by Blake Wilder
Wow. Apparently, Alex wasn’t wasting any time with this annulment.
And just like that, my amazing day bottomed out.
I stood slowly and followed Glen down to the rink. We stood at the entrance to the tunnel that led directly to the ice. I could hear that the game had ended and there were a lot of workers at the other end, rolling out a long red carpet.
“Are you sure he wanted us to meet him here?” I asked.
Glen smiled. “No.” He pointed toward the ice. “He wants us to meet him up there.”
And without another word, he headed up the tunnel. I hesitated for a moment, but in the end, curiosity won out. I’d never expected to have the opportunity to stand this close to an actual professional hockey rink.
We’d just reached the end of the tunnel, the rink stretched out before me, when the announcer started speaking.
The view from this spot was absolutely amazing. I looked up and around at all the seats, spotting the people I’d just been sitting with still in the owner’s box.
The Jumbotron flipped from the final score of the game to live video. The camera was focused on Alex, who was slipping over the wall and back onto the ice. There was a puppy in his arms.
What the hell?
I looked away from the screen and watched as he and the squirming pup skated toward the end of the red carpet.
He smiled when he saw me and I figured he was amused by our matching outfits. I lifted my arms and struck a silly pose in his jersey, which made him laugh.
“Ladies and gentlemen. Tonight, we have a special presentation. If you will please turn your attention to the end of the red carpet, you will see Baltimore captain, Alex Stone.”
The puppy had calmed down now that they were standing still, resting peacefully in the crook of Alex’s arm. Alex had a microphone and he lifted it as he looked around at the stands and began to speak.
“A couple of weeks ago, I was feeling about as low as a person could feel. I know I don’t have to explain to any of you why.”
I recalled the game, the devastating loss. The murmur in the crowd proved Alex hadn’t been alone in his disappointment.
“Then I had the chance to reconnect with an old friend, a former hockey teammate from my childhood. And I’d like for you to meet her.”
Alex was looking at me. “Come one, sweetheart,” he said, just to me, not into the mic.
I couldn’t move. Surely he didn’t mean for me to walk out on the red carpet in front of everyone.
He shook his head and chuckled, the sound reverberating through the arena, thanks to the mic he’d raised. “She’s a little shy, everyone. Maybe you could give her some encouragement.”
Loud cheers filled the arena as Glen gave me a gentle push toward the ice.
“Go on, Charley. He’s waiting for you.”
I took a couple of steps, then froze again. The rink looked enormous from this vantage point and I really wasn’t used to so many people looking at me.
“She’s not used to being on the ice without skates. Little bit like a fish out of water,” Alex joked, still speaking in the mic, and there was a lot of laughter now mingled with the applause.
Of course, his words had the desired effect on me. I narrowed my eyes at him and started walking toward him.
A dare was a dare was a dare and it was clear he didn’t think I’d make it all the way.
“What are you doing?” I murmured, once I stood next to him.
He ignored my question. “I’d like you to meet Charley Matthews, author of the Tomboy Tess series.”
I looked around, sort of amazed by the noise of the cheering. I caught sight of several young girls standing near the glass, looking at each other in amazement and jumping up and down like they were seeing a movie star or something.
“Alex,” I whispered.
“As I said, I was about as low as a man could get after that last game. Then Charley came back into my life and a light went on. Anyone who knows me knows that I’ve spent most of my adult life, promising to remain a bachelor until the day I die. You could probably find at least two dozen interviews where I’ve said the same.”
“What are you doing?”
“I’m hoping Charley will continue to make a liar of me. Without going into too many details, we eloped in Vegas a couple of weeks ago. Charley wants to annul it. I’m hoping to convince her to change her mind.”
There was a collective “ah” from the crowd.
“I love you, Charley Matthews, and I’m sorry I didn’t tell you so last week, sorry I left without saying those words to you. Because God knows, I do.”
My mouth fell open when Alex dropped to one knee on the ice in front of me. He twisted the puppy’s collar and there, dangling from it, was the biggest diamond ring I’d ever seen in my life.
The arena erupted, filled with deafening applause, cheers, stomping.
Alex pointed toward the Jumbotron.
I looked up and saw the words, “Will you stay married to me, Charley?”
“I…I…” I nodded, tears streaming down my face. “Yes. God, yes.”
Alex grinned as he slipped the engagement ring from the collar. Then he narrowed his eyes when he realized I wasn’t wearing my wedding band. I held up my right hand and gave him a rueful grin.
He laughed and handed me the puppy, so that he could slip the wedding ring back on the correct hand before adding my engagement ring.
“The puppy’s name is Billy. His sister, Bonnie, is over there.” Alex pointed toward the home bench, where one of his teammates held an identical puppy. “They’re ours.”
The little puppy wiggled in my arms, trying to lick my face as I laughed. “You got me a puppy. Two puppies!”
“She said Yes!” the announcer shouted over the loudspeaker.
“Leave it to us to do everything backwards,” he joked. He gave me a soft kiss as we got a standing ovation.
“You mean everyone doesn’t get married, then live together, then get engaged?”
He kissed me again, this one a little longer and still too PG for my tastes, but understandable given the kids in the stands. We waved to the crowd. Alex turned off the mic as everyone stood and started to leave the arena.
“I love you,” he said again.
“I love you, too.” I was thrilled to finally be able to freely say what I felt. “I was so afraid I’d scared you off.”
“You didn’t. I swear. I’ve never told a woman I love her before you, before now.”
“Pretty gutsy saying it for the first time in front of God and everybody. What if I’d said no?”
He rolled his eyes—God, I loved the cocky bastard—as if I’d just said the most ridiculous thing he’d ever heard.
“Unfortunately, we still have to do the gala thing, but the owner said we could cut out early to start our honeymoon.”
“Didn’t we already sort of have a honeymoon?”
“That wasn’t nearly long enough.” He pointed down at his skates. “Mind hanging out with Glen for a few minutes? I’ll meet you outside the locker room as soon as I’ve changed and we’ll head to the hotel together.”
“Okay.”
Alex skated back to the bench, while I walked back down the red carpet with Billy, struggling to believe what had just happened.
That disbelief lasted less than sixty seconds because there were tons of people waiting at the other end of the tunnel, offering their congratulations. Glen teased me, promising he could still draw up the annulment papers as soon as I came to my senses.
Alex had mentioned his lawyer was also his best friend and I could see why. The guy had the same smartass sense of humor and I knew in an instant Glen and I were going to be good friends too.
We were nearly to the locker room when a woman approached us, stepping directly in front of me. For a second, I thought she was another fan, stopping to congratulate me.
It took only a second more before I realized she wasn’t a fan and she wasn’t happy.
“He
seriously plans to marry you?” she asked, disgust rife in her tone, as she looked me up and down and clearly found me lacking.
“Excuse me,” Glen said, “but who the hell are you and where do you get off talking to her like that?”
So Glen didn’t know her. And Alex hadn’t recognized her name, which confirmed Jeanine had somehow staged that photo with him earlier in the week.
“It’s okay, Glen. Actually, we’re already married. And we’re deliriously happy. So step off, sister, before I pull out those cheap-ass hair extensions.”
I skirted around her as Glen laughed. “Damn. Alex said there was no one he’d want in his corner more than you. I can see what he means.”
“Who do you think taught him how to fight?” I joked.
“Oh, I’m going to give him serious shit about that, even though Alex already confessed it was better to have you at his back rather than receiving your punch.”
I rolled my eyes. “I didn’t fight that much on the rink.” Then I admitted, “Though now that I think about it, it was mainly because none of the guys would hit back.”
Glen laughed louder. “By the way, who was that woman?”
While we waited for Alex, I handed Billy over to Glen and pulled up the photo on my cell phone.
Glen whistled and shook his head. “Alex will go ballistic when he sees that. Called her the barracuda after that incident the other night with the paparazzi. He had a feeling she was going to cause him some trouble.”
Alex must have taken the quickest shower in history because he was out of the locker room in record time, with Bonnie in his arms. Glen handed Billy back to me and we said our goodbyes and walked together to the limousine.
“You realize you’ve gotten us both in trouble now. You just outted us to our mothers.”
He laughed as we climbed into the back of the car. He looked at the driver. “Take the scenic route back to the hotel.”
The driver grinned and nodded.
Once we were inside, we set the puppies free. Both of them hopped up on the long side couch, perching their paws on the window sill to look out.
Alex pulled me toward him until we faced each other, with me straddling his thighs. I glanced over my shoulder, making sure the blackout screen between us and the driver was closed and checking on the dogs one more time. Their tails were wagging as they watched the scenery fly by outside.
“I called my mother this afternoon before the game. Your mom was there. They were having their usual Saturday lemonade.” Alex air-quoted the word lemonade, which basically mean our moms were drinking margaritas.
“What did you tell them?”
“Pretty much what I said back there. That we got drunk, eloped, and I was hoping to convince you to stay married to me.”
I narrowed my eyes. “So what you’re really saying is you’d already stacked the deck against me before that proposal because you knew our mothers would gang up on me if I said no.”
He laughed. “I hadn’t considered that, but now that you mention it, it was a pretty brilliant move on my part. By the way, you were right. Your mom is chomping at the bit for grandkids.”
I rolled my eyes. “Dammit. There will be no stopping her now.”
“Or me,” he said, tugging my shirt over my head. “Nice jersey.”
“What do you think you’re doing?” I asked, perfectly aware as I pulled his shirt off as well.
“Making babies.”
I laughed. “Yeah, well, I’m still on birth control, so that’s probably not going to happen.”
He unfastened my jeans, lifting me so that together we could push the denim and my panties off. I’d never been naked in a limo.
“Fine. We’ll practice making babies. And you’re going off the pill.”
“Wanna rephrase that in a much less caveman way?”
“Please have babies with me, Charley. With my stunning good looks and your athleticism, our kids would be unstoppable.”
I laughed, but it was short-lived when he shrugged his jeans to his knees, gripped my waist and lowered me onto his thick cock.
“God,” I whispered. It was a tight, but wonderful, fit.
I lifted up and down, the two of us finding our rhythm quickly. However, after almost a week apart, neither of us was in the right state of mind to take things slowly, to savor the moment.
I wondered if we’d ever overcome this need to take each other with this passionate, impatient intensity. I hoped not.
I came first, my orgasm striking like lightning. I shuddered and clung to his shoulders as I rode it out.
Alex held me, his lips and tongue kissing my shoulder, my neck, my cheek.
As my climax started to wane, he lifted me off of him, laying me down on the seat and coming over me.
I wrapped my legs around his waist when he slid back in, groaning when his thick flesh stroked my still-sensitive nerves.
Alex reached down to rub my clit as he moved faster and harder inside me. This time he was determined to come with me.
He flew over the cliff a split second before me.
“Fuck, Charley. Sweetheart. So good. So goddamn good.”
The two of us remained connected, struggling to catch our breath for a few minutes, laughing when Billy made his way over to us, licking both of our faces, as Bonnie tried to hop onto Alex’s back.
“You still sure you want to have kids immediately?” I asked when Alex pulled out, trying to fasten his pants as the puppies barked, fighting to get on his lap.
Once he was put back together, Alex reached for Bonnie, his big hands making her look tiny as he petted her. She settled down on his lap and actually closed her eyes.
Alex was going to be an amazing dad. I hoped we had a girl first.
“I’m sure.”
I pulled on my own clothing and reached for Billy, who—like his sister—lay down and fell asleep on my lap.
Alex reached over and took my hand, lifting it and kissing my fingertips.
I caught sight of the rings on my finger. Alex lifted his left hand to show he was still wearing his wedding band as well.
“I haven’t taken it off since I got back to Baltimore,” he said. “I love you.”
I smiled. “You’re getting pretty good at saying that.”
“I’m never going to stop saying it either.”
“So what’s the plan now?”
“Immediately or long term?”
“Long term,” I clarified.
“That’s simple. We go back to Wisconsin in a few days and let our families fuss over us. Then, since I’m on my break, I’ll go on your book tour with you.”
“You’d really do that?”
“I want to be where you are.”
I felt the same way. “You know, I can write books anywhere…including Baltimore.”
He smiled. “Or maybe even on the road with a bunch of smelly hockey players?”
“Even there.”
Epilogue
Alex
I held the cup over my head, looking across the ice for her.
I smiled when I found her.
She and Glen were standing rink-side, jumping up and down and cheering like crazy. I wasn’t sure, but it looked like Charley was wiping away tears.
I was a little worried about her jumping like that. She was two weeks away from the due date and her poor belly was so stretched, she looked like a balloon about to pop.
Not that I felt a single speck of guilt over that.
She was having my baby. A little girl.
And we’d just won the Stanley Cup.
Life didn’t get any better than this.
I posed for more pictures, countless photos with my teammates, surrounded by a huge crowd of news crews, each jockeying for a better position, a better shot.
I glanced at Charley again and our eyes met.
This time, she looked a little less happy. In fact, she looked like she was in pain.
She crinkled her nose when she caught me looking.
&n
bsp; “Water broke,” she mouthed.
I handed the Stanley Cup to my nearest teammate and started skating back to the bench.
“Where are you going?” several reporters yelled.
“My wife is having a baby!”
Suddenly, there were a million more questions being shouted in my direction and I caught sight of Glen, helping Charley make her way to me, even as some of the cameras that had been pointed at the team turned toward her.
What a difference a year made.
Last year, I’d sworn off love and marriage and dogs and children, believing happiness was found in an unencumbered life.
And I’d truly believed nothing in the world could top winning the Stanley Cup.
Charley proved me wrong.
On all counts.
About the Author
Author Blake Wilder loves to write sexy romantic comedies about guys with big egos, big attitudes, and big hearts. When she’s not creating dirty-talking heroes, Blake can be found buying shoes or going to country music festivals, where she sings off-key loudly to every song.
A lifelong resident of the midwest, she dreams of the day she can ditch the snow and run away to Fiji with a real life hottie. Until then, she’ll be wrapped in fleece and drinking coffee (which may or may not be spiked with whiskey) while writing about the fictional girl next door and her alpha hero.
Visit www.blakewilderbooks.com for more info on the SIZE MATTERS series!
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