down to my toes. I hooked my legs around his hips, not caring that we were in the middle of the care facility. I’d waited my whole life for this moment, and I was powerless against the onslaught of joy and passion that crashed through my soul.
“Here,” he said, sliding the white-gold band on my left-hand ring finger.
“It’s perfect, Bentley,” I said, kissing him again. “But, we have so much to talk about . . . so many things you need to understand.”
I pressed my forehead against his as he held me to him, hating that I had to say those words, but knowing he didn’t fully understand my past. He likely had so many unanswered questions about last night, about Archer, and I wasn’t sure if those answers would change his mind or not.
“If you’re talking about that asshole, then I know everything,” he said, reading my thoughts. He looked slightly mischievous as he grinned. “He won’t contact you again, though you’d already made sure of that by the time I got there again last night.”
My lips parted open, but he kept talking.
“Gage filled me in this morning. And Chloe, baby, I’m so fucking sorry you went through that. I promise every day for the rest of our lives I’ll take great pleasure in erasing that darkness from you. Taking it on as my own. Being whatever you need to help you heal.”
Tears streamed down my cheeks.
“Does it change this?” I asked, gesturing to my ring. “Knowing I kept it all from you.”
He shook his head, his eyes locking with mine. “I know the only thing I’ve ever needed to know.”
“And what is that?” I whispered, trembling in his embrace, with hope, with fear, with doubt.
“My heart beats for yours.”
The words rang through my soul, a wave of love so deep and raw and pure crashing over the doubts and worries and fears. Cleansing them until there was nothing left but the glow of love I had for this man.
Words failed me, so I kissed him until we were both breathless.
Until we were both healing the past and the present and soaring toward a future that sparkled with possibility.
Epilogue
Three Months Later
Bentley
I’d never been so happy about a bye week.
The games had been amazing with Chloe cheering at each one, but grueling in the physical exhaustion it placed on my body.
I was beyond ready for a little down time with my fiancée.
Fuck, it never got old to think that.
Mine.
The notion pulsed inside me as I came home—after picking up a little surprise for Chloe I’d had in the works for six weeks.
“Honey, I’m home,” I teased as I came through the door.
Chloe had moved in right after I proposed to her, but I was still ecstatic every time I found her there.
A gift of my own, the love of my life . . . finally, truly, mine.
“I never get tired of hearing that,” Chloe called from wherever she was in the living room.
The little ball of fur—my present—wiggled in my hands where I cradled it against my chest.
“Close your eyes,” I called back.
“Why?” she asked, her tone suddenly warry.
“Just trust me,” I said, halting my steps. “Are they closed?”
“Yes, sir,” she teased, but the taunt tightened something hot in my core.
I shifted, taking quick steps into the living room before the thing gave me away and started whimpering.
Chloe sat on the chaise with her eyes closed, looking sexy as hell in a pair of cotton shorts and white tank. My favorite chaise because it was the first place I’d slipped inside her after a decade of waiting. We’d christened almost every room in the house, our lust for each other never slaked.
Ten years of absence to make up for.
A lifetime wouldn’t be enough.
But we had it. The time. The opportunity.
The universe had finally granted us this gift, and I was determined to never waste a second of it.
“Can I open them yet?” she asked.
“Just a second,” I said, bending at the knees to set the puppy in her lap.
Her eyes snapped open, falling on the white ball of fur in her lap—whiskey colored spots on her back.
“A bulldog?” she gasped, tears instantly filling her eyes.
“Don’t cry, baby,” I chided, laughing as the puppy sniffed and whimpered as it climbed up her neck to lick her.
“I can’t help it, she’s so cute.” She lifted the little thing that almost resembled a baby pig, double checking that it was, in fact, a girl. “You remembered,” she said, glancing at me as she hugged the puppy.
“I remember everything,” I said.
She wanted English bulldogs—two of them.
And then four k
ids.
One step at a time.
She continued to stroke the puppy-soft fur, smiling up at me. “Thank you,” she said, then chuckled.
“What’s so funny?”
“We’re always on the same page,” she said.
I tilted my head as she stood up, holding the puppy with one arm. I shifted off my knees, claiming the seat she’d just vacated.
She came back, setting a black box the size of an envelope in my lap. “I got you a present, too.”
“Why?” I asked, grinning up at her.
“Why’d you get me this perfect thing?” she asked.
“Because I love you. Because I can.”
She nodded like that explained everything.
I fingered the lid of the box as she set the puppy on the floor. I furrowed my brow at that, but glanced inside the box and immediately froze.
“Chloe?” My voice choked as my entire world shifted on its axis.
More tears slipped over her smiling cheeks.
“Chloe?” I bolted off the couch, the plastic stick in my hand—one word on the tiny digital screen.
Pregnant.
I wrapped my arms around her, hefting her to my level.
Now I knew why she set the puppy down.
I would’ve crushed it in my need to hold her.
“What do you think, daddy?” she asked, never losing my eyes.
I kissed her furiously, hungrily, gratefully.
“God, what did I do to deserve you?” I asked, my heart swelling too big for my body.
“You’ve always been mine,” she said, kissing me back.
“And you’re mine,” I said.
She nodded, slipping her hand between us, grabbing mine and setting it on her still-flat tummy.
“And now . . . this is ours.”
I released her and dropped to my knees, my eyes level with her stomach.
“Hi, baby.” I planted a kiss to her tummy then pressed my ear against it.
She fingered the strands of my hair. “You know how you always say your heart beats for mine?”
“It does,” I said.
She tugged my hair gently so I would look up at her. Her cell phone was between her fingers. “Want to hear your baby’s?”
I pressed my lips together, emotion clogging my throat.
My world—Chloe . . . it had just expanded beyond my comprehension.
And I knew there wasn’t another soul on the planet that I would rather experience this with.
I took the cell phone from her hand, and she retrieved the puppy, cuddling it against her neck.
My thumb hovered over the play button, my eyes glittering.
I hit the screen, holding the speaker to my ear.
The sweetest thudding, whooshing sound filled my ears.
I listened, over and over, in shock and happiness and terror.
And after I’d finally set the phone down, I sank onto the chaise, my legs failing me.
Chloe let the puppy run and roll at our feet as she straddled my lap, kissing me sweetly.
“Happy?” she asked.
“More than you’ll ever know.” I ran my hands over her thighs, up her sides, and across her tummy. “I love you,” I said, the words strained from how much I held back, knowing if I let go it would be an explosion big enough to shake the world.
Another kiss, and a not so subtle shift over my hips as she lightly rocked against me. “I love you,” she sighed against my lips.
Instantly, I wanted her.
Wanted to devour her.
Consume her.
Worship her.
I claimed her mouth, spinning her gently so her back was now against the chaise. I hooked my fingers in her short shorts, but a tiny yelping stopped me.
We both laughed, breaking our kiss.
I nipped at her bottom lip.
“Later,” I promised, raising off of her to retrieve the puppy, figuring she needed to go outside. “What should we name her?”
A devious smile lit up her eyes as she pressed her lips together, standing from the chair to pet the puppy in my arms.
“I know exactly what her name is.”
I tilted my head. “You do, do you?”
“Mmhmm,” she mumbled, then reached up on her tiptoes and grazed her teeth over the shell of my ear.
A low groan rumbled from my chest.
“Rookie,” she whispered, her breath shooting chills over my skin.
She took the puppy from my arms and padded barefoot through the room, swishing her hips as she went.
“Wicked, cruel woman,” I teased, sinking back onto the chaise.
She’d left her cell phone.
For me.
I scooped it up, listening to that heartbeat once again.
My heart beats for yours.
And it always will.
The End
The Seattle Sharks Have Bite!
Sign up here for my newsletter for exclusive content and giveaways!
Follow me on Amazon here or BookBub here to stay up to date on all upcoming releases!
About the Author
Samantha Whiskey is a wife, mom, lover of her dogs and romance novels. No stranger to hockey, hot alpha males, and a high dose of awkwardness, she tucks herself away to write books her PTA will never know about.
Acknowledgments
Thank you to my incredible husband and my awesome kids without which I would live a super boring life!
Huge thanks must be paid to these amazing authors who have always offered epic advice and constant support! Not to mention creating insanely hot reads to pass the time with! And thank you to each and every single one of you AMAZING readers who love the Sharks as much as I do!
Rookie (Seattle Sharks Book 4) Page 18
