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My head snaps up when Leah’s back turns and she rushes off around the house.

I haven’t processed what just happened. All I know is Levi was hurt and came running towards me. I automatically picked him up to soothe him. I think he said “dada,” but I could’ve hallucinated that. Until he says it right into my chest where his head rests.

Fuck.

My heart pulls towards the little guy in my arms and the woman who’s getting farther and farther away from me. I look around and see Paige already watching me, tears falling down her cheeks. Why is she crying? And smiling?

She comes over and takes the struggling toddler from my arms. My focus turns back to Levi, worried about leaving him when he needs me.

“It’s okay, I got him. Go,” she says with a jerk of her head towards where Leah shot off.

“Thanks,” I say sincerely, placing a kiss on Levi’s head. He’s already distracted by the cheap Canada Day necklace Paige is sporting .

I cut through the house, making my way to the front door, knowing she wouldn’t leave but is probably hiding out somewhere.

“Leah?” I call into the empty house.

Or at least I thought it was empty.

Adam’s dad, Thomas, lifts his head from the couch, almost giving me a heart attack.

“She’s in the driveway,” he says, face hard.

“Thanks.”

I’m almost to the door when he stops me.

“Don’t hurt her.” His voice is cold, and not for a minute do I think the words are anything but a threat.

I don’t answer him as I wrench the door open and run down the steps. There are a bunch of cars in the driveway, but I find her hiding behind Paige’s Jeep.

“Leah.”

Her head snaps up, tears making tracks down her cheeks. She’s so beautiful. Even though her eyes are a little puffy, they shine, glittering at me. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the way she takes my breath away.

She wipes her tears quickly, probably thinking that’ll help hide them from me.

“Hey. Hi,” she says, flitting her hands around like she doesn’t know what to do with them.

“Hi.”

The silence stretches between us. She narrows her eyes when I don’t say anything else. I can’t. The words are stuck .

“That’s it? That’s all you have to say?” She throws her hands in the air, all the nervousness gone. “Ugh, you are so frustrating. Just say it. Say you’re leaving. It’s okay, honestly, I understand. Your dad is in Montreal and it’s time for you to go home. I get it. It’s just—” Her tears begin to flow again but she doesn’t wipe them away. I watch her, enchanted.

“It’s Levi ...” Her voice breaks and I take a step towards her, but she retreats. “Levi, he loves you and I ...” Her chest heaves and she doesn’t finish the sentence.

I desperately want her to finish the sentence.

“Leah.” I take another step and this time she stays where she is. “I’ve been a goalie for the last sixteen years, and sixteen years before that I worked towards being a goalie in the NHL. This is the life I have always wanted.”

Her eyes close and I take a deep breath, closing more of the distance between us.

“I’m scared because I don’t know what comes next. I don’t know what I would do without the NHL. I can’t give it up, not yet.”

As I watch her, I see a quick flash of emotion before she locks down her expression, face carefully blank. It kills me. The fresh tears in her eyes give her away. Shit, I’m doing this all wrong.

I step right into her space, wrapping her in my arms, where she should be. Where hopefully, she’ll always stay.

“I told Whyatt if he doesn’t extend my contract, I’m retiring.”

Her features turn from blank to confused, and her lips part slightly. So tempting, those lips .

“What are you saying?” Her skepticism is so endearing—she has no idea how much she means to me.

“I’ve been a goalie in the NHL and have four Stanley Cup wins. Three Olympic golds, one silver. I’ve been at the top of my game. The best. I’ve lived the life I wanted. Now, I want to live the life I’ve dreamed of. With you. With Levi.”

The tears fall freely from her eyes and I’m already there, catching them with my thumb and wiping them away.

“You’re staying?” She doesn’t sound like she believes me.

This woman. My smile can’t be contained, not when she looks at me as though she’s dreamed of me too.

“ Mon rêve, l’amour de ma vie,” I whisper right before my lips touch hers.

It takes her a second and then she’s kissing me back. Her arms come around my neck as I lift her so she doesn’t have to stretch. I could kiss this woman for the rest of my life.

As it happens, I plan on doing just that.

We get lost in each other—it could be five minutes or five years before we pull apart.

And because I can never guess what she’s going to say or do next, when I place her on her feet, she smacks my chest and shoves me away. Hard.

“Why the fuck would you say it like that?”

“Like what?”

“‘I can’t give it up, not yet,’” she imitates my deep voice, and I can’t stop my snort of laughter. Her hands go to her hips.

“Don’t you dare laugh. My heart was breaking! ”

That sobers me.

“I never want to break your heart, Leah,” I say before kissing her again. She lets me only for a second before pushing me away again. “I knew the Whales wanted to keep me, but Montreal was making a big play. I don’t want to move back to Montreal and even though I’m not ready, I’d retire before that happened. So I may or may not have leaked the notion I was thinking of retiring.

“I’m not sure why everyone was so surprised—I’m thirty-six. Once they heard the rumour, Montreal backed off and the Whales offered me a one-year extension. That’s why I was so late today. I was waiting for the contract to come through so I could sign it and get to you.”

“So you have one more year and then you’re done?”

“No, I have one more year to figure out what I’m going to do after, while hopefully showing you and Levi how much I love you.”

Her breath hitches. “You love me?”

“Yes.”

And again, I cannot predict her next words.

“Then you have to translate everything you’ve said to me in French because it’s been driving me crazy, and you always say it so low and so quickly I can’t even type it into a translation site.”

I laugh, my entire body relaxing, feeling so comfortable taking up all the space. As long as the space I’m taking up is right beside this woman, I’m home.

“ Ma têtue, my stubborn one,” I say before kissing her neck.

She rolls her eyes. “I knew that one. ”

“So impatient,” I mutter into her skin. “When I gave you my jersey, I said: Toi, ma têtue, tu vas ouvrir cette bo?te, sans ajouter un mot .” She goes molten in my arms, looking at me as if I’m her dreams come true and not the other way around.

“You, my stubborn one, are going to open this box without another word.” She laughs and I move my lips across her skin, down to her collarbone.

Her voice is breathless when she speaks. “You said something else that day too.”

“ J’ai hate d’avoir tes jambes enroulées autour de moi pendant que je m’enfuis en toi . I can’t wait to have your legs wrapped around me while I bury myself inside you.”

My hands run up the length of her body, grazing the sides of her breasts. I capture her mouth with mine, wanting to taste the sound when she gasps.

“I knew you had a dirty mouth,” she teases. “Why did you hide it from me for so long?”

I don’t answer. I’ll tell her later I didn’t want to be too much for her, not understanding at the time I couldn’t be too much. Not for her.

“ Tu es même meilleure que dans mes rêves . You are even better than my dreams.” I may not speak a lot, but I remember everything I’ve whispered in my language when I couldn’t say it in English.

“You spoke so much French that first time we kissed. Did you do it on purpose?”

When I give her a smug smile in response, she huffs and smacks me, harder than probably necessary.

“ Mon rêve. ” I look her in the eye for this one. “My dream.”

My mind flashes back to the club in Vegas, when I had her dancing in my arms and I was a split second away from taking her on that dance floor.

When I knew I would never be happy again if I didn’t have her.

“ Tu hantes chacune de mes pensées, chacun de mes rêves . You haunt my every thought, my every dream.”

“The club?” she asks.

I nod and she strokes her hand down the side of my face, where my scruff is already growing back in.

“And in the hotel, that night? Je ne sais pas comment j’ai vécu sans toi. I don’t know how I’ve lived without you.”

I brush away the tears slipping down her face.

“ Je t’aime, Léa . I love you. And I’ll tell you I love you in every language, every day, if it means I get to be with you.”

Her smile is my entire world.

“I love you too, Julien.”

I didn’t think my heart could get any bigger, but hearing those words, I know I made the right decision. And I know exactly what I’m going to do next year after my last season.

I’m going to dedicate my life to making all her dreams come true, because that’s what she’s done for me. And I’ll spend all my time making sure this woman knows exactly how much I love her and our family. Forever.

I gasp, my hands coming up to grab the rods of the headboard, my back arching off the mattress as Leah swirls her tongue around my cock. She’s been teasing me for an eternity. In reality it’s probably been about twenty minutes, but fuck, I need to be inside her.

Now.

I buck my hips, unable to stop the movement as she takes me all the way to the back of her throat. It’s impressive—one of the sexiest things I’ve ever seen.

“Enough,” I cry as she removes her mouth. Again.

A wicked grin stretches her beautiful face, a gleam in her eyes.

“You’ve had enough?” Her voice is sexy as sin.

“Yes, I need your pussy wrapped around my cock.”

She makes a small choking noise at my unexpected words. What can I say? This woman brings out all the sides of me that have stayed hidden for so long. And I love her for it.

Her perfect body inches down, soft body on mine, her breasts sliding over my cock. I release my hands and grip her by her waist, practically yanking her up. She hesitates, driving me wild as she hovers her entrance over my tip.

My cock in her mouth is one of the sexiest things, but watching as I slowly slide into her body? Perfection. My eyes want to squeeze shut at the pressure, but I keep them open, watching the place where our bodies connect.

She moans when she’s seated to the base.

“Again,” I growl.

“You want to see it again?” she asks like she doesn’t already know my answer .

I pin her with a glare. She laughs as she raises herself up and then repeats the process. Over and over again I watch my cock enter her.

I’ll never grow tired of the view of her on top of me, gloriously naked, taking my cock like a fucking goddess.

She teases and torments me this way, keeping her torturously slow pace until I can’t stand it anymore. I hold her hips and slam her back down onto me, her cry of pleasure music to my ears as I pump wildly inside her.

My fingers find her clit and I work her in time with my thrusts, bringing her close to her climax only to move my fingers until she’s panting, trembling as she comes on top of me. Her pussy contracts tightly around me, and my movements lose all rhythm as my own orgasm builds to its peak.

I cry out with a groan as I fuck her through our orgasms, spilling into her as she rides me until the last wave of pleasure crashes over us.

Holy fuck.

How is it better every fucking time?

Her small body drapes over me, both of us panting as I hold her, trying to cover her whole body with mine. Never have I been so grateful to take up so much space so I can envelop her. I never want to let go. Her lips trace the contours of my chest, across my tattoo. And I do the same to hers.

“I’ve been wanting to ask you about this,” I say, dragging my finger across the daisy tattoo on her forearm.

“Paige and I have matching tattoos for our mom,” she says sadly.

“It’s beautiful. ”

“So is yours.”

Last night I told her about it. The feathered wings overlapping with flowers and waves, clouds rolling in. It’s a masterpiece, every element weaving together to create a map of everything I thought I wanted.

Wings to fly, the sea for isolation, the flowers for the beauty I could never quite appreciate, and the clouds to escape to. Inspired by Viking lore, it’s always represented what I feel inside but could never find the words to express—gave me the space I desperately craved.

I’ve been more comfortable showing it lately, more comfortable in my own skin.

Leah has kissed every inch of the tattoo, made me give words to every feeling, and has loved me through it all, never once making me feel like I had to be smaller. Not fearing my strength or my size.

She accepts all of who I am and in turn, she’s helped me accept myself.

I’m living in a constant state of dreaming.

Dreaming of daily runs with her. Of playing with Levi and visiting her at work. Of training hard during the day and coming home to the love of my life—my family. Getting to love her every day, every night.

Feeling her body against mine and revelling in every second. From seeing her riled up in anger one moment to charging at me with passion in the next. Laughing. Filled with joy.

It’s all a dream.

Except better, because it’s real.