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GRADY - TWO YEARS LATER

“You know, I think you wear those damn Daisy Duke’s just to get me riled up.”

Jill raised her head from where she was kneeling in the garden, her cocky grin agreeing with me even as she shook her head. “It’s hot. I’m working. These are perfectly appropriate attire.”

I walked over, squatting in front of her so I could look her in the eye. “You may as well be naked.”

She laughed, but went back to weeding. The garden I’d planted for her years ago was still going, thick and lush with as many colors as a rainbow and more blooms than I could count. She’d doted on the thing every year like it mattered a hell of a lot more than just some plants. And I knew that was because to her it did. Jill tended to everything she cared about with gentle care and devotion. Me included.

“You pick a favorite yet?” I asked again. I’d asked every year, several times a summer, but the answer was always the same.

“Not yet. Still deciding.”

“If I demanded you pick one right now, what would you say?”

Sitting back on the heels of her bare feet she sighed, squinting as she looked up and down the row. She even went so far as to point to a couple, tapping her finger to her lips as if she was taking this seriously.

But when she leveled me with an aloof grin and shrugged, I knew what was coming.

“I got nothing.”

“You have to pick.”

“I do not,” she teased, reaching for her pile of weeds and tossing them into her bucket. “You can make me do many things, Grady Holloway, but that’s not one of them.”

When she pushed up to bring her bucket to the compost I pounced, grabbing her by the waist and tossing her over my shoulder. My good shoulder.

“Grady!” she called, dropping the bucket and swatting my ass. “Put me down before you hurt yourself!”

I couldn’t hurt myself any more than I already had. Or that last season had. We’d won the cup, but not without me taking a few too many hits. I was careful as I flopped her back on the bed, making sure to use my good arm to bear her weight.

Hinging over her, I brushed her hair from her cheek, laughing at the red face that came into view. “You sounded like you wanted me to remind you of my power.”

She huffed, but there was no fire in it. “That was more a challenge, less an invitation.”

“Hey, baby, it’s not my fault you left the door open to interpretation. You of all people should know better. Use your words.”

Jill tipped her head back laughing and I took advantage of the access, sucking on her neck and nipping at her ear. I climbed onto the bed with her, pinning her beneath me as I kissed along her collarbone and into the hollow of her throat.

“Grady, I have work to do,” she moaned, pretending to fight me even as her hands slipped under my shirt, touring the line of my waist that she knew drove me crazy.

“It’s your day off.” My words came out jumbled as I shoved her shirt and bra up and wrapped my lips around her nipple. She gasped and craned off the bed, pushing her tit into my mouth even farther. Fuck, she tasted good, every inch of this woman had me ready to devour her.

“More,” she mewled, giving up the fight entirely as she scraped her fingers through my hair and tugged.

“Where do you want me, gorgeous?”

“Everywhere,” she sighed, her hips starting to rotate off the bed, begging me to move there next. I peeled her clothes off, letting her hands wander as I stripped each piece from her body. By the time I got my own jeans down, my cock was already slick at the tip and Jill eyed it greedily.

“Not yet, baby,” I said, giving it a couple of pumps just because I knew how much she liked to watch. I stretched out on my back, scooping her up carefully once I was flat. “First I want a taste.”

Shifting down, I settled below her, watching her watch me, her lip pinned between her teeth and her breath puffing out of her. I never dropped her gaze as I licked one long, slow, delicate line up her slit and her eyes drifted close.

“Eyes open, baby,” I said, my mouth so close to her cunt that the words vibrated into her.

When she forced them open, a glimmer of defiance in them, I hummed a laugh against her skin. My feisty woman. All spirit. All heart.

“Now watch me make you come.”

I wrapped my arms around her hips and tugged her down, my mouth closing over her clit with soft, shallow kisses before I licked and sucked her harder. Making Jill come on my mouth was like watching the sun come up over the mountains; it started slow and then hit in a blinding wave until she was grinding her pussy and clamoring for the headboard to stay upright. It was fucking beautiful.

As soon as I let her go, she slid backward, stroking my cock as she perched above it. “My turn,” she panted, slipping me inside her.

“So fucking good,” I groaned, digging my fingers into the flesh of her thighs. My girl liked riding my cock as much as I did. Which was handy while my shoulder was still healing. Jill ground into me as she stroked me deep and slow.

“Eyes on me, hot shot,” she purred, rocking over me with those cream soda eyes.

It was hard to look anywhere else while she drove me higher and higher, speeding up when she saw me getting close.

“Don’t stop, baby,” I hissed, every muscle pulling tight.

“Never,” she said, crashing down onto my legs and shooting my orgasm straight up my spine.

“Jill, yes,” I growled, grabbing her by the hips and slamming her onto me as I came, riding every wave as she fisted me tightly. “So . . . fucking . . . good.”

Jill collapsed onto my chest, her ragged exhales gusting across my sweaty skin. I closed my arms around her, tangling my fingers in her hair as I tried to regain my breath. I could have laid like that forever, her in my arms, her heart beating against mine. This was all I wanted.

“I’m going to retire.”

Jill froze, her breath held as the words hung out there in the room. We’d talked about this in hypotheticals and ‘some days,’ but this time it was for real.

Pushing off my chest she propped up on an elbow. “Grady?”

I rolled onto my side to face her, sighing as I swept a hair from her forehead. “It’s time.”

“Are you sure?” Her eyes were big and round and I could see the tears coming from a mile away.

“I’m sure, baby. My body’s had enough and . . .”

“And?” she asked, her voice watery. Jill hadn’t understood anything about hockey until we got together. But she’d always known what hockey meant to me. Saying goodbye to that wasn’t going to be easy, but I’d never been more sure of this decision than anything in my life.

Well, maybe there was one other thing.

“Hockey was my dream. And I got every part of that dream. But I want more now.” I dropped my eyes to the sheet between us, feeling the weight of what I was about to say. “I never thought I would. I never saw anything past this sport that I loved.” I looked back up at her, tears in a thick rim on her lashes. “Until you.”

“Grady,” she whispered, shifting closer, stroking my cheek.

“You’re what I want, Jill. This life. Up here. With you. This is my dream now.” I rolled over, reaching into the drawer of my nightstand. “I’m sure there’s some rule about not doing this naked in bed, but fuck it.” I opened the tiny box and looked into her eyes, tears spilling down her cheeks. “Jillian Genevive Jordan, will you be my girl forever? Will you marry me?”

Jill’s answer was a sobbed yes, before she tackled me back into the bed, her arms around my neck as she cried. I kissed her shoulder, nuzzling into the crook of it as a watery laugh broke free.

“Yes,” she said, again, when she pulled back, wiping her cheeks dry. “Yes, of course.”

I pulled the wedding ring I’d gotten her out of the box, the simple round diamond set in platinum catching in the sunlight and shooting prisms across the ceiling. But just before I put it on her finger, I pulled back.

“You have to pick a favorite.”

“What?” She looked at me like I’d lost it.

“We’ll need to know for the wedding, what flowers you want.”

Her expression lit up with recognition and then she shook her head. “You’re the only favorite I’ve got, Grady. You always have been and”—she paused, looking at the ring as I slipped it on her finger—“you always will be.”

I smiled, leaning to kiss her. “That’s my girl.”