Page 147 of Double Puck

She blinks. "Beck—"

"No. Nope. Vetoed. Denied." I take her by the shoulders. "Darcy. Listen to me very carefully, because I'm only going to say this once. You are not quitting. That's color-coded red. You remember what red means, right?"

"Non-negotiable."

"Exactly." I grin. "You're the best analyst in this league."

"Beck—"

"You spent your whole life giving things up to be what other people needed. Your parents. The gala nights. The society boyfriends with the foot stuff." I duck my head to catch her eyes. "I don't want you any different, Darce. I want the spreadsheets. The career. The ambition. All of it. You don't have to give up a single thing to prove you love me. You just have to be here. Next to me. Being annoyingly right about my shitty zone entries."

She stares at me, the carousel music turning behind us, the ocean glittering all the way to the edge of the world.

Then she grabs my shirt and kisses me.

I cup the back of her head and kiss her until she's smiling against my mouth, until her heels are abandoned somewhere near my feet and she's up on her toes trying to get closer.

I don't know what happens tomorrow. I don't know what Colin does with the trade or what jersey I'm wearing next season.

But I know this.

Darcy Madden is mine.

I pull her closer, but immediately encounter a problem.

"Darce."

"Mm?"

"Beartholomew is between us."

We both look down, and sure enough, there is an enormous blue bear wedged directly between our bodies, his tiny plastic glasses digging directly into my crotch.

"He's watching."

Darcy shrugs. "He's seen worse."

"He really has." I take the bear, hold him out at arm's length over the railing, look him dead in his little glasses. "Sorry, buddy. She chose me."

"Beck, no! Do not drop that bear."

"He's a witness, Darce. He has to go."

She lunges and grabs Beartholomew's arm, and for a genuinely undignified three seconds, we're standing on the end of a public pier having a tug-of-war over a giant stuffed bear wearing glasses.

"Give him to me."

"I'm doing him a favor. The ocean is freeing. He'll love it."

"He'll sink."

"He's stuffed!"

"Beck."

"He weighs like forty pounds, he'll be fine."

"Beck."