Maxim (Carolina Reapers 10)

Evie smiled at me and I grinned right back.

Out of all of them, mine was the best, period. No argument.

Pictures were taken, the press rallied around us, and it was easily another hour until I could fight through the crowd to get to my girl.

“Maxim!” she shouted, her curls bobbing among the other heads in the hallway, and I shamelessly walked right through the melee.

“Evangeline,” I picked her up and she wound her arms around my neck.

Home. This was my home.

Our mouths met in a hard, deep kiss that was over too quickly as the crowd celebrated and moved around us. “I love you,” I said against her ear, closing my eyes and letting the happiness consume me.

“I love you,” she promised, pulling back only to smile at me before leaning in for another kiss.

“Ew!” Mila shouted. “You guys are so gross.”

I set Evie down and pulled my sister into a hug, then threw my other arm around my brother. “I’m so glad you guys are here. It wouldn’t have been complete without you.”

“Admit it, my mad coaching skills as a kid is what got you here,” David teased.

“I’ll never deny it.” I took the hat off my head and put it on his. “You have been the best big brother I ever could have asked for.”

He blinked quickly and shook his head. “I can’t take this.”

“Stop, we have a billion of them in the locker room, and that one is now yours.” Because even though he’d been teasing, he’d also been right. I would never have survived my childhood without him. Never would have made it back inside on those nights without him helping me out in every way he could.

He nodded, and I hugged him tight, slapping him on the back, knowing it just as easily could have been him in these skates if he hadn’t been injured.

Then I turned back to Evie and lifted her into the air as she laughed. “You are the perfect trophy.”

She slid down my body as I lowered her slightly and stole another kiss that I happily gave. “What were you thinking out there?”

“That it was the best moment of my life,” I admitted. “For now.”

“For now?” She brushed back my hair, even though it was sweaty and I was a hot mess. She’d never cared, and that was one of the reasons I loved her so fiercely.

“Yeah. For now. I know one day I’ll have an even better moment.” I held her by her ass so she was eye level with me.

“Oh yeah? And what exactly is going to beat out winning the Stanley Cup?” she asked, her eyes sparkling.

“The day you say you’ll marry me,” I whispered with a kiss. “The day you walk down the aisle.” Another brush of my lips. “The day you tell me you’re pregnant.” I nipped her bottom lip. “Then again, maybe the day I get you pregnant, because that’s always the best moment.”

She huffed a laugh against my lips and laced her fingers behind my head. “You seem awfully confident that I’ll say yes to all these plans, Maxim Zolotov.”

“I’ve never been afraid to work for what I want.” I kissed her longer, deeper, and a little too explicitly for such a public space. “And I want everything with you.”

“You have me,” she promised. “For as long as you want me, I’m yours.”

“Let’s start with forever and see how it goes.”

“Yeah,” she agreed with another kiss. “Forever sounds good.”

EPILOGUE

THREE YEARS LATER

Evie

“I’ve dreamed about this day since I was a little girl.” I turned to Mila, who smiled at me and then rapidly fanned her face.

“We can’t cry right now!” she chided me, but laughed as she squeezed my hands. “You look so damn beautiful.”

“I feel beautiful,” I admitted. “I feel like the luckiest girl in the world.

Draped in a custom-made wedding gown of silk and chiffon that Bristol had designed herself, who wouldn’t? Knowing Maxim was only one aisle away, waiting for me at the alter? I could’ve flown if Mila asked me to.

Three years.

Three wonderful years since Maxim had told me he loved me. Since I’d let go of my own insecurities and believed him when he said he wanted me and only me. Sure, those insecurities cropped up from time to time—for both of us—but we’d always had our fierce love for each other to round us out. To keep us on solid ground when the world seemed against us.

And now, we were going to make it absolutely official.

“I always knew you were going to be my sister one day,” Mila said, looping her arm through mine and leading me out of the small dressing room in the venue we’d rented out for the occasion. We’d had to go much bigger than I ever planned, but with a family as big as the Reapers, you had to make room. The family had changed over the years, thanks to trades and retirements, but we all stayed close.