Epilogue #2
Angie whipped her head toward Sam, but Cam pulled her attention to him when he held out his hand to her.
Without looking at Sam, he said, “Damn, Durbin. Didn’t know you had it in you.
” His smile widened. “Missy, I have no idea what you see in this fleabag, but we’re happy you’re here.
Welcome to the Surge family.” He grasped Sam by the neck and hauled him toward the crowd. “Let’s go meet your teammates.”
Terra linked arms with Angie. “Never mind Cam. He’s putting on his best—and mostly fake—Texas act.
You stick with me. I know how it is to find yourself among a group of rowdy hockey players and their significant others when you don’t know a soul.
It may be uncomfortable for a while, but we’re all family here, and we’ll take good care of you. ”
Angie glanced over her shoulder at Sam, who sent her a wink. She had a question for him, and she hoped it wouldn’t be too long before she got to pose it.
Terra made introductions, leaning in conspiratorially after. “Don’t worry. They don’t expect you to remember all their names, and you can always ask me. Believe me, we’ve all been in your sandals.”
Soon Angie had a cold drink in her hand and a group of women chatting around her. She was surprised by how many had careers separate from their husbands’ hockey lives.
“You’re a physical therapist? Oh, I know of at least two clinics looking for help,” one woman said.
A few more chimed in with job opportunities they knew of.
Angie’s pancaked confidence had taken wings these past few weeks, positively soaring after Celia’s call.
She could walk into any clinic with her head held high and ask for a job—if she chose to.
A huge swell of satisfaction washed through her, and though she didn’t feel the need to, she could hold her own with these women.
Eventually, they pointed out their respective partners, leaving one lone guy. He stood among his teammates, but he looked uncomfortable, like the odd man out, wearing a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. His gaze quickly scanned the crowd before dropping back down.
“Who’s that?” she asked Terra later.
“Oh, that’s Colby Chase. Never mind him.”
“Everyone seems to be paired off except him.”
“That’s no accident. He’s that guy on the team.”
“That guy?”
“The one with the mouth who never knows when to shut it, who gets under everybody’s skin, including his own teammates’. He’s the team agitator, and he’s good at it—which is why he’s here alone.”
“He doesn’t date?”
“Maybe occasionally, but nothing long-term. He usually attends these things solo.”
Angie slid another look in the guy’s direction.
He wasn’t bad-looking. He had a typical hockey-player build, all lean muscle and hard angles.
He wasn’t as tall as Sam, but he carried his square shoulders with confidence.
Dark hair, scruff, and long-lashed brown eyes would be a beacon for most women, and Angie couldn’t help but puzzle over what it was about him that kept the ladies at bay. Not that it was any of her business.
He caught her eye and immediately looked away, that swagger sliding along with his gaze. Huh.
Sam’s lips brushed her ear, and she quickly forgot the dateless player.
“Sorry I left you behind,” Sam whispered against her hair.
“No worries. I’ve been getting to know the other women. They all seem very nice. A few of them told me about some PT clinics that are looking for help.”
His smile widened. “Oh good. You thinking of going back to work?”
“I haven’t decided yet. It depends on how things go after our ‘other visit’ today.”
“Makes sense.”
She tipped her wrist and checked the new watch Sam had given her.
“We’ll need to leave in about an hour if we’re going to make it on time.
” After the barbecue, they were heading to the local shelter where Angie had started volunteering.
There, they would pick up their newly fixed one-year-old Pyrenees mix and a kitten Sam had insisted on naming Pucky.
Who was she to argue, if it brought a smile to his handsome face?
“Shouldn’t be a problem. I already told Blue we had somewhere else to be today.”
“Thank you for that.” She looked up into his gorgeous blue eyes. “I have a question for you.”
His eyebrows rose. “Hit me with it.”
“You introduced me as your fiancée. What’s up with that?”
“Oh. Something I forgot to tell you.” He looked around before resting his hands on her waist. His expression turned serious. “This isn’t exactly how I planned this, but … here goes. I want you to become my fiancée. For real. I want to marry you.”
“What?” Her hand flew to her mouth.
“Marry me, Angie. It can be a short engagement or a long one. I don’t care as long as you say yes … and as long as we tie the knot by next summer.” He touched her hand, still covering her mouth, with the tip of a finger. “I want to put a ring on this. What do you say we go pick one out?”
“W-when?” she stammered stupidly.
“Well, if we leave now, we could check out a few options before we bring our furry friends home. There’s this jeweler not too far from the shelter, and I asked them to set aside a few rings I spotted the other day.
Like the house, though, I want you to make the final decision since you’ll be the one wearing it. ”
“Are you s-serious?”
“Never been more serious about anything in my life.” He gathered her hands in his and brought them to his lips, planting soft kisses on them.
“I told you before that with you, I’m a complete man.
You make me want to try harder, to be better.
I never knew I could be this happy. There’s a reason the universe messed up my ankle and threw us together. Don’t fight the Force, Ange.”
She burst out with a teary laugh. “You’re moving at hyperspeed here, Han. I’m not sure I can keep up.”
“Then strap in and come along for the ride. I promise it’ll be an adventure.” His navy blues drilled into hers. “I promise I’ll take good care of you. Say yes.”
“Yes,” she whispered.
He picked her up and twirled, making her squeal, before he set her back on her feet. Her heart was racing, her breathing choppy, matching the cadence of his.
“Everything okay over there?” Cam called out.
“Couldn’t be better! She said yes!” Cheers went up, and Cam howled his approval—despite his look of puzzlement.
Sam cupped her face. “I’ll explain it to him later.” As he looked down at her, happiness radiated off him, and Angie ate it up. His broad smile and the love shining in his eyes told her he had found his home. In him, she had found her own.
She was right where she wanted to be. For the rest of her life.
THE END
Wondering about Terra and Cam Blue’s story? Here’s a sneak peek at their grumpy-sunshine romance from Besting the Blueliner, Book 8 in the Playmakers Series?:
CAM’S BEEN BURNED by commitment. Terra can’t seem to find the one.
It was no small surprise when an unfamiliar white pickup towing an empty trailer pulled up in front of Cam’s house.
The second surprise came when the driver bounded from the vehicle carrying a load of something cloaked under a red-and-white-checkered cloth.
It looked like a tablecloth his mother might spread over a picnic table.
The stun factor had him rooted in place until a loud knock came at the front door, pulling him from his fog.
Grace, who was far sharper than he this morning, already stood at the front door, inhaling the air in the crack between the door and frame.
Terra beamed from under a nylon hood when he opened the door. “Hi!” She pushed her way inside.
“Hi?” He suppressed the urge to ask what the hell she wanted, watching her back as she took a few more steps inside his house, her coat shedding raindrops all over his floor.
Only Grace’s greeting stopped Terra’s advance, like an invisible force field.
His dog wiggled from head to rear, her tail doing a fine imitation of a helicopter rotor.
This was how she usually greeted him, not a sworn enemy.
He needed to have a talk with his girl as soon as he could shoo the drippy one back out from where she had come from. “Can I help you?”
Terra pivoted and held out the checkered tablecloth to him. “I brought you something.”
He arched a skeptical eyebrow. “Will it explode? Does it bite?”
Her face fell, and he instantly regretted his snark.
She recovered quickly, flashing a smile as she whipped the tablecloth off of the bundle it cloaked.
A tray of colorful cupcakes sat under a thin layer of clear plastic, perfectly swirled thick blue icing as high as the cake part with a perfect chocolate bean adorning it.
They looked like the kind of treats that tempted him from his favorite bakery’s case, and he realized too late he’d licked his bottom lip, giving himself away.
If he stared much longer, he’d drool worse than Grace when bacon was on the menu.
Terra gave him a triumphant grin. “I took a chance you liked cupcakes, so I made these for you. They’re chocolate with cherry filling.”
Chocolate? With cherry filling? Well, shit!
How had she zeroed in on his Achilles’ Heel?
His internal alarms sounded—she had to want something from him, like everyone else who ever offered him gifts, food or otherwise.
“I thought you were afraid of Grace … and maybe even me?” He cocked a questioning eyebrow at her.
“Having the great equalizer helps.”
“The great what?”
She jerked her head to one side, and his gaze dropped to the sidearm barely concealed by her raincoat; he hadn’t noticed it before.
Huh. “Yet you had the ‘great equalizer’ last time you were here, and you were still intimidated,” he pointed out.
“I wasn’t intimidated. I was simply … frazzled.” She patted the pistol. “I do know how to use it.” Her sunny smile was completely at odds with her mildly veiled threat.
“As you should,” he replied dryly. He pointed at the cupcakes. “What are they for?”
“For helping me yesterday.” Her voice dropped. “And today.” She thrust the tray at him, revealing his neatly folded flannel shirt beneath. “And I washed your shirt. Thanks for the loan.”
He resisted the urge to shake his head and got to the important bit hiding in the unsolicited fanfare. “Today?”
“Um, yeah. I was hoping you could help me get the side-by-side on my trailer? Seeing as how you have those big muscles and all.” Her eyes did some weird blinky thing he could only interpret as an attempt at Olympic eyelash-batting or clearing out a gnat that had splatted against one of her irises.
Relieving her of his shirt, he shoved the tray of cupcakes back at her. “I’m busy.”
Those big blues of hers took a tour around the room before sweeping him from his bed head to his bare toes. “You don’t look busy. What are you busy doing?”
His hackles, tempered by amusement at her boldness, rose. “Not sure that’s any of your business.” He took an extra loud slurp of his coffee. “Are you always this nosy?”
Grace, who had been sitting patiently beside him, cleaning the floor with her tail, lunged toward Terra—to get better acquainted, no doubt.
Terra’s eyes bugged, and she jumped backward with a squeak, smashing the back of her head into a hall tree too rickety to hold anything beyond a ball cap.
She sent it and the tray crashing to the floor.
He wasn’t sure where to turn his attention first: Terra’s head, the toppled hall tree, or the cupcakes smearing his floor.
Get Besting the Blueliner and find out what surprises are in store for Cam and Terra when they’re thrown together in the rugged mountains of Colorado.
SEVEN PLAYMAKERS COUPLES unite for a winter wedding getaway, but there’s trouble in Paradise. Claim your free copy of Puck the Halls and see if they can find the spirit of Christmas—and each other—before it's too late.