Epilogue

Liam

I stood on the sidelines, my breath heaving and energy coursing through me. Even at the end of a game when I was worn out, I felt energized. I rested my hands on my hips and glanced around for Alex. He’d just given us a shut out against the other team, cleanly blocking every shot they had. I finally found him standing beside Coach with a few of our teammates surrounding him. Per usual, Alex looked entirely unmoved by the moment. Just another day’s work for him. Meanwhile, he was getting clapped on the back, and everyone in his immediate vicinity looked overjoyed.

I wove through the team to his side. “Well done,” I said with a nod when I caught his eyes.

Alex cracked a grin. “That it was. Great play today. As usual, you led a bloody brilliant offense.”

I rolled my eyes. “Can’t take any credit, can you? Not throwing shade at the rest of us, but we won because you made sure they didn’t score.”

Alex shrugged. “Right then.” He looked past my shoulder, another grin stretching across his face.

“What?” I asked.

“Here comes your girl,” he replied, his eyes flicking to me and away again. “Hey Olivia.”

I felt Olivia’s presence behind me as soon as he spoke. I turned just as she reached my side, slipping her hand through the crook of my elbow. “Hey Alex. Great game as usual.” She caught my eyes and leaned up to kiss my cheek before turning back to Alex. “I never know exactly what to say to you after a game like this because it’s all about what you made not happen,” she said with a grin.

Alex shrugged. I glanced down at Olivia. “He’s bloody awful at taking a compliment.”

She smiled up at me, her green eyes bright in the crisp air. Just like that, nothing more than a smile from her while my teammates bustled around us and the stadium noise rumbled with the crowd filing out of their seats, and my heart clenched. The air around us heated as if lit by a flame. My body tightened and I leaned forward, about to kiss her, when Alex cleared his throat. I glanced back to him, arching a brow. Alex merely nudged his chin to my other side where I saw a cameraman approaching with his camera trained on Olivia and I. Instead of a kiss, I leaned down to whisper in her ear.

“Later, luv.” I couldn’t resist dropping a quick kiss in the delectable curve of her neck. As soon as I lifted my head, the cameraman and an interviewer from a sports channel were upon us. Thanks to the focus on Alex’s shut out, I got away with only a few questions and managed to keep Olivia’s hand firmly in mine the entire time.

I was in the thick of my second season with the Seattle Stars. We were on track to win our division this year. After we got through the after game interviews, I made my way to the locker room, reluctantly leaving Olivia to wait. She assured me she’d meet me out front and pick up pizza for us. I showered in record time, my mind spinning back over the last year. The mess I’d felt inside after my mum’s death, my move to the US and my knee injury felt like distant memories. I still missed my mum, missed her like crazy sometimes, but time had dulled its sharpness. As torn as I’d been about signing with the Stars at the time, I wouldn’t change a thing now. I felt the same about my knee. Without those two events, I’d never have met Olivia. About now, she was the sun in my universe and everything that led to her was bathed in its glowing light.

I hurried out of the locker room, glancing over my shoulder when I heard a chuckle from Alex as I passed by his locker. “What?” I asked.

He’d been in the midst of pulling a sweatshirt on and tossed the hood back once it was over his head and shoulders. His brown eyes held a teasing gleam when he met mine. “Mate, it’s a good thing Olivia’s so good for you because you can never get to her fast enough.”

I shrugged and grinned. “Bloody right about that. You’ll find out someday,” I said with a wink as I spun around and made my way down the long hallway that led outside. I pushed through the doors into the late afternoon sunshine. I found Olivia right away. She sat on a bench nearby with Bentley beside her, his leash looped around her hand and a pizza box beside her. She often brought Bentley to games with her because Coach was kind enough to let us leave him in his office during the actual game. I stopped where I was and just looked at Olivia.

She’d come to the game from the clinic with her hair pulled back in a tidy knot perched on top of her head and wearing a fitted black skirt and rich blue blouse, buttoned almost to her neck of course. I couldn’t wait to take her hair down and tear her blouse apart. She was still working at the clinic and managing a waitlist of high-profile cases. She’d received a written reprimand from the clinic’s board for her involvement with me. Dr. Adams had actually met with me and given me the option to file a complaint if I felt the need to do so. I’d burst out laughing and assured her it was entirely unnecessary. Even then, I’d been relieved at the outcome because I knew it had weighed on Olivia. She was by nature an honest person who played by the rules. I was happy to be the one who’d inspired her to break a few.

I suddenly realized I was stuck in place when someone bumped me as they walked by. Olivia had that effect on me—everything else fell away around her. I gave my head a shake and walked to her. Bentley leapt off the bench, his entire body wiggling when he saw me. “Bentley boy,” I said as I knelt beside him to greet him.

I straightened when Olivia stood up. I hooked my arm around her waist, pulling her flush against me and fitting my mouth over hers when she opened it, presumably to speak. She gasped, and I took full advantage, sweeping my tongue inside and groaning when hers slid against mine. A low whistle nearby nudged me out of my haze, and I pulled back, looking down at Olivia. Her cheeks were flushed, pretty and pink, and her eyes were bright. “Hi,” she said simply.

“Hello luv. That was for the kiss I didn’t get right after the game.”

She giggled and started to step back, but I held her firm. “Liam,” she whispered fiercely, pausing to take a breath. “There’s people everywhere, and you know any minute now someone will take another picture that will end up…”

“Online,” I finished for her. “I don’t give a bloody damn. I love you and I don’t care if the whole world knows it.”

Bentley nudged my knee. I glanced down and followed his gaze to see a photographer, likely from one of the sports news teams departing from the stadium, with his camera aimed right at us. I looked back to Olivia, gesturing over my shoulder. “There, see already done. Now let’s go home, so I can have you all to myself.”

I couldn’t resist giving her bottom a squeeze as I slid my hand down to reach for hers. The flush on her cheeks deepened, and she stopped where she was, glancing up at me again. “Well, if we’re going to be in the gossip pages again, we might as well give them something good.”

My oh-so-proper fiancée slipped her hand around my neck and yanked me down for another kiss.

***

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In the meantime, please enjoy the following excerpt from Naughty Wish, the next book in the Brit Boys Romance Series!

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JH Croix