She bites her lip, still unsure. “You promise?”
“Baby, I swear.”
She cocks her head. “You’re not just being nice?”
Angie’s eyes widen as I narrow mine. “Did you just call me nice?”
She starts to bubble with laughter. “No?”
I rise up to my knees and turn her over, smacking her ass a little hard but more playfully than anything. Her laughter and passionate cries fill the bedroom, and they set me on fire. When she tries to crawl away, I pull her back by her hips and flip her back over. She grins up at me, her eyes glazed and her lips parted. “I am not being nice.”
“Hell, I might keep saying it just for a repeat of that,” she teases, and I grin as I cup the back of her neck with one hand and her jaw with the other. I run my thumb along her bottom lip as I look deep into her sweet, beautiful eyes. She licks my thumb and then whispers, “I don’t want to live my life without you.”
“You don’t have to. I’m here.”
“I don’t like fighting with you.”
I scoff. “Baby, it’s gonna happen. We’re not perfect and we’ll make mistakes, but I only ever want to make up with you.”
She smiles. “I want that too.”
“You know why?”
Mischief plays in her eyes. “Because Owen Adler is such a nice guy?”
I grin. “No, it’s because Owen Adler is totally in love with Angie Paxton.”
Angie sighs softly. “Fine, give Angie a kiss, then.”
“Are we doing the third-person thing for long?” I ask, my lips moving along hers. “’Cause Owen is a pro.”
“Owen is a pain in my ass! Now kiss me because I’m gonna love you forever,” she demands, and with a grin, I do exactly what she says.
How can I say no to love from Angie Paxton for the rest of my life?
I can’t, and I won’t. Because she is a feeling I can’t stop chasing.
“Thank you,” she whispers against my lips. “For loving me.”
“Sugar, you don’t have to thank me for that. It’s as easy as breathing.”
“Still,” she says, her eyes dancing with mine. “I wouldn’t be who I am now without you.”
I smile. “Angie, you were born for greatness.”
“I may have been born to be yours.”
“Oh, that’s a given,” I say, kissing her lips. “Trust and believe, I’ve felt that in my soul for a long time.”
“And to think, I prolonged fate by hating you for so long.”
I fight back my laughter as I hold her gaze. “You never hated me! You were totally in love with me!”
She clicks her tongue at me. “Jeez, you’re so cocky.”
I laugh as I hold her jaw. “And, don’t forget, all yours.”
Her lips curve. “I’ll never ever forget that, Owen. Ever.”
“Or that I love you.”
“You’d never let me forget that,” she teases, and then with a sweet smile, she presses her nose into mine. “I love you. So much.”
My heart explodes in my chest, and damn if this feeling isn’t everything my parents made it appear to be. I’ve always wanted their love story, their kind of forever. But now that I’m with Angie—holding her, kissing her, and loving her—I realize it’s not their story I want. I want our story. Our forever.
And I know it’s going to be the best highlight reel ever.
Epilogue
Angie
* * *
“When do you head to Nashville?”
I meet Nico’s eyes as I take his blood pressure, but he looks away quickly. “Actually, right after this appointment.”
“Aviva’s sister lives there.”
“Yeah? She goes to Bellevue, right? I went there.”
He nods. He’s always a little nervous when he comes in. I try to talk to him to help him feel at ease. Today, the conversation has been easier than usual. “She does. I didn’t know you went there. But you graduated here, right?”
“I did,” I say proudly. “Top of my class.”
“Impressive,” he says, and when he smiles at me, it feels like winning the lottery. “I’m surprised you came in today. I know you’re excited to get home.”
“I didn’t want to miss our appointment since it could very well be your last,” I say excitedly.
“I appreciate that. Though, I doubt it’ll be the last we see of each other.”
I nod in agreement. “Oh, for sure. This is a different scene, and my goal is to help you when we’re here. But in our friend group, it’s about our friendship.”
“I want to thank you for not saying anything.”
I wink. “Even though I am legally unable to, I wouldn’t have anyway.” I write down his vitals. “So, how are you feeling?”
“Really good. I like this dosage and this med. I’m able to focus and feel like myself.”
I write that down in his chart, so damn happy. We’ve been working with Nico for a little over four months now. It was getting so bad for him there at the end, he actually missed the last three weeks of games for an “upper body injury.” No one questioned him, and they assumed it was a concussion. Not even Owen knew, but I did. Talk about something really hard not to tell your partner. The IceCats came in almost dead last this season, but they’re excited for next season with new additions coming. Owen is ready to hit the ice already, but we have my family gathering to get to and then Aruba before coming back to real life.