Page 65

Gwen

Four months later

W ith a sigh, I folded clothes from the laundry basket and put them directly into my suitcase. The off-season was ending, and it was time for me to return to Mexico City. The past few months had been fun, though.

We’d worked on renovating the townhouse, traveled, and seen lots of family and friends.

Oh, those babies were getting so big.

I’d gotten my licenses and Bessy, my antique truck, now sat in our garage. My pink motorcycle would come with me to Mexico. Clark and I had picked out a new one for him, though I knew he was going to miss it.

While I loved the Tigres, the idea of leaving my guys made me want to cry. Stu was confident I could get close to my guys, when my contract was up at the end of the season, and we had a solid plan.

I had complete faith in him. There was a good chance at the end of this coming season, either Dean would go to Boston, when their goalie retired or JP would move to Quebec, since by then Celine would return to work from parental leave.

If I couldn’t get to the Knights, well, there were several teams within commuting distance on the ultra-bullet.

I’d had a great season with the Tigres, and one more good season would really solidify me as a strong goalie. All off-season, I’d worked hard despite all our adventures. I was ready for a new season with my team.

It had just been so nice to wake up to them every morning and fall asleep with them every night. I sniffed.

Snowball, who loved the seats up in the dormer windows of my bedroom, in the townhouse, gave me a look.

“Yes, I’ll miss you, too,” I told her.

There were lots of cat-friendly plants hanging by the windows, and I’d put books up on the shelves by the windows. We’d also hung a hammock up there.

We’d done a lot of work to make my room cute and cozy, including a super-comfortable princess bed of my own–and a matching one for Snowball. My Dumas hung on the wall–as did a photo of my mom.

I put the rest of the clothes in my suitcase as the alarm on my phone went off. Time to get dressed. Since I’d fly out tomorrow, the three of us were going out to dinner tonight. All I knew was that it was someplace fancy.

Since my hair was back to purple for the new season, I put on my purple sparkly long dress, added some jewelry, and sent a picture to Isa.

Me

Fashion disaster alert. Off to a fancy dinner with my boys.

Isa

If they propose, I need to be the first to know, so I can plan your wedding for next summer.

Me

Not a proposal. Just one last dinner out before I leave for Mexico City.

Them propose? No. I was going to propose to them, at the arena, when the Tigres came to New York, to play the Knights next month. It was part of my whole plan to start seeding the idea of me moving closer to my guys. After all, it worked for Dean and Grif–people were saps for a good love story.

I’d already got it worked out with the DJ and the person who operated the fan-cams. Mercy was going to throw donuts.

It would be epic.

Isa

Send me your dress mood board, anyway. It’s going to take me a while.

Me

Fine

I sent it to her, because I had one. Since it wouldn’t hurt, I added the wedding mood board I started making, too. After all, the wedding would be in her castle.

Going into my bathroom, I started doing my hair and makeup. Most nights I slept with them in the pack bedroom, but I liked having my bathroom up here. It was small, though, so it was next on the remodel list. My room was enormous , so I’d gladly sacrifice some space, if it meant I could have counter space and a bathtub.

I finished up. Fluffing my hair, I went back into the bedroom to put on my heels.

Grabbing my purse and phone, I headed downstairs to find them. The two of them were in Tenzin’s room. Through the open door I saw Tenzin straighten Clark’s tie. Awww, I loved catching little moments like this.

“No, the tie is fine , Sunshine,” Tenzin assured.

“Mmmm, so sexy.” I leaned in the doorway.

“Hey, Firecracker, you look great.” Tenzin came over and kissed me on the cheek.

“Sweetness!” Clark beamed.

I was going to miss this.

Tenzin kissed my forehead. “Ready to go?”

“Yes. Are you going to tell me where we’re going?” I asked, as we passed the painting of us that hung over the fireplace. They were both wearing suits and looked good enough to lick.

Clark was wearing the tie and tie tack I’d gotten him in the gift exchange.

“Not Skyline,” Tenzin assured, putting an arm around me.

I thought for a moment. “I might be okay with that? Not sure.”

“Can we take Bessy?” Clark held up the keys, from the key-shaped keyholder that his baby sister had made us.

“Sure.” Yep, that car was Clark’s now, but I was okay with that.

We got in Bessy, them in the front, me in the back, as Clark drove. Country music played. The first thing we did was get a new stereo system, so we could play music from our phones as we drove.

Clark pulled up to the valet of the building Supressa was in. Oh, I was absolutely up for some fairy decor and excellent cake.

We went up to the top of the building and were escorted by a hostess in fairy wings, over the ring of mushrooms, to our table, which had a beautiful view of the city.

“Whatever you want. After all, this is a special dinner so we don’t have to track what we’re eating.” Clark grinned at me as we looked over the menu.

Mostly because Dean had been on my ass about my shitty eating habits. What was worse was that Dean had been right, and I felt so much better when I ate the way he told me.

“Scallops and fettuccine in cream sauce it is.” I grinned back. “Oh, and I’m getting fairy cake.”

“Only if I can have a bite.” Clark leaned in and nibbled my shoulder.

I clenched. One season.

Tens growled at our antics, and I smiled at him. “You can have a bite, too, Tens.”

Oh yes, he could.

We had our delicious dinner and just talked. Tenzin showed off a video of Squiggles he’d gotten today. We talked about our plans for the holidays. My bathroom remodel.

Oh, I’d miss this so much. But honestly, waiting until next summer was a good thing. Clark, Tenzin, and I could complete our pre-bonding counseling. We’d have our amazing wedding in Isa’s castle, where I’d spend every penny of what my mom designated.

Then my two guys would bond me. I’d see if I kept my superpowers or not, since even the library at the Greek temple to Artemis that I went to over the summer couldn’t give me a definitive answer.

Not to mention living on my own was teaching me a lot about myself.

Though I wasn’t going to wait more than a year. Nope. Which was why I had their engagement rings bought and hidden away.

Once I bonded Clark and Tens, I could always petition the PHL to extend the protections they had for alpha-omega player pairs to alpha-beta pairs. Stu and I would make this happen.

“Dessert?” Our server, who also wore fairy wings, asked us after our dinner plates had been cleared.

“Yes. I’d like a fairy coffee and fairy cake,” I told her.

“I’ll have a hot jasmine tea and the chocolate lava cake,” Tenzin added.

Oh? I wanted a bite of that.

Clark thought for a moment. “Coffee and the mini lemon meringue tart.”

I’d take a bite of that, too.

Two servers in fairy wings came over with a coffee cup of hot milk, coffee in a silver pot, and purple cotton candy, and poured the coffee over the cotton candy into the cup. Catching it on my phone, I posted it with the captions fairy coffee for a fairy nice night with my guys.

Our server set Clark and Tenzin’s desserts in front of them.

“Those look amazing,” I told them.

Tenzin took a forkful of cake and held it out to me. “Taste.”

Leaning in, I took the bite, letting the rich chocolate explode over my tongue. “Mmmm. That is decadent.”

Clark’s lips met mine. His eyes danced. “Oh, that is good. Would you like to try mine?”

I let Clark feed me a bite of his lemon meringue tart, the meringue to filling ratio just right.

“My turn.” Tenzin leaned in and kissed me. “Yes, very delicious.”

“Here’s yours.” Our server brought me my slice of fairy cake.

In the frosting flower on the pink marzipan encrusted cake was something sparkly. Oh, a little gem? How fun.

I leaned in and pulled it out. A gasp escaped my lips, as I held a beautiful delicate gold ring that was a twisty vine pattern, with little purple stones. In the center there were three more purple stones, one big one, with two slightly smaller matching stones on either side.

It was exquisite–and not some fun little bauble.

“Gwen Di Rossi, will you marry us?” Tenzin asked as he stood, then got down on one knee beside me.

“Please take us as your alphas forever? We love you more than donuts.” Clark did the same.

Tears pricked my eyes. “You’re proposing?”

The restaurant had gone quiet as people watched us. There were a few phones out. But kneeling in front of someone in a restaurant usually meant a proposal.

“Yes. That’s us, you’re the big stone and we’re the smaller ones, because you’re the center of our world,” Clark told me.

“Yes. Yes, I’ll marry you. I love you more than donuts, too.” My heart burst. Three stones for the three of us. My heart.

“Allow me?” Tenzin took the ring, wiped the frosting off with a napkin and slid it onto my finger.

Tenzin’s lips met mine. This wasn’t the teasing dessert kiss, but a hungry and passionate promise for the future.

Our future.

“My turn.” Clark grabbed me and kissed me so deeply, my toes curled as people chuckled and several applauded.

They took their seats, and I admired the beautiful ring. It was delicate, yet so sparkly–and purple.

“I… you… you proposed.” While I knew I was going to marry them, those two proposing meant everything.

It settled something inside me.

“Of course. I promised to marry you eventually, remember?” Clark gave me a boyish smile.

“You did.” I nodded.

Tenzin stroked my face. “We wanted to propose before you left.”

“It’s perfect. The ring is so beautiful. Oh.” My head ducked.

“Is something wrong? For the record Clark wanted to propose to you at the restaurant, I voted for home,” Tenzin told me.

“No, this is perfect. It’s just now I have to call off what I’d planned.” I took a bite of the delicate cake. Mmmm. So good.

“Planned?” Tenzin’s eyebrows rose.

“I was going to propose to you at the arena, when we came to play you. I had it all set with the DJ, the mascot, and the fan-cam person,” I admitted. “Your rings are at home.”

“You amazing woman.” Clark leaned over and snagged a kiss. “Oh, wow. I’m a little sorry to miss that. I didn’t mean to ruin your plan. Ma would have loved that.”

“It’s fine. This is an incredible end to an amazing dinner.” Warmth filled me. I had no idea that they were proposing tonight. Usually I could tell when they were up to something.

“You were going to propose to us?” Tenzin put a hand over his heart. “Though I’m a little glad it wasn’t at the arena.”

“True.” I kissed him.

Our server came over with three glasses of champagne. “Complements of the table over there.”

She nodded to a table with an elderly pack. A small, elegant, white-haired woman raised her glass at us.

I took my glass and raised it back. “Awww, that was sweet.”

“Please, thank them for us?” Tenzin asked our server.

“I can’t wait. Now we absolutely have to set a date and plan our wedding for next summer.” There would be a lot to do. Planning a wedding was a lot of work. Verity and Mercy would help me.

Clark nodded as he ate some more of his tart. “In the castle. The more time we have for my parents to arrange things on the farm, so they can come, the better.”

“Absolutely. Shit, Isa was right.” I blinked, having another sip of champagne.

“About what?” Tenzin took a bite of his cake.

“She told me you were going to propose tonight. Do you want a bite of mine?” I fed Tenzin, then Clark bites of my cake.

“To be fair, your sister has predicted that we’d propose once a week all off-season.” Tenzin sipped his champagne.

“True.” Posing, I took a picture of the ring and sent it to her.

Me

You were right. Don’t tell anyone. I want to do it myself.

Isa

Yayayayay. So happy for you.

We finished our desserts and settled the bill.

“This was amazing. Thank you.” I couldn’t stop playing with my pretty ring.

“Always, Precious. Should we go home?” He took my arm.

“Take me home, Alphas. This is our last night together.” I planned on having them both.

“Just for now. Soon we’ll be all together. We’ll make it work, I promise.” Tenzin pinned me between him and the elevator wall, then kissed me, his scent growing stronger arousal.

“Absolutely,” Clark assured, the elevator filling with their pheromones,

The doors opened, and we exited, then waited for my truck.

The valet pulled Bessy up and got out. “Nice car,” he told Tenzin.

“It’s hers.” Tenzin opened the door for me, as Clark got into the driver’s seat.

My phone kept chiming, as we headed home and I looked at it.

“Well, our proposal hit the internet.” I sent off the picture of my ring to a few people, like Babo, Matty, Cooter, and Mercy.

“Yes, my sister has already seen it.” Tenzin sighed as he texted her back.

Cooter

I'm so happy for you, Babybug.

I hearted his message, then silenced my phone. Everyone else could wait until tomorrow.

The truck was so full of pheromones and arousal that I felt light-headed by the time we pulled into the garage.

Tenzin opened the door for me. Instead of helping me out, he tossed me over his shoulder.

“Tens,” I squealed, smacking him on the ass. Though he knew I liked it.

Kicking off his shoes, he carried me right into the pack bedroom and tossed me onto the bed.

“I think someone needs an incredible end?” he told me as he took off my shoes.

My core went molten. “Oh yes, I think I need several incredible ends.”

“Mmmm, our Sweetness needs enough to get her through to when our teams play next month,” Clark hummed as he closed the bedroom door. “I hope you don’t plan on sleeping.”

I gushed as I laid on the giant bed. “Sleep, when I could have my wonderful alphas, who’ve just proposed to me?” My look became sly. “But that’s a lot. Do you think you two have the stamina for that?”

Tenzin growled, as he whipped off his belt one handed, in a smooth gesture.

Dick me down, Alphas.

Yes, give me an incredible night.

Give me an incredible life.

While there was still so much to figure out, I was content. We’d finally found our hockily ever after.

Here’s to seeing what comes next.

Thanks again for reading Loving Ladybug and being part of the HockeyVerse.