I let go of her curl and pull her up, sliding onto my side so we’re face-to-face, heads resting on the same pillow. “I’m still so sorry for that moment of stupidity.”
“I forgive you. I told you.”
“I know,” I sigh. She takes one of my hands in hers and kisses the back of it. “But I just wanted to plead my case a little more because I’ve done nothing but think about it since. I wanted to let you know that I’ve never been in love before. So, like, I have no idea what the hell I’m doing. I think my brain just short-circuits a bit the closer I get to blurting out the L-word. It’s closer and closer every single day. Bit by bit.”
She looks… well, gorgeous, shocked, and nervous. I panic I might be scaring her off but then she smiles and nods. “Yeah, I can see why new emotions are a little overwhelming.”
“Yeah. Exactly, but I want you to know.” I move my hand to her waist and pull her closer. “That I intend to bring my A-game from here on out, princess.”
She laughs. “I guess I better bring mine then too.”
I graze my lips against hers. “Sounds like a plan.”
And then I kiss her, long and hard, like we have forever. Because it sure as hell feels like we do.
Epilogue
Mac
Another burly professional hockey player walks by me carrying the last of my things. As he heads down the stairs I glance around the barn apartment. It looks like it did the night I moved in. So stark and empty except for the few pieces of furniture that came with it. It's kind of gut-wrenching to see it like this because it reminds me of the state I was in, emotionally, when I got here. It's also rewarding to see how different it looks because it reminds me how different I feel. This apartment started as a refuge for a broken version of me. But I'm leaving it as a new, improved, stronger version of myself. And a much happier one.
I hear footsteps and see Conner in the doorway behind me. “Is that it?”
I nod. He walks over and wraps his arms around me from behind, pulling me into his solid chest. The shaggy, unkempt beard growing on his face tickles the back of my neck. He's just finished the first round of the playoffs. The Riptide won in a four-game sweep. Now they're just waiting for the other teams to finish their first-round series so they have an opponent toplay in round two.
“I can’t believe how full the truck is down there,” Conner comments as I drop my hands on top of his in the center of my stomach. “When I invaded this place at Christmas you could have fit everything you own into the trunk of my car and still had room for a dead body.”
“And I wanted to kill you for breaking in so that would have been convenient,” I snark and he squeezes me. I laugh. “Seriously though, I probably shouldn’t have started accumulating furniture for my apartment in Portland while still in Silver Bay but the price of everything here is cheaper and I really loved that bed frame from the antique place.”
“The guys were more than happy to earn brownie points when your dad asked for volunteers to help you move,” Conner kisses the back of my neck as I keep staring at the empty apartment, trying to burn it into my memory. “You know Uncle J and Aunt J aren’t going to rent it out again. We can come back and walk down memory lane any time.”
“Only if you promise to drop your towel for me again,” I say with a giggle.
Someone clears their throat from behind us and Conner springs back from me when we both lock eyes with Dad. He’s frowning. “Everything is loaded downstairs. Anything else up here?”
I shake my head. Conner darts past my dad and down the stairs.
“What about the Hampton lamp?” Dad asks. “I didn’t see it in with all your stuff.”
“Oh. Yeah.” I sigh. “I don’t have it anymore.”
Dad’s dark blue eyes flare. “What? Did it break?”
"No. I didn't grab it when I ran out on Beckett and he didn't include it in the stuff he brought me," I explain and feel a bit guilty. I really did love that lamp. It had been in my bedroom inmy parents' Hamptons beach house and when I got my first real adult apartment, with Beckett, they shipped it to me because they knew how much I loved it. When it was lit it cast a beautiful swirl of color on the wall and ceiling.
Dad looks crestfallen and guilt washes through me. "I'm sorry. I was in a bad place and not thinking clearly and when things got better, I just didn't want to deal with him."
Dad hugs me, pulling me against his chest and cupping the back of my head like he has done since day one. Well, since I let him, which was more like year two of knowing each other. “You don’t have to apologize for anything. Come on. Let’s go.”
He lets go of me and heads down the stairs. I lock the door for the final time and head downstairs. Jessie and Jordan are there waiting to take my keys. I drop them in Jessie’s hand. “Thank you again for helping me out when I needed it.”
“Anytime, Mac.” Jessie smiles at me.
“That’s Doctor Larue,” Conner corrects as he climbs into the driver’s seat of the rental truck. He’s grinning with pride and even my dad starts to smile.
“Boys, we won’t need you at the Portland apartment,” Dad announces to his team. “Garrison will do all the heavy lifting and my wife and youngest daughter are already there to help as well. But we have one more stop I’m going to need you to make with me if you all don’t mind.”
“Where?” I croak but I already know, even before he gives them the address of my former apartment. The one where Beckett still lives, with Heather. I heard through the hospital gossip mill that they had made a couple offers on houses but nothing had panned out. Also, they had pushed back their wedding date, according to Shelby.