Page 226 of Off Limits: The Firsts

The Jacks are up in the series three games to two.

The game may be at the opponent’s arena, but it’s only a few hours away so I’ve been able to make every game.

Jonah’s gotten the all-clear and will be at the game tonight.

I love Hunter Maddox.

How does it not get better than that?

“So I’ll see you there?” he asks when he leans back.

“Wild horses wouldn’t be able to drag me away.” I squeeze his hand, glad he’ll have this time tonight to be with his team and see his family before the big game six tomorrow. “And I just might have something for you too.”

“Me?”

“Yep,” I say with a nod as I walk over to grab the legal-sized manila envelope sitting on the counter.

“What’s this?”

“You have to wait to open it.”

“Why?” he asks.

“Because it’s a surprise and if you don’t like it, I don’t want to see your expression.” I laugh, my words partially true.

“It’s that bad?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Okay, if I have to wait to open this, you have to promise me to personally go through this entire box until you find the surprise I left you.”

I eye him, suspicious. “Deal.” I lean in for one more breath-stealing kiss. “Good luck, Maddox.”

“I’m gonna need it.”

“Stick. Skill. Finesse.”

And it’s not until after he leaves and I settle down on my floor with this massive box do I realize just how much crap is packed in there. There are hats and socks and bears and you name it, along with my most favorite thing, a Maddox jersey.

In fact, there are two of them.

But it’s not until I turn the second one over that I see my surprise.

My breath catches and I stare at it for the longest of moments. Tears blur and slip over and my soul sighs in contentment. I reach out with my fingertip and trace the Sharpie block handwriting that fills the number one of the number thirteen on the back of the jersey.

I LOVE YOU TOO.

I sit and stare at it for the longest time. A confession that just made me more whole than I ever thought I could be. An admission I didn’t think he realized he could make.

It takes a few minutes for it to sink in. How hard that must have been for him to pen and probably even harder to admit to. But the minute it does, I run to get my phone to call him, and of course I can’t find it. After a few minutes, I locate it on my bathroom counter and when I do, there’s a text waiting for me on its screen.

Hunter: I didn’t want to see your expression if you didn’t like my surprise either.

My own laughter fills my silent apartment as I flop back on my bed and hug my phone to my chest.

My first call to him goes to voicemail. So does my second. My desperation to hear him say those words growing stronger with each second.

Hunter: We’re reviewing film before we leave. Can’t talk.