“You only say that so you can get in my pants.”
“Obviously.” He pushes my top up, lifting it over my head before throwing it somewhere across the room. “But I’d get there without the perks of being in love with my wife.”
If someone had told me five years ago that Aaron Marsh has kept his promise, fell in love with me, and we ended up getting married, I would have laughed right into that person’s face.
But as it turns out, miracles can happen if you hold on to the thought for a little while longer. Even when it gets ridiculous.
The End
Extended Epilogue
Aaron
“darling I want all the strings attached”—Strings by Shawn Mendes
Four Years Later
We lost. We fuckinglost the entire damn season. I could smell the win and then… I couldn’t anymore. All because of that one stupid mistake.
I swear to you, it only needs a second to ruin an entire game. And it’s the worst feeling ever.
At least now I get to go home and get babied by my wife. Sounds annoying, but it’s the best feeling in the world. She’ll cuddle up to me all day long and get madder than the entire team is, and Sofia doesn’t even give one shit about hockey.
It’s cute.
When I get home that evening, exhausted from all the travelling, I’m glad to find my wife on the couch, cuddled up in a blanket while watching some kids movie.
“Daddy!” Jamie jumps up on the floor as soon as I’m through the door, running toward me.
Sofia doesn’t react though, so I’m assuming she fell asleep while rewatching that movie for the sixth time this week.
I hold my arms open for my son, kneeling so it’s easier for him to actually end up in my embrace. And once he’s close enough, I close my arms around him “Did you make your mommy fall asleep again?”
Jamie shakes his head against my chest, giggling. He then turns in my arms, pointing toward the blanket on the floor. “Kieran, too.”
“I see.”
Jamie and Kieran are both three years old, and the most exhausting duo you’ll ever come across. It doesn’t help that Kieran is being raised by Colin, the man whose middle name is “crazy”. For whatever black-magical reasons did Sofia and Lily get pregnant at the same time. It was the first time, but as it seems not the last. They’re both pregnantagain, but this time like four weeks apart.
When the TV automatically turns off, I’m suddenly reminded by the time. It must be after ten p.m., which means Jamie should have been asleep hours ago. I let him go, giving him a mini push so he’d walk when I say, “Come on, let’s get you to bed, okay?”
Jamie yawns, rubbing his eyes, then runs off toward his bedroom. He’s already in his pajamas, so I’m guessing Sofia got them both ready for bed already. Or just Jamie? I’m not sure. Surely Lily would have picked up Kieran by now if he isn’t supposed to spend the night, right?
Placing the flowers in my hand on the kitchen island, I walk around the couch and pick up Kieran from the floor, careful not to wake him up because it’s a pain to get him to sleep, unlike Jamie.
Just as I make my way to my son’s bedroom, the door to Sofia and my apartment opens and Colin comes marching inside. “Have you—Oh. There he is.”
“Yeah, where else would Kieran be?” They don’t exactly spend much time with Grey, apart from the daily visits. And Brooke is a little annoyed by them, so sending them to Miles isn’t going to happen.
“I don’t know, Lily is asleep so I couldn’t ask.”
Making my way over to my best friend, I hand his son over to him, only to watch him roll his eyes when he sees the tiny frogs all over Kieran’s pajama. “Someday I will lose my mind. She keeps buying frog printed clothes for him.”
Suppressing a smile, I look at Colin’s shirt. “Not only for him.”
He looks down at himself, then back up with closed eyes. “Excuse me while I go murder your sister.”
“DADDY I IS WAITING!”