Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 103621 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 414(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103621 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 414(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
“We can always tell,” the judge agrees. “You’re going to do just fine, Mr. and Mrs. Graves.”
Mrs. Graves. I’m Mrs. Graves now.
Holy shit.
We sign the paperwork in a daze, and before I know it, we’re back in the courthouse lobby, officially married and saying goodbye.
But only until tonight…
Grammercy is coming by our place after his afternoon team meeting to help us pack so we can be ready to move into his place tomorrow.
“See you at six,” he says, squeezing my hand outside on the courthouse steps. “I’ll bring pizza and salad so we don’t have to worry about dinner.”
“Thank you, Mimi will be so happy. She loves pizza.”
“I remembered that,” he says. “That’s why I ordered it. Hope she likes pepperoni?”
“She loves it. It’s her favorite.” I clutch the marriage certificate in my other hand, this evidence that what happened wasn’t a dream. “I promise we won’t work you too hard. I found boxes behind the grocery store this morning and already packed a few things. Honestly, we don’t have that much stuff aside from Mimi’s art supplies and ten thousand stuffed animals.”
“I’m not worried. I like packing.” He grins as he adds, “Though I like unpacking better. There’s something exciting about fresh walls and a fresh start.”
I nod. “There is. I’m excited. And thank you again for…everything.”
But mostly for that kiss, I think. I’ve always wanted to know if all those romance novel kisses were based on any kind of reality.
Now, I know they are.
Now, I’ve been kissed like that at least once, and for that, I’ll always be grateful to you, you crazy, beautiful, perfect, incredible man.
He starts down the steps, but stops and turns back after a beat. “Oh, and don’t freak out if your surprise gets there before I do, okay? Coach likes to talk, so I might be there a little after six, and the surprise is supposed to get there at six on the dot.”
“Surprise? What kind of surprise?” I call after him, but he’s already at the base of the steps, headed for the parking garage.
“Gotta run or I’ll be late, beautiful,” he calls back. “See you later.” And then he’s gone, jogging across the pavement in front of the building.
I stand watching him from the top of the steps for a moment, fingers drifting to my lips, where the ghost of his kiss still lingers.
I just kissed Grammercy Graves, and it was better than any fantasy. And tonight, he’s coming over to help me pack my things so I can move in with him. And he’s ordered pizza because he remembered my daughter loves it and planned some kind of surprise…
How is this my life?
Just a few days ago, I was Elly Thibodeaux, a woman who’d never even met one of her NHL heroes in real life. Now I’m married to the sexiest player in the league, the man I’ve been secretly crushing on for three years, and my lips are still tingling from our first kiss.
The wildness of that fact is still almost too much to handle. I’ve spent the two years since I started my podcast analyzing hockey relationships, offering commentary and advice about players and their romantic lives.
Now, I’m living it.
And I’ve got the marriage certificate and the “kiss the bride” tingle on my lips to prove it.
Chapter
Ten
GRAMMERCY
By the time I find a parking spot near Elly’s building and use the code she gave me to shove through the hazy door into the dimly lit lobby, it’s nearly seven.
I’m running an hour later than planned, thanks to Torrance the Rookie with the Burning Need to know All The Things. Right now. Even though Coach has told him a dozen times that some things are only learned by doing. And he’s doing just fine. Torrance is a solid D-man; he’s just got a bad case of stage fright about his first NHL game.
I get it. I was nervous before my first game, too, and thanks to getting stalled in the minors, waiting for a position to open, I was four years older when I took the ice for the first time as a Badger.
Torrance is only nineteen.
He’ll hit his stride…he just might drive the rest of the team a little crazy before he gets there.
Ignoring the junk mail littering the stained tile and the smell of dog pee and fried onions lingering in the lobby, I slip into the elevator and punch nine for Elly’s floor. The ancient car groans as it lurches into motion and shudders upward, as if personally offended to still be in service at its age.
Same, elevator. Offended on your behalf, I think, hoping I’m not the unlucky bastard who gets trapped inside it when it decides to end it all in protest.
From what I’ve seen so far, this entire building has seen better days—probably sometime around the time my mother was born—and I’m relieved moving day is tomorrow. Elly and Mimi deserve better than a urine-scented lobby and infrastructure that likely won’t pass inspection next time around.