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Riggs: Where are you?
Me: Look ahead. By the fountain.
I look up just as he does, and when we lock eyes, my heart stops dead in my chest. His eyes are intense, shamelessly focused on mine. When he looks at me like that, like I’m the prey and he’s the hunter, I feel like an exposed nerve. Like one touch and I’ll explode. I lick my lips as my phone sounds in my hand.
Riggs: I want to eat you up, my love.
Me: I rather love when you eat me, snookums.
I hear his deep, rough laughter, and when I look back up, everyone is looking at him like he’s lost his damn mind. His laughter always makes me hot, but watching others react to his amusement as if he’s grown six heads makes giggles bubble out of me. I love who he is with me. Before I can write him back, Louisa wraps her arms around my waist. I lean back into her, cupping her wrist with my free hand as Austen wraps us both in a tight hug. I press my cheek to hers, inhaling her sweet, floral scent. Austen has always been so classically beautiful, with her little button nose and long brown hair. She reminds me of an elf fromLord of the Ringswith her sharp cheekbones and stunning blue eyes.
Louisa used to mirror Austen’s looks, but over the years, she’s smoothed out, gained the weight she needed, and now she’s all curves and softness. Being in their arms is like being taken back to when I was six and there was a storm that scared me to my core. I fully expect to be hit by the bad memories of my childhood, but thankfully, all I feel is the love my sisters give me.
“Why are you over here by yourself?” Austen whispers against my temple.
“We are telling Peepaw after the wedding. We didn’t want today or the wedding to have any drama if he decides to pull his regular shit,” I explain, and Louisa lets out an exasperated sigh.
“I don’t like that. I want you to be happy—don’t worry about me.” She smiles. Though, I shake my head.
“No. I won’t allow anything to ruin your day.” As much as I hate the thought of going to my sister’s wedding without Riggs at my side, I will do it for her. “We can wait.”
She waves me off. “No. You’ve waited enough. I can tell how badly you want everyone to know.”
I smile shyly. “Yeah.”
Austen chucks my chin. “Love looks good on you, sissy.”
My grin grows as a pair of huge arms wrap around Austen’s waist, pulling her away. Dimitri Titov stands like a thick wall behind my sister, all gorgeous with his Top Gun mustache and blazing light-blue eyes. Eyes that are only for my sister. He kisses Austen’s cheek loudly before whispering in her ear in Russian.
He may not realize I can hear him. But one thing is for sure—I’d rather not hear my sister’s boyfriend tell her that his cock is weeping for her.
Instead, I wish it were Riggs telling me that.
I glance up to look for him, but I don’t see him. My heart falls a bit, but then Elliot and Eliza come to stand with us. “Alex says he’ll meet Ciaran at the venue tomorrow to help with the arch. Iwould help, but I feel like this kid is trying to escape through my belly button.”
All our eyes drop to my sister’s extended tummy, and I grin. “That’s what you get for hiding him from us. Now he wants everyone to know he’s coming.”
Elliot doesn’t find me funny, but everyone else grins. “I just don’t understand how I didn’t show for months, and now, I look like I’m carrying eight kids.”
Dimitri snorts. “Not eight, maybe three.”
“Thanks,” she says dryly, and everyone laughs at her dismay.
Once more, though, I hear when Dimitri whispers quietly in Russian to my sister that he wants her fat and pregnant. Austen’s eyes widen, but I can see the shine in her gaze. With her voice low, she tells him he has to marry her first, and he nods, determination in his eyes. With a grin, he tells her to name a date, and the look of pure happiness on my sister’s face is overwhelming. I find myself looking at all my sisters, so much pride and exhilaration coursing through me from the knowledge that we made it.
We survived.
We’re happy.
And all of us know what real love is.
Something I don’t think any of us ever expected to happen.
A tightness gathers in my chest, but then I’m caught off guard when I hear Riggs’s voice. “If I can have everyone’s attention.” All of us turn and look up at where Riggs stands with his team, the Cup in his hand as he looks out into the crowd.
No. He’s looking right at me.
Breathless, I swallow as he continues. “I want to thank everyone for coming and for supporting us through this run. I have never in my life felt pride the way I did when I watched my boys skate with this Cup above their heads.” He shakes the Cup in his hand, and the emotion on his face brings tears to myeyes. “I wanted this Cup badly this year, because not only did I know it was ours, but because this team is special. Each of these boys has the potential to go pro today. Some have already been called up and will start training in the NHL in the coming weeks, and while I’m sad to see them go, I’m glad they can go with the memory of our win.”
