The last game of the season was much more exciting than the first. Watching all of the players work in perfect unison was absolutely glorious, and my VIP seat gave me the up-close and personal view I never would have wanted when this whole thing began.

It was a tight game; the crowd roared, the competition was fierce, and my two favorite jocks were playing like never before. The atmosphere warmed my blood better than coffee these days, and I didn’t even notice the cold anymore.

Joel hit the winning goal, ripping me to my feet in an ecstatic scream. With that one shot, he’d officially matched Dante’s scores for the season, bringing them to a solid tie. The teams did their good-sportsmanship show, then Dante broke away from the pack to skate over to me.

Sweeping his helmet off of his head, Dante shook out his curls, leaned over the wall, and kissed me soundly. Joel swooped past, cheering for us even as the crowd cheered for him. I smiled against my boyfriend’s mouth, the whole of my being consumed with bliss.

“Congratulations,” I told him as I pulled back to gaze into his glittering eyes.

“Couldn’t have done it without you, babe,” he said, kissing me again. “Thai Palace, one hour.”

“I thought that was just for the team,” I said, nuzzling his cold nose with mine.

“You made the team, darlin’. You’re coming.”

“Yes, dear,” I said, rolling my eyes.

Dante pulled a face at me, pretending like he was going to jump over the wall.

I laughed and pushed him away, making him glide backwards across the ice. He blew me a kiss and followed his team into the locker rooms.

A happy sigh escaped me. My own column, a star athlete for a boyfriend…the past six months would mark a win on the calendar of my life. I was floating on clouds as I moved through the crowd and out the door into the unseasonably warm April afternoon.

I kept the windows down and the music up as I wound lazily through the city streets, taking the scenic route to Thai Palace. Dante would be a while, and I didn’t feel like hanging out in the parking lot by myself. I drove around a park I didn’t recognize and followed the curving avenue as it kissed the river bank and curved back to guide wandering eyes to a towering hotel.

Something about the way it glittered made me pull over, just to take it all in.

It was built like a modern-day castle, all marble and glass with dizzying spires and wrought iron balconies which wrapped around the whole of the building. A glass enclosure behind it hinted at an indoor pool, and cherry blossoms floated on the breeze, framing the hotel in romance and lazy springtime dreams.

I could have written a million stories in that moment, fanciful fictions filled with princesses and knights, princes and paupers. I’d never considered fiction before that moment, but something about the picture tickled my creative brain awake.

“Oh, shoot,” I muttered as I glanced at my watch.

I had spent too long lost in my own fantasies. I pulled back into the empty road and made a beeline for the restaurant, less than a mile away in a completely different world. Bits of paper took the place of cherry blossoms on the breeze, and Thai Palace’s busted sign was the only thing that glittered.

That didn’t matter, though, because there was something much more exciting there. Just as I pulled in, the convoy pulled up behind me, led by Dante’s sleek convertible. I could hear his music before I could see his face, priming my affection for his attention.

As I closed my door, he scooped me into a massive bear hug. Laughter bubbled out of me in a spiral as he spun me around, making me feel like one of those princesses I had dreamed up only minutes before.

“You make one hell of a Prince Charming,” I murmured against his hair.

“You know it,” he said, tilting his grinning face up to press his lips to mine.

The world around us faded away as he teased me with his tongue, flicking it in and out, never letting me tangle with it. A frustrated groan propelled my own tongue forward, cornering him. He chuckled into my mouth and surrendered, giving me what I wanted.

Whoops and hollers from the team didn’t even cut through my enraptured haze. We slow danced to the music of the spring breeze in the busy parking lot.

“Hey, we’re splitting this bill,” Joel’s voice interrupted. “Get your butts in here before I get stuck with the whole thing.”

Dante and I separated with twin smiles, and he set me down gently. He wrapped his massive arm around my shoulder, then Joel sidled up beside me and planted a friendly kiss on my cheek.

“My boys,” I sighed happily. “Never would I have predicted this.”

“Tell me about it—if you’d told me a year ago that Joel and I would be friends after chasing the same woman, I would have laughed at you.”

“Us chase her? I’m pretty sure you have that backwards,” Joel said with a wicked grin.

“Let’s call it mutual chasing,” I said, amused.

“You chased me until I caught you,” Dante pointed out, grinning.

“My grandma used to say that all the time,” I laughed. “Her one regret was that she never had an ill-advised passionate affair.”

“I think you made up for that,” Joel said wryly.

I couldn’t deny it, so I just stuck my tongue out at him. He made to bite it, but stopped short under Dante’s glare. Joel smiled apologetically over my head, and I rolled my eyes.

“You two just can’t stop, can you?” I asked.

“Stop what?” Dante asked innocently.

“The competition,” I said. “You kind of won, Dante.”

“Not yet, I haven’t,” Dante said pensively.

I cocked an inquisitive eyebrow, but he just shook his head at me and kissed my hand. I knew better than to press him by now.

Dante was a man of timing; whatever he had to say would surface eventually.

The whole team was seated and waiting for us when we walked in. They filled the little room in the back, surrounded by pictures of their team in general, and Dante specifically. I noticed an empty frame on the wall in a spot which had definitely been empty the last time I had come here. I wondered if the team had brought Jack another picture for his collection.

High-energy conversation quickly distracted me, followed by piles and piles of food. The team had apparently ordered the entire menu, and intended for everyone to eat family-style.

It was comfortable, despite the fact that I was sorely outnumbered by massive, high-spirited men. It gave me the little-sister feeling that I hadn’t had since my group of guy friends in high school, and I found myself slipping into a pleasantly vague nostalgia.

Halfway through the meal, Dante stood.

“Good season, boys!”

They answered him with a cheer.

“You trained good; you played good; you did great. To my brothers, my lover, and Joel…”

The table broke into laughter at that, and Joel narrowed his eyes in a playful glare.

“You did damn good.”

The guys cheered and I blew Dante a kiss.

“There’s one more thing I need to do before I can call this season a win, though,” Dante said somberly.

Silence fell over the table, and all of a sudden, all eyes were on me. My mouth went dry and I swallowed hard, extremely self-conscious with very little idea why. I looked up at Dante for reassurance, but he was smoldering down at me with a layered intensity that I had never seen before.

I regretted indulging in the delicious Thai food as my stomach twisted into a hard, anxious knot.

His eyes leveled with mine, never breaking the connection, as he knelt down on one knee. Panic and excited anticipation crashed through my brain, short-circuiting every thought in a confused cluster. His hand slipped into his pocket and reappeared, holding my future in a small velvet box.

I sucked in a breath, frantically searching my mind for my answer before he had even asked the question. I was going to miss it. I forced myself to focus.

“Livia Ramos,” he began in that low, honeyed tone which made my body quake. “Without you, I would still be a kid denying reality. I would have missed out on a best friend, a fulfilling future, and a resolved relationship with the past. You’ve turned my whole life around; will you walk the new road with me? Not just until you get tired of me, not until I start to annoy you, but forever?”

With the last word, he flipped the box open.

“I need to hear the words,” I whispered, my brain still running circles of disbelief.

“Livia Ramos, my wordsmith, my brilliant, beautiful love…will you marry me?”

My mouth was dry. I swallowed once and then again, nodding furiously as tears pricked at my eyes.

“I need to hear the words,” he said gently, a cocky smile on his face.

“Yes, Dante Drake, I’ll marry you,” I choked out.

A happy sob refused to be contained as I flung my arms around his neck, knees hitting the floor, mouth pressed frantically to his. I felt like I was flying and drowning all at once, lost in a whirlwind of emotion.

He trembled in my arms, and after a moment, I couldn’t tell if the tears on my cheeks were mine or his. The boys cheered for us, a camera flashed beside us, but all I cared about was Dante.

I could have held onto him forever, but the boys weren’t having it. They pulled us apart eventually, all of them talking at once. Congratulations, back slapping, cheek kissing, and then dessert, brought out by Jack himself.

“Congratulations!” he said with a big grin. “Stay for one hour, ice cream and wine on the house.”

He nearly skipped away, and I raised a curious brow at Dante.

“Why are we staying for an hour?” I asked him.

“For the free ice cream and wine, of course!” he dodged with a wink.

All I could do was roll my eyes, and I did so with gusto. Dante laughed at me, and Joel bounced in his seat like an excited child. Conversation turned to summer fitness and next season’s strategies.

I listened intently, soaking it all in. It fascinated me to learn how people in other professions thought about them; it seemed to me that anyone who was passionate about their work was never really “off”. I certainly never was, I realized. I was constantly collecting information, storing it on mental note cards for potential future use.

Suddenly, Jack was at my elbow with a large envelope and a felt-tipped silver pen.

“Will you sign first, future Mrs. Drake?” he asked with a huge grin.

“Um…what am I signing?” I asked.

“Your engagement photo!” he said triumphantly, pulling the picture out.

My hands flew up to my face as a rush of emotion rose in my throat. The photo was absolutely gorgeous with Dante and me locked in a classy but obviously passionate kiss. The ring glittered from its box, nestled in his massive palm. Behind us were the cheering faces of the Harriers. It had been printed in black and white, which only made it better.

“Oh, I can’t write on this,” I gasped. “It’s too perfect!”

“That’s why I brought two,” Jack said with a chuckle as he pulled a second envelope out from behind his back. “This one is for you to keep. Hang it on your wall and tell everybody that it happened at Thai Palace.”

“Thank you,” I blubbered as tears spilled down my cheeks.

I handed the second photo to Dante for safekeeping as I signed Jack’s picture. I tried not to cry onto it, but I was pretty sure I ruined the bottom left corner. A quick glance at the picture frame on the wall suggested that it wouldn’t matter, which was a relief.

Jack passed the picture and the pen around the group until everyone had signed it. He bowed at us quickly, then disappeared with the picture and frame.

He reappeared a moment later and hung the photo on the wall.

“Now, you’re immortal,” he told me with a big smile. “Just like your future husband.”

A giddy laugh broke from my throat, easing the tension in my chest with a rolling wave of delight. I moved my chair closer to Dante’s so I could cling to him, and ended up sitting in his lap as he cradled me in his strong, warm arms.

My future husband, I thought, trying it out. Yeah. Yeah, I like that.