Page 320 of Cross Checked
“You were training.”
“I had rest days.”
“You were supposed to be resting on rest days.”
“I was multitasking.”
“You are such a menace.”
“Your menace.”
Her face softened in that way that still made me feel like the floor might disappear beneath me.
“My menace,” she whispered.
I smiled.
Then she tucked the marble safely into the pocket of my KFU hoodie she had stolen off a chair and slid her arm around my waist. Not to hold me up anymore. Not because I needed it.
Because she wanted to be close.
Which meant everyone noticed and pretended not to.
I loved them for that.
Annoying as hell.
But I loved them.
As the room came alive around us again, voices rising, food being uncovered, champagne being poured, beer being opened, and my mother trying to convince Daniel that the lake cottage truly was modest, I looked down at Bliss.
She looked up at me.
“What?” she asked.
I shook my head. “Nothing.”
“Liar.”
“Fine.” I kissed her temple. “You’re wearing my name eventually.”
Her cheeks flushed. “You’re ridiculous.”
“You said yes.”
“I was emotionally compromised.”
“Still binding.”
She smiled through fresh tears. “Good.”
My body was no longer something I had to drag back from the edge. It was healing. Strengthening. Becoming mine again with every mile on the bike, every lap on the ice, every lift, every breath that came easier than the one before it.
But Bliss was beside me, her engagement rings on her fingers and my marble in her pocket.
Our families were in the next room.
Our future was not waiting somewhere far away anymore.
It was here.
Messy. Loud. Impossible.
Mine.
And finally, ours.
