Chapter 22
Dean
Every time I start to think that Arianna couldn’t be more perfect, she does something to prove me wrong.
And right now, Ari dancing in front of her bathroom mirror while using a tube of mascara for a microphone as she sings slightly off-key would already top everything else. Except she had to go make this moment even better by wearing nothing but one of my old T-shirts.
Even with the baby bump, the threadbare gray fabric falls mid-thigh.
Pale, freckle-covered legs move with the beat of the song playing from the speaker in the bedroom.
I lean against the bathroom doorframe, enjoying a moment of just watching her spin and shake her butt until the song comes to an end.
This right here is why I haven’t spent a night at my place in almost two months.
The only reasons I’ve gone back have been to get clothes and my gaming console.
I’d once thought the forty-five-minute drive from the arena would suck.
But now that I do it every day, it’s not bad at all.
Throw on some tunes or an audiobook, and the drive is kind of nice.
It’s not even something we spoke about, my staying over all the time.
It just happened naturally. I just wanted to be with her whenever I could, even if that meant slipping into bed in the middle of the night after getting home from an away game.
As long as I got to wake up next to her, that was the only thing that mattered to me.
We’d been working on sorting through everything we bought for the baby, and just last week I started painting what will be her nursery.
Life was really fucking good. And seeing the woman I love dancing pants-less made it even better.
When she finishes the final note and finally opens her eyes, she immediately looks at me. Her cheeks flush with a pretty pink, but she doesn’t shy away from what I walked in on.
“Do you know how perfect you are?” I ask, pushing off the doorframe, and step up behind her. Wrapping my arms around her waist, my hands find her stomach so I can rub the baby bump. I can’t keep my hands off it, off of her. Luckily, she doesn’t mind.
Arianna laughs, leaning forward slightly but staying in my embrace, and finishes applying her mascara.
“I’m just introducing our little girl to the best pop star to ever walk this planet.”
I chuckle, ducking my head to the crook of her neck, and inhale.
Is it normal to get a boner just from smelling your girlfriend’s perfume?
If the answer to that is anything but yes, I don’t think I actually care.
“We can arrange to have daily dance parties if it means you’ll do them wearing nothing but my shirt.”
Her ass brushes against my already semi-hard cock and it takes all my will power not to thrust into her. When I lift my head, resting my chin on her shoulder, I catch the devious smile she tries to hide in the mirror.
My hands glide down her sides, and my fingers are inches away from finding the hem of the shirt when she speaks up again.
“Hey, so I’ve been thinking…” She trails off and I watch her reflection closely, noting the way she hesitantly chews on her bottom lip for a second before rushing out her next words. “You should move in. Officially.”
“Yes,” I say immediately, holding her gaze as I bend to kiss her neck.
“It’s just that you’re already here all the time anyway, so keeping two places is pointless. Plus, with the baby due—wait, what?”
“I said”—I pause, trailing my lips along her collarbone before kissing her shoulder—“yes.”
“You didn’t think it through, though,” she says, her tone baffled.
“Freckles, I was always going to move in with you. We haven’t spent a night apart, aside from when I’m traveling for a game, since we found out we’re having a girl. I was ready to play the long haul by slowly bringing more of my things here.”
“Ah, so that’s why your Pokémon cards are on the dining room table.”
“Glad you’re finally catching up, baby.” I wink at her reflection.
Her teasing smile falls slightly, transforming into a more effervescent one.
“You don’t have to play a long haul move anymore. You know that, right?”
“Of course.” I nod seriously but crack a smirk as my hand finds the bottom of the baby bump. “It’s way too late for you to get rid of me now.”
Ari doesn’t laugh like I expected her to. Instead, she places her hand over mine on her stomach.
“Dean,” she says. The seriousness in her tone makes my back straighten. On instinct, I pull her closer, sealing her back to my chest. Arianna holds my stare through our reflections and my heart feels like it’s going to leap out through my throat. “I love you.”
Those three words feel as if they were aimed at the center of my chest. Spearing their way beneath my skin until they’re burrowed into every fiber of my being. With every pump of my heart, her words echo.
I love you. Thump. I love you. Thump. I love you. Thump.
Keeping my hand beneath hers over the bump, I reach my free hand up and tangle my fingers into her hair, using the grip to angle her head back so that I can kiss her.
Ari melts back into me, and her words continue to beat through my mind.
Slipping my hand down her stomach, her palm staying on top of mine, but she doesn’t stop me from reaching the hem of the shirt and pushing it up.
“We don’t have that much time,” she mumbles against my lips. She’s right. The whole reason I came in here was to make sure she’d be ready to leave in thirty minutes.
But there’s no way in hell I’m walking out of here after hearing those beautiful words. I keep her head in place while trailing kisses along her jaw.
“Then we better be quick, Freckles. This is the second time I’ve had you pressed up against a bathroom counter, and I’m not getting talked out of bending you over it this time.”
Arianna moans in approval and my fingers slide beneath the shirt, finding her bare pussy. Nipping her ear, I bite back a groan as I slip through the arousal already spilling from her.
“Especially now that I know you’ve been walking around without underwear on while wearing my shirt.” I glide easily through her warm cunt.
With my hold in her hair, I pull her mouth back to mine for one more kiss while slowly working two digits into her. When I break away, we’re both panting. Her face is flushed, and the green of her eyes is barely visible thanks to her blown pupils.
“Bend over, Freckles. Arms on the counter,” I demand in a gravelly voice that doesn’t quite sound like my own. The last time I felt this way, or at least close to it, was when I got her pregnant.
My fingers slide from her hair, and I waste no time in removing my clothes, never looking away from Ari.
She bends over so beautifully, jutting her ass out toward me in a tempting offer.
The shirt rides up, revealing her perfect round cheeks and giving me a glimpse of her pussy.
A war rages in my chest, the need to fall to my knees behind her and worship every inch until she comes on my tongue before I take her but knowing we don’t have time.
As if reading my mind, she catches my attention in the mirror.
“Better be quick, or you’ll be the one explaining to everyone why you’re late for the most important game of the season,” she taunts, wiggling her ass.
With one hand on her hip, I line my aching cock up at her entrance, dragging the tip up and down to coat myself in her arousal before pushing in slightly. My eyes are glued to where the head of my dick disappears, and I almost slam into her when she clenches around me.
Swallowing thickly, I move to hold her steady with both hands before looking up in the mirror, only to find her already watching me.
“Say it again,” I plead, voice raspy and desperate, but I don’t give a shit.
“I love you.”
I slide into her effortlessly, eyes locked with hers as I slam all the way in until her ass is nestled perfectly against my pelvis. Slowly, I withdraw, my jaw clenched and my breathing labored as I pull back until only an inch remains once more.
“Again.”
“I love you.” She supplies without question, and I thrust back into her. Each time I plunge back inside her, Ari repeats the words. Wantonly. Desperately. As if she needs to hear them just as much as I do.
The tell-tale tingles of my impending orgasm build at the base of my spine. Carefully, I bend forward slightly, not slowing down as I fuck into her. I let go of one of her hips so I can reach around to play with her clit.
Ari moans at the contact, resting her forehead against her arm as she nods in encouragement.
“You’re so perfect, baby. Taking every inch of my cock like you were made for me.”
I groan when her walls clamp around me, her body telling me just how much she agrees with what I said, but still, she continues to nod.
“I was—” She gasps as I pinch her clit while impaling her on me. “Oh fuck, I was made for you. Just you.”
“Show me. Come all over me and let me hear you say those beautiful words again.”
I squeeze the bundle of nerves between her thighs once more, at the same time I force her to tilt her hips slightly and slam into her. Ari’s voice bounces off the bathroom walls, the words sounding even more exquisite as they mix with the moans of her orgasm.
Her cunt clenches around me, walls fluttering as if trying to trap me inside her. A powerful tremor racks up my spine and it only takes two more uneven thrusts for me to follow after her, my own release nearly knocking me off my feet.
I catch myself on the counter and carefully drape my body over hers while resting on my elbow beside hers. My face falls forward to the center of her shoulder blades and my dick twitches inside of her when she shifts slightly.
“Keep moving like that and we’ll definitely be late.”
She giggles and it takes all my strength to stand up and pull out of her.
I groan at the sight of our combined release leaking from her pussy.
Without thinking it through, two of my fingers are skimming through our cum and shoving it back inside.
A thud reverberates through the space, and I don’t have to look up to know it was her forehead hitting the counter.
Slowly, I pump my fingers into her.
“It’s a damn good thing you’re already pregnant.” I push in, curving my fingers until I find the rough patch of nerves that is her G-spot. Ari gasps as I begin massaging the spot and gently thrusting. “Because if you weren’t, there’s no way we’d leave this bathroom until you were.”
“Dean, I can’t—” Her words are cut off as I reach up to trap her oversensitive clit between my free thumb and pointer finger.
I time my movement with a careful pull on the bud, and she comes again with a surprised shout.
While her body shakes, I place featherlight kisses on her ass while gentling my touch to work her through the orgasm.
“Holy shit,” she pants out. I finally remove my fingers from her, hating that we’re on a time crunch and that I can’t take her to bed and make her give me a third.
Pushing to my feet, my eyes are still glued to her ass as she rights herself. I almost protest when the shirt slips back into place.
“No,” she snaps, but amusement lines the word. “How the hell are you even still hard?”
I shrug, stepping close enough to steal another kiss. “The woman I love finally told me she loves me too. If we didn’t absolutely have to leave in fifteen minutes, I would be taking you in every possible way all over the house.”
She twists to face me, loops her arms around my neck, and holds me as best she can given the bump between us.
“Bet you never thought you’d be upset about having made it to the final match in the championship.”
“I’m sure they could win the cup without me.”
Ari playfully smacks me and shoots me with a glare.
“We can fuck again after you win.”
“Deal. Only if you promise to say…”
She grins, pushing to her tiptoes. I bend to meet her halfway and just before she kisses me, she whispers, “I love you, Dean Hayes.”
The buzzer sounds seconds before I’m crashed into. The horn almost drowns out the cheers and shouts from my teammates as they all pile in around me.
“Holy shit.” I can’t even hear my own voice as Dominik hoots in one ear and Landon whoops in the other. Red and gold confetti falls all around us, and it finally starts to sink in.
We won.
We actually fucking won.
It had been close. It came down to Dominik scoring in a shootout. If he had missed that shot, we would have lost.
I drop my stick and wrap an arm around Dom.
“You fucking did it, man!” I yell, pulling him in until our helmets clash together.
“We did it,” he corrects and I shake my head.
By the time the guys start pulling away, everyone who’s allowed is pouring onto the ice while all of us line up to shake hands with the Nighthawks. Dominik falls into line in front of me at the end, only this time, Coach James joins us, followed by our team’s assistant coaches as well.
Coach pats my shoulders with both hands to get my attention.
“You did good out there,” he tells me and I immediately puff up with pride.
Once we’re finished saying ‘good game’ on repeat, I twist on my skates as I scan through the sea of people that have swarmed the ice. I’m used to looking around, happy to watch my teammates celebrate with their loved ones. But right now…
“Dean!” a voice that I have memorized calls out, and I turn just in time to watch Ari duck around her brother and rush toward me.
She’s in my arms in the next second. Ari yanks me down, and her kiss is enough to drown out all the chaos around us.
When she pulls back, her eyes are lined with tears. She cups my face in her hands. “I’m so proud of you.”
And there goes the rest of my heart. Floating off to live happily in the clouds for the rest of my life.
Hearing Arianna tell me she loves me made me feel like I could walk on water. It was like fitting a final piece of the puzzle into place, and everything just fell into place.
But hearing her say that she’s proud of me was like locking it into place.
I stare down at the woman in my arms, and I know in this moment, with my teammates surrounding me, her family circling us so they can celebrate this moment too, Arianna is my sun.
I’ll spend the rest of my life doing everything and anything to remain in her orbit.
To show her that I’m worth the trust she places in my hands.
My team might have won the championship. But I won something even better, Arianna’s love.