Page 42

J ordan

Five years later…

Okay, so maybe I wasn’t a plant person. I frowned, staring at the very crispy, very brown succulents overtaking the little window in our kitchen.

I’d bought them to be our little babies, but they were not thriving.

Hell, they weren’t even surviving at this point.

I looked up what to do on my phone just as the garage door opened and Preston walked in.

“Are you naked for me?” he barked out, his usual greeting. Preston wasn’t typical by any means, and neither was our relationship.

“Not yet,” I called back, noting the blip of excitement deep in my stomach. They had an away game for the Missouri Ravens hockey team—Preston played pro and loved it—and I hadn’t seen him in three days. Way too long for me. “But that can be arranged if you ask nicely. ”

His footsteps thudded from the hallway to the kitchen.

I loved this house we bought together once we knew he’d play in St. Louis.

It was three bedrooms, three bathrooms, with a huge backyard and a living room that we made totally us.

It had every possible game console, and the walls were lined with photos.

So many memories and collages. My favorite one was from when we’d graduated. It was Logan, him, and I wearing the biggest smiles ever, and it brought me so much joy. I turned in time to see him enter the room, and his face lit up like it always did.

If I learned anything from the last five years, it was that Preston (and therapy) taught me love wasn’t conditional. He showed me I didn’t have to earn love, that it was given freely. “Hi,” I said, blushing at the joy and admiration on his face. “I missed you.”

He didn’t respond. Instead, he lifted me up and set me on the counter, burying his face in my neck as he squeezed me. “Need to smell you.”

It was our joke, but it was also serious.

He felt like home to me, and I smelled like home to him.

I leaned into him, everything finally feeling right again.

It was normal to have distance time to time, but when he was gone, my body knew it.

I read once that when you were around your person , your body regulated more and relaxed.

That was how I was with him. I just felt better. “How was the flight?”

“Fine. You weren’t there.”

“Well, I’m not needed on away games, Charming.” I tried to pull back, but he held on tighter, kissing my neck. “Plus, Mary wanted me here for the charity event.”

Oh, yeah, I worked for the same hockey team, doing PR and events. It was a dream scenario because we worked together. We didn’t cross paths on the job much, but it was still cool. Plus, when families traveled with the team, it was usually legal families. Not girlfriends.

“I want you on the plane.” He glanced up, his eyes softening as he stared at me. “You look beautiful, damn.” He scanned me, his lips curving. “Come here.”

He cupped the back of my neck, pulling me closer before he kissed me. It was a hi, welcome home, let’s get naked sorta kiss, laced with a lot of love and possibly frustration. He nipped my lip, a deep growl leaving his chest, and I stilled him with a hand over his heart.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, studying his expressions. We spoke for an hour last night, FaceTiming until I fell asleep, so if something bothered him, it had happened this morning.

“Nothing.” He pushed off the counter, away from me, and paced the kitchen. He stilled, staring at the window. “Our plants are dead.’

“Yes, I was trying to figure out the best way to save them, but you’re a shit liar, Preston. Tell me what’s going on.”

He shook his head, sighing as he stared at me. “It doesn’t matter. It’s something I’ll get over on my own, okay? I don’t want you worrying about it.”

“Uh, what?” I jumped off the counter, my temper flaring. “You know I can’t handle a response like that. Of course, I’m gonna worry. I’m worried now.”

“What if we cuddled naked for a bit first?” he asked, his voice raising an octave as he gave me a sheepish smile.

“Preston, what’s wrong? Please tell me. Did I do something to upset you?” Even though I felt secure and stronger, my insecurity about pushing him away flared up from time to time. He’s not leaving you. He loves you. He’s with you.

“No, baby, you didn’t.” His tone softened as he closed his eyes. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have even said anything. ”

“But you did.” I played with the end of my shirt, the hem suddenly super interesting.

He stilled my hands, intertwining our fingers as he stared at me with questions in his eyes.

He kept opening his mouth, then closing it, stepping back, then trying again.

My nerves were shot. Like, totally shot.

After a minute of watching this, I blurted out, “Just say it! Tell me what you’re avoiding because you’re killing me right now! ”

“Can we play odds?”

That… was not what I was expecting. “Uh, sure?”

He kissed my wrist, staring at my left hand with tenderness before he met my gaze with a fierce determination. “Odds you marry me. Odds you take my last name and be my wife. Odds you travel with me everywhere so we don’t have to be apart. Odds you become mine forever.”

“Oh my god,” I whispered, unable to do much else. His words repeated over in my head, and I couldn’t believe it. We never talked about marriage, not really since college. He promised we’d always be okay regardless, but my first thought wasn’t hell no.

It was duh.

He must’ve sensed my hesitation because he winced and ran a hand over his face. “Fuck, I shouldn’t?—”

“Three,” I said, unable to stop my smile. It was our inside joke. We always picked three for odds when someone really wanted to do something. We would say three, and we knew to say two. “Odds are three.”

Preston froze, like he couldn’t believe I said that. It was endearing and cute as hell as he stood there, mouth gaping. I reached over and closed his jaw, unable to stop my own giggle. “Regret asking to play?”

He shook his head, his face serious as he swallowed. “Three, two, one… ”

“Two.”

“Two.”

Preston closed his eyes, his chest heaving as he fell down to one knee and pulled out a box.

“Jordan,” he began, his voice shaking in a way that had my own eyes prickling.

“There is no one I love more than you. I want to dedicate my life to loving you, living with you, and creating our future. We don’t have to get married anytime soon.

I don’t care if it takes us year. I don’t care how or when or who is there.

I just know that I want you. I want you by my side all the time—you are my fucking other half, and I want to spend my life showing you what it’s like to be loved.

Jordan, will you promise to, at some point in our life together, marry me? ”

My heart beat so fast I couldn’t breathe. He was so beautiful, so perfect. His hair fell on his forehead, and his eyes shimmered with all the words he said. He loved me so perfectly and amazingly. My knees wobbled, and he caught me, a smirk growing on his handsome face.

“Breathe for me.” He smiled, kissing the side of my mouth. “We can go slow. As slow as you want. I just want you as my wife.”

I nodded, my tears spilling over, but he clicked his tongue. “No, I want you to answer me. Be clear.”

“Y-yes. I want to marry you, Preston.” I cried harder now. “I-I love you so fucking much. I want to be yours. I want my last name to be Charming. I want to be with you. Yes to all of it.”

“Thank fuck. ” He yanked me against him again, his arms trembling around me. “I was so nervous. The whole team gave me a pep talk—and Logan.”

“What! Logan knew about this?”

“Yes. We’ve been plotting for a while.”

“That bitch.”

Life had a funny way of working out. The two people who meant the world to me were still the most important people in my life, and they proved that love wasn’t a negotiation.

I saw Logan once a month for a long weekend—I always flew to her since her and Quentin had two babies—and we FaceTimed twice a week.

Her parents would call me once a month to catch up, and every holiday, we alternated between their house and Preston’s parents.

They made up too. They did a vow renewal two years ago, and Preston shed a few tears.

So of course she would be in on this plan.

She probably cried when Preston talked to her about this.

He cackled, but it died down when he kissed me gently. “You know I wouldn’t leave you, even if you said no, right? You don’t feel pressured into doing this?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper. “I’m yours regardless.”

“God, you are so perfect.” I clung to him, trying to crawl up his torso and be closer to him. “I know that. I truly do know that. I don’t know when it happened, but I’m okay marrying you. The second you asked, I wanted it. No doubts. Let’s get hitched.”

He kissed my forehead, taking the ring out of the box before sliding it onto my ring finger.

It had a beautiful circle diamond, a light blue and a purple gem on either side.

“I needed a big diamond so everyone knows you’re completely unavailable.

You work with professional athletes and are fucking beautiful, so yeah, call me a caveman, but I wanted a big ass diamond on my woman to tell those assholes to back off. ”

“Okay, it was a harmless flirt,” I teased. One of his teammates didn’t know we were together and hit on me, asking me out, with Preston in the room. It was funny … for me.

He shook his head and continued. “The purple and blue are you and me. We belong together, no matter what. For the rest of our lives, it’s you and me.”

“God, I love it.” It fit perfectly, and I laughed. “Courthouse wedding. Your parents, brother, Logan, Quentin, their kiddos, and the Harts. That’s all who I want there. Or what if we elope and have a small party? Oh! I could plan it!”

I had no contact with my mom now. Therapy made me realize what brought me joy and stress, and she was a trigger. I’d been happier the last three years without her.

“Baby,” Preston said, his voice raspy. “Whatever you fucking want, I’m there. Again, no rush. Seeing this ring on your finger is a fantasy I never thought would come true. Can you get naked and wear just my ring?”

“You bet your ass I can.”

We laughed as we ran to our bedroom, stripping and giggling as we fumbled with our clothes.

I couldn’t believe that me, the girl who thought no one would stick around, was engaged.

And I was happy about it. I wasn’t scared.

I could instantly picture a life ten, twenty, thirty years from now, with Preston Charming’s smiling face always by my side.

Love was a cycle, unpredictable but so, so worth it. Preston and Logan showed me, and I owed them my life. Now, I got to spend the rest of mine showing Preston how much I loved him.

I couldn’t wait.