Final Play (Fake Boyfriend 6)

Now? As I take my spot at the altar, I have no doubt that the man standing next to me was created to be mine.

A breeze passes through the lush gardens, but it isn’t enough to stop me from sweating in this monkey suit.

Talon looks as handsome as ever, like he always does in a tux. But, hell, my man looks good in anything.

His blue eyes shine but not in the mischievous way they usually do. They’re glassy with emotion I don’t think I can handle without bawling like a baby.

But as his steady hands take my shaky ones and hold firm, he grounds me and keeps me focused.

The officiant does his thing, talking about love between two souls, how love doesn’t discriminate, and how the beauty that is all-round encompassing love doesn’t see gender.

It perfectly describes Talon and me.

Our lives have been intertwined in some form since I was eighteen years old. Now, twelve years later, we’re sealing it with a promise.

When it’s time to say my vows, I take in a deep breath.

“I know marriage isn’t going to be easy. It’s not going to be a touchdown on a breakaway or a completed pass to the end zone.”

There are a few snickers at the football analogies, but what do they expect? I may be retired, but I’m a football player in my heart.

“But being married to you will be the easiest thing I’ve ever done, because all I’ve wanted since I met you was to be with you. Next to you. I want nothing more than for you to be happy, and I’m honored, humbled, and eager to call myself your husband.”

Talon’s lips quirk the tiniest bit, and when it’s his turn, he’s the calm and collected Talon he is on the field. Always cool under pressure.

“I don’t have many regrets in life. I’m not the type of person to hold on to the past. But if I could go back and change anything, I’d change being so blinded, young, and dumb when it came to you. You were my best friend throughout college, and I should have known that empty feeling in my heart when I graduated was because of you. We might have lost our way for a while there, but we found each other again, and I don’t ever want to be apart.”

I will not cry. I will not cry.

I’m a big, masculine, offensive tackle.

We don’t do tears.

Talon continues. “In the words of a great philosopher, ‘If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day, so I never have to live without you.’”

Aww fuck, I’m crying.

He leans in and whispers, “That great philosopher is Winnie the Pooh, by the way.”

I burst out laughing. Fucking Talon.

His vows are him in a nutshell.

We exchange rings, I manage to hold my shit together for the rest of the ceremony, and after we’re officially married, we seal it with a kiss that’s tame compared to how we usually go at it.

Lucky too, because at that precise moment, a photographer, who’s not the one we hired, appears out of nowhere and snaps the money shot.

That guy’s bills have been paid for the next year.

He takes off running immediately after, and Officer Silas and a guy who I think is our florist run after him. We’ll let them deal with it, because nothing can tear us down right now.

Walking back down the aisle with my brand-new husband, I don’t let go of his hand for even a second while everyone stops us to congratulate and hug us.

And at the very end, there stands eight guys who are just as much family as our blood relatives.

Our agent, Damon. His non-husband, Maddox. Our brother on the field, Matt. Sarcastic Noah. My future work colleague, Lennon. The hockey players, Ollie and Soren, and the baby brother of the group, Jet.

They all wear matching smiles.

They’re all so important to us.

Since our Fiji vacation, we’ve all been spread around the country. We don’t get to see each other often as individual couples, let alone get to be in the same room together as an entire group.

Talon holds out his arms. “Group hug?”

“Group hug,” we all say.

Then we’re all arms as we form a huddle, and I can only hope that the hand on my ass belongs to my husband.

A little whine interrupts our lovefest.

“Aww, is that my honorary niece?” Talon coos and pulls away.

Matt and Noah’s daughter, Jackie, squirms in her stroller.

“Hi, baby girl.” Talon picks her up. “Did you get jealous of all the hugging because no one was paying attention to you?”

Damn.

I have no idea why that’s so hot, but it is. It warms my heart.

I can’t wait for Talon to be a dad and for us to do it together.

The baby breaks into a wide smile at her uncle Talon, and Matt and Noah both melt behind him.