Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 130307 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130307 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
“Can you believe it?!” she screamed, reaching for Ava as Ava did the same. They high-fived with all of us gaping and shaking our heads.
“Crazy!” I screamed back.
Mitch leaned over Chef and gave Ava a ruffle of her hair. I smirked a little at how Chef blushed at his nearness. I was pretty sure we all knew they were much more than friends at this point, but I’d let her tell me on her own time.
“Go, go!” Chef Patel called down to us. “Go give that grumpy man of yours a big celebratory kiss!”
Ava drew out a long ewwww in a tease, and then she was bouncing in my arms the closer we got to the ice. Once we were against the glass, she pressed her hands against it and screamed for Will.
We had to wait until we had the go ahead from the team staff. Maven was clutching Livia’s arm beside us, both of them fighting back tears, and Grace was standing on the cleared Ospreys bench waving her arms around like a wild animal and hollering for Jaxson.
When he saw her, the biggest grin I’d ever seen on that man split his face. He sprinted across the ice on his skates, skidding to a stop at the boards and hauling Grace over his shoulder before he was skating off again.
That was the only green light the families waiting needed.
We poured onto the ice, Maven running for Vince and slipping the whole way. The woman had at least been smart enough to wear sneakers — though she’d argued with all of us that the heels she wanted to wear would look better. She jumped into his arms when she finally made it to him, her legs around his waist and him spinning her to the tune of whistles and cheers from the fans still watching the celebrations.
Ava and I searched for Will. He was no longer where he’d been talking to a news reporter when we’d been making our way toward the glass, and I didn’t see him anywhere near the Cup — which was currently being toted over Aleks Suter’s head as he did a victory lap around the ice as best he could with how crowded it was.
I frowned, searching, heart racing a bit the longer time passed when suddenly Ava and I were tackled in a hug from behind.
“Daddy!”
Ava squealed the greeting, wiggling out of my hold until she could hop down onto the ice. Will was beaming, a Stanley Cup Champ hat covering his sweaty hair as he bent down to one still-padded knee. Ava was in his arms the moment that pad hit the ice, and he wrapped her up tight, kissing her cheek.
When she pulled back, tears were streaming down her face, the emotion too strong for her little heart to handle.
“Hey, now,” he said on a laugh, hugging her again.
“You did it,” she garbled. “You did it, Daddy. I’m so proud of you.”
My heart melted at the sight, and Will nuzzled into her before he was looking up at me, his eyes soft, a content, confident smile on his lips.
When Ava finally released him, he stood, sweeping me into a sweat-drenched hug that I would have gone into happily. I didn’t care that his hair was dripping on my arm when I draped it around his neck, or that he smelled like a locker room when I pressed my lips to his.
That sweaty beast of a man who’d blocked thirty-nine shots tonight was mine.
“Hi, baby,” he whispered in my ear, and then he was pressing a kiss to my hair that made me shiver as much as the nickname did.
I was distantly aware of the cameras on us, but in the last few months, I’d learned not to pay them any mind. This was part of dating the best goalie in the league, and now, he was a Stanley Cup winner.
Let them all watch. Let the rumors fly. Let the women be pissed.
They could all eat their hearts out.
“You were fucking incredible,” I screamed over the noise, holding tight to him. “Absolutely unreal.”
“I’m so glad you were here.”
“I wouldn’t miss it. It was insane.”
“I can’t believe it.”
“I can.”
He laughed, and we kept babbling back and forth, incoherent mutters of disbelief that got lost in-between the thousands of kisses we shared. When he pulled Ava into his arm, he wrapped the other around me, carefully moving us through the crowd.
Will was stopped a couple times for short interviews, and of course, tackled by his teammates as they celebrated their win. I hugged the girls when I passed them, holding especially tight to Maven — who was extra emotional with her wedding just a couple weeks away now.
Eventually, we made it to the Cup, and a few of the Ospreys shoved it toward Will until he carefully put Ava down and picked the behemoth thing up over his head. The fans cheered, Ava jumped up and down clapping, and I smiled, shaking my head and watching my man beam in a way I’d never seen him before.