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  Brody faltered. “And if I can’t?”

  “I’ll help you.” She smiled glibly. “I’m good at forgiveness. After all, didn’t I forgive you for dumping me?”

  “I panicked, okay? And I only suggested we put things on hol—” He stopped when he saw the amusement in her eyes. “You’re not mad,” he said.

  “Of course not.” She ran her index finger along the curve of his jaw. “I can’t stay mad at the man I love.”

  He held his breath, not daring to give in to the sheer bliss threatening to spill over. “You mean that?”

  “Yes.” She lifted her other hand and cupped his chin with both her hands. “I love you, Brody. I know I kept fighting you whenever you said we were perfect for each other, but…I’m not fighting anymore.” She exhaled slowly. “I’ve fallen for you, hockey star. The earth moves when we’re together and I love it. I love you.”

  The joy in his heart spilled over, warming his insides and making his pulse skate through his veins like a player on a breakaway.

  “I’m willing to be part of the hockey lifestyle for as long as it takes,” she added, certainty shining in her eyes. “I’ll even go to your games.” She chewed on her bottom lip. “But I’ll probably bring some lecture notes to work on, you know, because I still don’t particularly like hockey, but I’ll make an effort to—”

  He silenced her with a kiss, but pulled away just as she parted her lips to let him in.

  “I won’t play hockey forever, Hayden,” he said softly. “And I’m already trying to work on the possibility of signing with a West Coast team next season. That way you can keep teaching at Berkeley, and we could—” his voice cracked “—we could get started on building a life together. A home.”

  As he said the words, he knew without a doubt that’s what he wanted. A home with Hayden. A life with the one woman who looked past his uniform and saw the man beneath it. He’d been searching for her for so long, and now that he’d found her, he wasn’t about to let her go. Ever.

  “I love you, Hayden,” he said roughly. “More than hockey, more than being successful, more than life. I want to wake up every morning and see one of your sleepy smiles, go to bed every night pressed up against you, have kids with you, grow old with you.” He put his hands on her slender hips and pulled her toward him. “Will you let me do that?”

  Twining her arms around his neck, she leaned up and kissed him, a long, lingering kiss that promised love and laughter and hot, endless sex. Pulling back, just an inch, she whispered, “Yes,” and then raised her lips to his again.

  “Should we seal the deal?” he murmured against her hot, pliant mouth.

  “God, yes.”

  Deepening the kiss, he untucked her shirt from the waistband of her skirt and slid his hands underneath, filling his palms with the feel of her silky skin. His tongue sought hers. His hands found her breasts.

  Hayden moaned. “No, not here.” Breaking contact, she darted over to the nightstand and pulled out a condom. Without another word, she grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the bedroom to the middle of the narrow hallway.

  “Here,” she said, a playful light dancing in her eyes.

  He looked at the spot she’d chosen, chuckling when he realized this was the first place they’d made love. On the hallway floor, while Hayden writhed beneath him and squeezed his ass and pushed him into her as deep as he could go.

  “Here is perfect,” he answered huskily.

  He drew her into his arms, claiming her with his mouth, and they were both breathless by the time the kiss ended. Gently stroking her cheek, he gave her another soft kiss, then began peeling her clothes from her body. First her shirt, then the bra, the skirt, the panties, until she was standing naked in front of him, a vision of perfection. He marveled at her silky curves and perfect skin, those beautiful breasts, the shapely legs…God, he couldn’t believe she was his. All his.

  “I love you, Hayden,” he said, his throat thick with emotion. “I love everything about you.”

  She gave a soft sigh of pleasure as he cupped her breasts, tenderly stroking the swell of each perfect mound.

  He hastily removed his own clothes, kicked them aside, then dropped to his knees and peppered little kisses on her flat abdomen before moving to nip at her inner thigh. He loved the sweet little moan she responded with, loved the way she tangled her fingers in his hair and guided him to the spot between her legs that he knew ached for his touch.

  He kissed her sensitized nub, flicked his tongue over her sweetness. He would never be able to get enough of her, even if he spent the rest of his life trying. With a small groan, he planted one last kiss on her soft folds and then pulled her down to the carpet.

  With a look of pure contentment swimming in her forest-green eyes, Hayden lay back, spread her legs and offered him a wicked smile.

  “Don’t keep me waiting,” she said with just a hint of challenge in her throaty voice.

  “I don’t intend to.”

  He covered her body with his, his shaft, hot and hard, pressed up against her belly. He shifted so that his tip brushed her wet sex, but didn’t plunge inside.

  First, he kissed her again, a long, lazy kiss, and then he pulled back and said, “No ground rules this time.”

  Her eyelids fluttered open. “What?”

  “That second night, you said there were ground rules.” He nipped at the hot flesh of her neck. “No rules this time. You’re getting not only my body, but my heart and my soul, every night for the rest of your life. Got it?”

  She raised her brows. “Again with the demands, huh?”

  “You got a problem with that?”

  With a laugh, she gripped his hair with her fingers and pulled his head down. Slipping her tongue into his mouth, she kissed him until he could barely see straight, then reached between them, circled his shaft and guided it to her opening, pushing herself down over his length.

  He gasped.

  “I don’t have…” she moaned as she took him in deeper “…a single problem with that.” With a breathy sigh, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed a kiss to his collarbone. “I love you, Brody.”

  He slowly withdrew, then plunged back in, filling her to the hilt. “It drives me wild when you say that,” he squeezed out.

  “What, I love you?”

  His cock jerked in response. “Yes, that.”

  She lifted her hips off the ground, and hooked her legs around his lower back, holding him prisoner with her wet heat. “Good, because I plan on saying it often. I love you, Brody Croft.”

  Staying true to her word, she brushed her lips over his ear and said it again. And again. And again. With a groan, he buried his head in the crook of her neck, inhaled her sweet scent and sent them both to heaven.

  And when they were sated and happy and lying there on the carpet, Brody could swear that the earth had moved.

  Epilogue

  One year later

  “SERIOUSLY, BABE, we need to do something about that shower,” Brody grumbled as he stepped out of the bathroom.

  Hayden couldn’t help but laugh at the aggravation on his ridiculously handsome face. “The plumber will be here on Monday, babe. Quit getting your panties in a knot.”

  He strode into the recently painted master bedroom of their San Diego home, his frown deepening. “It really doesn’t bother you?”

  “No, Brody. It doesn’t. It’s just a removable showerhead, for Pete’s sake. We’ll live without it for a couple more days.”

  She rolled her eyes and rose from the bed. They’d purchased the house two months ago, at a bargain since the rambling three-story Victorian was in desperate need of renovations. So far, they’d painted every room, gutted the living room, retiled the kitchen—and Brody was worrying about a showerhead. Her husband definitely had a one-track mind. Of course, she’d known that when she’d married him.

  “We should head over to the restaurant,” she said, swiftly putting an end to the subject Brody refused to drop. “Darcy