Page 135 of Rule 1: Never Accidentally Marry Your Teammate

“I love you so much, baby. I couldn’t bear the thought that you were forced to be with me. I wanted a clean slate withyou.”

“Oh,” he exhales, and I wonder if we can kiss now. He’s so adorable. And I want him to be mine for the rest of our lives.

“That’s sweet,” he says finally. “If I’d known...”

“I know.” Guilt still rages through me. “I thought you were upset I risked our reputations. I get it now. I’m sorry.”

He keeps his large, trusting, green eyes on me.

“Propose!” Someone yells, and the crowd laughs.

I scramble for my ring. I should have given him that to begin with.

Then I fall to my knees, and tears glaze Noah’s eyes. He blinks his beautiful long lashes rapidly, and I kiss his fingers.

“Will you stay married to me, Noah Fitzpatrick, and make me the happiest man in the world?”

A slow smile spreads over his face, even more brilliant than I remembered.

“Yes,” he breathes. “Yes, Finn. I will stay married to you.”

I beam at him, then shout to the audience, “He said yes!”

My voice booms, no longer trembling, carried by all the force of the mic.

Cheers and clapping erupt on every side of me. The arena vibrates with happiness.

Then music plays, and balloons float from the ceiling like planned.

Noah pulls me up from the ice and back into his arms. We spin in a circle, and the world whooshes around us, a flurry of blue and pale blue and white.

I am in my favorite location with my favorite person.

Then something emerges from the crowd. They’re chanting something. No, they’re bellowing it.

“Kiss. Kiss. Kiss.”

Noah grins, his eyes dancing. “What do you say?”

“Guess we better do it.”

I dip Noah down, and my lips find his again, but my heart was always his. His tongue grazes against mine, and I suddenly understand why most people propose in private and not in front of tens of thousands of people, with hundreds of thousands of people able to watch it later.

And God, this video might hit a million views. We are, after all, the only married teammates in professional sports.

I never considered falling for a man, but back then, I’d never met Noah. He is the love of my life. He is my everything.

My teammates swarm the ice, and suddenly we are being encircled by twenty brawny men in skates.

I catch my parents’ gazes in the audience. Their eyes dance.

Perhaps Noah and I have been married since Vegas, but we were always aware that our marriage was an accident. We were never certain how much we were pretending to be in love. And now we know.

I’ll choose him over and over again.

I wrap my arms around Noah and lean in for another kiss as joy surges through me, moving faster than any puck over the ice.

NOAH