As soon as Evie and I touched back down in Seattle, we were told we'd gone viral. I shouldn't have been surprised, but there wound up being passerby footage of the L.A fans pulling her skirt and setting me off like a cannon.

I wasn't particularly pleased about that moment being viewed by millions, and played repeatedly on sports talk shows, but of course, Iain was and I knew why.

STRONG MAN, STRONGER WOMAN.

That was one of many headlines that credited Evie for holding me back. Some of the stories insinuated that she had me whipped at this point – probably just to piss me off – but it didn't. I knew well that Evie had saved me from a guaranteed suspension that would've probably pushed my name further into the Empires' trade talks.

So safe to say, I didn't give two shits about what the media was trying to say. For all I knew, she'd just saved my career and I owed her the world for it.

"You do realize that shit was exactly what I was trying to help you avoid, right?" Iain said when he called me after my win in Seattle, after I'd gotten home from a peaceful, heckle-free dinner with Evie. 

"Yeah, man. I do," I conceded distractedly as I sat at the end of the bed in the hotel room.

"Jesus. Did I just hear you admit to being wrong?" Iain laughed.

"Sure," I smirked, too tired to come up with a rebuttal. There was also the fact that I was distracted as all hell as I watched Evie wander out of the bathroom, freshly showered and hugging a towel to her tits. I failed to suppress my groan as I watched the towel droop as she let go of it to grab her toothbrush out of her bag on the couch. 

"Maddox."

I ignored Iain to grin at Evie as she let the towel just fall the rest of the way to the floor, walking around the room ass naked.

“Drew. Jesus,” Iain muttered, sounding both amused and disgusted. “Considering you’re openly groaning on the phone with me while undoubtedly watching Evie do something or another, I guess we can take this time to stop pretending that she isn’t actually your girlfriend. Right?”

“Yeah, probably,” I said as I enjoyed my view of Evie leaning naked in the bathroom doorframe, smiling innocently at me as she brushed her teeth.

“Thought so, prick,” Iain said with a snort. “Anyway, I’d give you a lecture on holding onto her for the sake of your career, but judging from how ridiculously lovey dovey you’ve sounded throughout this phone call, I don’t have to worry about that. I’ll just leave off on the fact that the Empires saw that L.A debacle as your crazy ass turning a new leaf. As far as I know, they’re pretty much sold that you’re a changed man,” he said. “So long story short, you're lucky as shit you had your girl that night, Maddox."

That night. In general.

"So, am I fully safe now or what?" I asked as Evie came back out in one of my T-shirts and a pair of black lace panties. I grinned when she climbed straight into my lap where she belonged, letting me wrap my arms around her and suck on her bottom lip as Iain answered my question.

“You’re as safe as it gets, Drew. From what I’ve heard, the team’s no longer looking to make any moves before the trade deadline. Talks have pretty much slowed to a stop.”

“Good to know,” I mumbled, barely listening now as Evie pushed me onto my back, rubbing my shoulders as she kissed me gently. “God, I could get used to this,” I murmured to her just as Iain cursed under his breath.

“Alright, asshole, I’m not listening to you whisper sweet nothings all night. See you when you get back to New York.”

I laughed when Iain hung up, tossing the phone aside and letting Evie massage my left forearm with both hands as she straddled me. I wanted to let my eyes roll back because it felt so damned good, but I didn’t want to miss the view. I narrowed my eyes at her as she simply smiled down at me.

“What?” she giggled.

“Nothing. Just wondering what I did to deserve you,” I replied. “Pretty sure I’ve been nothing but an asshole my whole life.”

“Stop,” she said firmly, looking adorably annoyed. “Stop letting everyone else sum you up with a buzzword or a headline. You know you’re not the person they say, and you don’t have to bear this burden forever, Drew. I’m not saying you have to tell the world the truth about Tim and Pattie, but I’m just saying you should give yourself a break from being the bad guy.” Her eyes were locked on mine as she brought my fingertips to her lips, kissing them gently as she continued massaging my forearm. “You’re not that person, Drew. You have such a big heart. You have so much good in you, and I think you’ve always known that. But now you have one more voice to say it to you, so maybe…” Her eyes floated off as she shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe you’ll believe it now.”

I looked up in her eyes, my heart aching in a way I’d never felt before, because it was a good ache. For the most part. It was an ache that made me wonder why it took so long for me to find this woman – why I’d been forced to go through so much pain and bullshit before God, or the universe or whoever it was gave me Evie.

But then I thought about what she’d said that morning we had in my bed.

Love is worth the risk. Even if it doesn’t pan out, it turns you a little closer in the right direction. Every time.

I wasn’t sold the day she told me, but I definitely was now. And as I gazed up into her eyes, I tried to say those three words I’d never uttered to a soul in my adult life.

I felt them. And I wanted to say them.

“I don’t know what I’d do without you, Evie,” I finally murmured, my heart beating faster at just the look of the smile on her face. It wasn’t what I wanted to say, but I still meant it.

Baby steps, I told myself.

At the very least, I was getting a little bit closer.

* * *

“Woman. You have to tell me everything,” Aly said as soon as I touched down in East Hampton.

Literally the day I got back to New York from California, she insisted I take a damned helicopter from the city to the Hamptons, because apparently, that was the lifestyle she was now used to with Emmett. And, apparently, she “required” my company for a variety of reasons.

“One, you must provide detailed reports on everything that went down between you and Drew in L.A because I saw the pictures and the video, and holy shit, woman,” she rambled a mile a minute as she drove me from the helipad to her house. “I took a whole day off to hear the juicy gossip so you better spill.”

“You took a day off just to hear about stuff I’ve basically told you via text already?” I giggled.

“Yes. Because I want to hear in detail how you managed to tame the Viking. Also, I need emotional support for a thing I have to do today.”

I cocked my head at her curiously.

“What thing?” I asked slowly, somehow already expecting what she was going to say before she said it. “Are you…?”

“Pregnant?” she blurted, restlessly drumming her fingers on the wheel as we stopped at a light. “Maybe. Hopefully.” She shoved her Ray Bans up her face as she turned to look at me. “Or not hopefully? Do I want to be pregnant before the wedding? I don’t know. I have no idea, and I’m freaking the fuck out.”

“Aly, breathe,” I laughed, squeezing her shoulder till I heard her breathing normally again. “If your biggest concern is rocking a baby bump at your wedding, you’re in good shape. Don’t worry. We’ll figure this out together, and my L.A stories will keep you nice and distracted while you wait for the results. Okay?”

“Yes. Perfect.”

I knew it probably broke some sort of code, but I wound up showing Aly some of Drew’s texts to me since I’d gotten home. It was all I could do to get her to calm down as we sat on the floor of her bedroom waiting for the results on the pregnancy tests.

“Holy shit, woman,” Aly murmured in awe as she read the last text Drew had sent me, that I already memorized by heart. I keep trying to pretend you’re in the stands. Tell me you’ll wait up for me when I get back on Sunday. I miss you like fucking crazy. “Evie… do you realize what a big deal it is for Drew to say that to someone?”

I tried not to beam like a giddy idiot, but I could tell from the way Aly burst into giggles that I’d failed.

“No wonder you’re not worried about that whole ‘I love you’ thing,” Aly mused as she reread the text.

Right. The whole ‘I love you’ thing.

“I don’t know why I said that,” I mumbled, thinking back on that unbelievable night. “I just… felt it in that moment.”

“Which means you meant it, and you had every right to say it,” Aly reasoned gently, with a little shrug. “You’re not like him, Evie. You say what you feel without going through a million walls and filters.”

“I guess,” I murmured, giving down at my hands in my lap. I had meant those three words when I said them, but it was easier for me to pretend they’d just slipped in the heat of the moment, especially since he didn’t say them back.

“I know you hate the idea of needing time, but give Drew a little more of it,” Aly said. “Look at those texts he sends you. You know he feels the same way about you. He just has a shit ton of mental blocks because of… whatever reasons. Reasons I’m sure you know by now.”

I bit my lip and blushed as I looked up at her.

“Yep. You do. He’s told you everything he never even told Emmett, hasn’t he?” Aly laughed, shaking her head.

“Maybe.”

“And you won’t even tell me what his deep dark secrets are because you love him! Oh my God,” Aly exclaimed incredulously as I covered my giggling face with my hands. “Evie. You two are so in love with you it’s ridiculous. You realize what this means right?”

“That your test results are ready and you can stop giving me a hard time now?”

“I was going to say that the four of us are about to have double dates like it’s our jobs, but sure, yes, let’s go see if I’m pregnant.” Aly jumped up to her feet so fast I had to laugh. It was so clear to me that she desperately wanted this baby – she was just trying to find reasons to be nervous about it because that was just the way we were.

When things were too perfect, we questioned it.

“Oh my God. Oh my God.”

“What? What?” I giggled excitedly, running into the bathroom to find Aly standing there holding the pregnancy test on the right – the one I’d taken with her in solidarity.

“Evie...” My heart thumped against my ribs as she turned to me with wide eyes. I shook my head, denying her two words before she could even say them to me. “You’re pregnant.”