by Aleo, Toni
“Okay, now I’m gonna cry.”
“Why? I love you. I want to make things good for you!”
“No, you’re taking away the gluten,” I tease, and he laughs.
“I won’t eat it either,” he says, sitting down beside me. “Marshmallows don’t have gluten, by the way.”
I snort as I take a piece of bacon. “This is incredibly romantic, Boon Zachariah Hoenes.”
He shrugs. “Not yet.” He lifts his phone, hitting the screen, and then music starts to play. “Now, it’s romantic.”
“Yes, the music did it.”
“I know,” he says before filling his mouth with a huge piece of waffle, and I can’t help but stare at him. “Try it. It’s good.”
He holds his fork out to me, and I take a bite. It isn’t bad, but it’s missing the gluten for sure. “It’s good.”
“Told ya,” he says, cupping my knee. “When the team gets back into town tomorrow, I’m gonna have Shelli come by and sit with you while I go get a fresh bag and my truck. I figured you’d rather have her than your mom, but your mom is coming tomorrow night. She threatened me.”
I snort. “Really?”
“Yeah, she said if I don’t take good care of you, she’ll bust my top lip. I was gonna joke that ‘Hey, then they’ll match,’ but she didn’t seem in the joking mood.”
I laugh, leaning back on my hand. “Good read.”
He points his fork to me. “Right?”
As we eat, I can’t stop staring at him. He’s just so beautiful. It’s as if I’m seeing him in a brand-new light, or I’m seeing him for the first time again. Skating toward me with such promise and pure commitment to winning. What he never realized was that he wasn’t playing for me as his coach; he was playing to win my heart. Or maybe he did know. Maybe that was his plan the whole time. Either way, I’m so over-the-top in love with him, I almost can’t handle what I am feeling.
It’s so hard not to feel blown away by him. I never imagined anyone would do something like this for me. I got sick many times when Maxim was living with us. He never came around because he didn’t want to catch what I had. I told him more than once you can’t catch a thyroid disease, but he never took the time to do the research. Or even to care for me. Boon has, though, and then some.
When Ryan Hurd’s “To a T” comes on, I grin up at him. “It’s our song.”
He looks confused. “I thought ‘Just the Way You Are’ was our song.”
“Eh, this one is more special. It’s us.”
He nods. “Okay. You up for some dancing?”
“Yeah, I am.”
“That’s my girl,” he says as he gets up. He crouches down to help me to my feet before picking me up fully in his arms. I wrap my arms and legs around him as I lay my head on his shoulder. His arms hold me up like he’s holding a pillow, and I love him even more for making me feel light. He glides his lips along my hair, inhaling me as we sway to the sweet acoustic version of the song. His fingers slip under my shirt, holding me close as the candles burn, and my heart skips about five beats.
“I don’t know how anyone could ever think you aren’t emotionally available.”
He chuckles against my hair. “I think I figured that out.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I think I am emotionally unavailable to everyone else. But for you, I’m totally available.”
“You think so?”
“I know so,” he promises as he takes in a deep breath. “Hey, Posey.”
I pull my head back, meeting his gaze. “Yeah?”
“I have a new plan.”
I bring in my brows. “A new plan?”
“Yeah,” he says, his eyes sparkling in the candlelight. “I want to kiss you under the Cup, then I want to move in together, and then I want the cat, but it needs to be like a cat-dog. One that makes me think it’s a dog but is independent.”
“Where do we find this cat?” I ask with a smile.
“I don’t know. We’ll need to do research.”
“You’re great at that.”
“I am,” he agrees, his eyes searching mine. “But then I want to get married.” He says it so naturally. “And then I want a baby. A little boy first, so he can protect his two sisters.”
I giggle. “Two girls?”
“Yeah, I need a Shelli and Posey Adler. Those girls are badass.”
Tears burn in my eyes as I gaze into his. “I want that too.”
“I love you, way too much for one person to ever love anyone, but I don’t care, because I do.”
I swallow hard. “I want to mess up your plan.”
He cocks his head. “How?”
“When you go to get your truck and bag, grab all the stuff you care about, because I don’t want you to leave once you’re here.”
His eyes fall in a heated stare. “I have everything I need right here.”
I beam. “You need your razor.”
He nods. “When I get that, I’ll have everything.”
Our laughter fills the room, but then our lips meet and everything else falls away. Because under my lips, in my arms, is everything I’ll ever need.
Boon Zachariah Hoenes.
Epilogue
Boon
Game seven.
Conference finals against the Las Vegas Knights on home ice.
Tie game, six minutes on the clock.
The IceCats already won their conference, and they’re waiting for their opponent.
That opponent will be the Nashville mother-effing Assassins.
And we’ll kick their asses again!
I lean on the boards with Wes and Aiden mirroring me as we all suck in deep breaths after a killer shift. The Knights are one hell of a team. We thought we had them beat; we went up three games real fast, but then they came back, winning the next three. Everyone has already decided we aren’t going to win. They all believe it’s the Knights since they have all the momentum, but I refuse to accept that.
I have a plan, and I’m sticking to it.
These play-offs have been a damn whirlwind. When people said we couldn’t do it, we found a way and capitalized. Our team is full of resilient, skilled dudes. We work our asses off, and we have a goal of bringing back-to-back Cups home to Nashville. Our coaches believe in us and have coached the shit out of us, including the love of my life.
Just thinking of her, even in this stressful, high-stakes situation, makes me smile. She has completed me in a way I didn’t even know I needed. I moved in the day after she asked. I’m renting my house to Wes, Branden Peca—our goalie—and Dermot Underwood, one of our new forwards Elli brought in for the play-off berth. They both think they are best friends with Wes, but Aiden and I know the truth. He only really likes us. He hasn’t found someone yet and doesn’t think he will. I’ve reminded him that, at one point, I thought I never would. But instead, I found my forever.
Things have been great, as if they always had been. Posey recovered pretty quickly from her surgery and returned to work sooner than expected, at five weeks. She wanted to go back at four, but no one would let her in the rink, per Elli Adler’s commands. We are still having a blast together, and now on trips, we can be together and no one says anything. Especially with how mean she is to me on the ice. That girl doesn’t let up. She expects perfection on and off the ice, and I strive to give her everything she wants.
Living together has been a learning experience. I still can’t tell the difference between good hand towels and ones I can use. I have no clue why I can’t leave my shoes by the door or why I have to spray this smelly mist when I take a shit. I also feel she pulled a bait and switch on me. She didn’t snore when I stayed with her before, but now she’s like a freight train at night. She acts like it’s not a big deal, but she honestly keeps me up! If she weren’t so damn good in that bed, I would leave her ass.
Ha! Who am I kidding? That’s a damn lie. I couldn’t leave that woman if I tried. She’s got me completely wrapped around her finger, and I’m okay with
it.
“McBroenes!”
At the call of our line, we jump over the boards and get into position as the Knights come for us full force. They have some pretty dangerous forwards, and they use them to their advantage. What they don’t have that we do is Posey Adler, and she has figured them out completely. I go left for the winger, poking the puck away, but when I go to pass it up, he takes it again, going around me. I chase after him, and when I get in front of him, I steal the puck, sending it up the boards.
“Motherfucker!” he yells, but I don’t care.
I have a goal to assist in.
I start up the ice and have some space just as Aiden passes it to me to carry in. I go across the line, but right when I go to pass it to Wes, the guy from before is beside me, lifting my stick with his. He lifts it so damn hard that his blade comes crashing into my mouth.
I actually feel my recently replaced tooth implant flying out.
What an interesting feeling, one I don’t think I’ll ever get used to.
I fall to the ice, shaking off my gloves to hold my mouth to keep the blood in. “Damn it!”
I hear some commotion before Ryan Justice is beside me with a towel. He crouches down, holding the towel to my mouth as he takes a look.
“We gotta stop meeting like this,” I say as he checks out my mouth.
“I’ll let you take me out for a beer,” he says before sliding his gloved fingers around my gums. “He just knocked out your tooth.”
I give him a look and say sarcastically, “I don’t need that at all. No big.”
He laughs. “You can get another new one put in. You’re not hurting for money.”
I take the towel. “Remember, I took off all that time to take care of your cousin. I’m poor. Find that sucker!”
His laughter is comical as the ice crew comes out to clean the ice, and we head for the bench. Before we reach it, though, Wes is there with my tooth. “I found it!”
I take it, giving it to Ryan. “Hold on to that.”
“For what?”
“It can sit next to the Cup when we fucking win it, boys!” I yell, getting my team pumped. “We’ve got a four-minute. Let’s make something happen.”
Coach meets my gaze. “You good?”
I nod, waving him off. “It was just my tooth.”
Aiden laughs. “Hope you got the money to replace that.”
“I don’t. I’m poor. Pay for me?”
We all chuckle as I spit some Gatorade onto the ice, cleaning out my mouth. Jakob leans on the boards, his eyes moving between us. “Posey says 1-3-1, no S, they are on to us.”
We all nod in agreement as I tap Reeves in the chest, and we skate out. Aiden lines up, taking the face-off, which unfortunately, they win. As we skate back, I glance over at him. “Don’t you get paid a lot to do that right?”
He scoffs. “Fuck you. Let’s do this.”
But of course, their goalie is standing on his damn head. He is blocking everything, keeping the Knights in it. When he freezes the puck, I glance up to see we have fifty-one seconds left on the power play and a minute before we go into overtime. We’ve been traveling so damn much, going all the way out to Vegas and back, and I’d rather not go into overtime. I’d much rather win, give some handshakes, and then wrap my arms around my girl.
Speaking of my girl…
As I skate back to the bench, she’s there, calling a time-out. I skate toward her, admiring her beauty. She let Shelli order her a purple Assassins dress. Her hair is up in a bun, and I think she might have on those new black red-bottoms I bought her. I wanted her to have her own, and I wanted to buy them. Stay in my lane? Nope. Not unless Posey is in it with me.
“They are seeing everything y’all are doing,” she yells, tapping that damn tablet. “I want the S, but this time, we need Reeves to shoot. Brooks, Mac, I want you here,” she urges, marking the screen that puts them in front of the goalie. “Bacioretty, I need you at the blue line, running this damn play, and Hoenes, I need you here. They aren’t paying attention to our left since Aiden is right. Plus, the goalie is weak blocker side, so go over the fucking blocker if you have the shot. Don’t go five-hole. Don’t go glove side. He’s blocking that like it’s nothing. We have to think out of the box.”
The ref blows the whistle, and Posey’s eyes meet mine. My lips tip up, and I expect her to tell me she loves me. I mean, this is a high-emotion situation. But instead, she yells, “Blocker side!”
Jesus.
I skate away, adjusting my girdle as we line up to the right of the goalie cage. When the puck drops, Aiden does his job and wins it back. I send it up to Reeves, who carries it to the line with ease as we all set up. I go where Posey told me to, and we move the puck, bringing the Knights in. When I have a shot, I take it, but the asshole blocks it with his damn blocker. I want to yell at Posey that she was wrong, but the rebound comes back to me. The goalie is right there, so I send it over to Aiden. But his man closes in, so he sends it to Wes. He moves it to the middle, all of us shifting with the move, and he sends it for a one timer to Reeves. His stick explodes with the shot, and it all happens so quickly. But I feel it hit my stick before going right over the blocker.
Into the back of the net.
Shock washes over me as I watch the red light flash. The world falls away as Aiden screams, throwing his gloves up before skating to me. I glance at the clock, and there are two seconds left on it. The guys all huddle around me as the crowd loses their damn minds. Posey is screaming, jumping behind the bench. Holy shit. This happened. We did it.
We drop the puck again. It’s only for shits and giggles because as soon as the game horn sounds, I’m at the bottom of an Assassins pile, and I still can’t process what just happened.
Did I really just score the game-winning goal?
“With the game-winning goal, number twelve, Boon Hoenes! The Assassins are going to the Stanley Cup Finals!”
Well, holy shit, I did.
We’re going to the finals.
Soon, we get up to do the handshake with our opponent. As I shake each one of their hands, I find myself looking for Posey. I don’t see her until I come around, and she’s leaning on the boards.
“Told you,” she calls to me, and I stick out my tongue at her.
“You did,” I say as I stop in front of her. I gaze into her beautiful eyes, and then I cup her chin. “You’re going to remind me of this for the rest of our lives, huh?”
She nods. “Every waking moment.”
But then she wraps her arms around me, hugging me tightly. She kisses my cheek. “I’m so proud of you. You exceed my expectations every day.”
I pull back to look into her eyes. “I’m glad you think so.”
“Because you do,” she laughs, smacking my chest, and then she grins. “Oh, your poor mouth.”
I smile, showing off my toothless grin. “Sexy?”
“Oh yes. Prepare for me to put my finger through that hole.”
I give her a look. “That’s my line.”
She snorts as I cuddle her close to me. “Hey, Ryan,” I call over to him. He’s bouncing with excitement.
“You need your tooth?” He winks, and I know he knows what I need.
I’ve always liked this guy.
He hands me the little box, and I grab Posey’s other hand. “Come here. I need to talk to you.”
She shoots me a confused look as I bring her onto the ice, right to the center where our logo is painted. “What are you doing? Don’t you have interviews? You scored the winning goal.”
I wave her off. “I told them I wasn’t doing anything until I talked to you.”
“Talked to me about what?”
“I have a new plan.”
“Huh?”
When we’re in the middle of the rink, I look around at everyone still celebrating, the lights flashing, yet my gaze comes right back to the center of my world. “This isn’t our practice rink, the one where I fell in love with you, but it’s close enough. Same log
o.”
She looks down and then back up at me, eyeing me suspiciously. “Boon, what are you doing?”
As I gaze into her eyes, my heart is pounding in my chest, and I feel like I’m flying ten feet in the air. I lick my lips as they spread into a grin. “I’m in love with you. Completely and utterly in love with you. I want to spend my seconds dancing in Target with you. I want to spend my minutes arguing with you about hand towels. I want to spend my hours making love to you, and my weeks traveling the world with you. I want to spend my months telling you how gorgeous you are, and Posey, I want to spend my years loving only you.”
Her breath catches as she shakes her head. “Oh, Boon.”
I drop to my knee, gazing up at her as I open the little box I have in my palm. She brings her hand over her mouth as her eyes well up. “I’m in love with how your soul is a mix of sweetness and strength. I love how you can rip me apart on this ice, but as soon as we get home, you love me like I’m the only person you want to love.”
She cups my cheek, her tears falling in rivers. “Because you are.”
I place my hand over hers. “I want to make all the memories with you. On and off the ice. But since this is the place that started our super-hot lover relationship—” I pause when she snorts, almost choking on her tears and laughter “—I figured it’s the place where I should ask you to marry me.”
My lip wobbles as she gazes down at me. “My dad proposed to my mom on this ice.”
I nod. “I know. That’s why they’re here too.”
She looks to the bench, where not only my mom is watching, but her whole damn family. The lot of them. And let me say, there are a lot of them. I can’t look, though; my gaze is locked on her. She looks back down to me, her eyes full of such love, and my heart feels as if it is about to come out of my chest. “You’re too good to me, Boon Zachariah Hoenes.”
“I’m not even at my full potential.”
“You’ve surpassed it tenfold.”
