Pucking Ever After(Jacksonville Rays, #2.5)

by Emily Rath

Slowly, his expression softens. “To know you is to want you, Caleb.” I let out a breath, shoulders sagging. “You can’t mean it. Mars, I swear to fucking god—”

“Why would I lie about this?” he shouts. “I have nothing to gain and everything to lose by revealing this truth. Why do you think I have swallowed it for so long? I have lived with it burning a hole inside me because I knew you didn’t feel the same!”

“No,” I shake my head, letting his anger wash over me like a crashing wave. “No, you’ve been in the driver’s seat. This whole goddamn time, it was you calli...

You take what you want, and you’ve only ever wanted Rachel. You never even looked twice at me unless she was standing naked between us. You don’t want me...

“I never knew I was allowed to want you!” I blink, leaning away. “What the hell...

With a frustrated growl, he points a finger in my face. “You set the rules we live by, Caleb. Not me. I merely respect them.” My...

“Rachel is yours,” he shouts over me. “Rachel is yours and Jake is yours. Even the dog is yours. You found them first, you loved them first. I share them with you. That is my role here. That is my place...

“Because we are the safe harbor. You are held apart, removed from me like a lighthouse on the far distant shore. I can see home, but I cannot reach it. I know it’s there, but your fire cannot give me warmth.”

He lifts a hand, reaching across the empty space between us, and cups my face. The feel of his skin on mine sets me on fire. As if he knows what his touch does to me, his mouth quirks into a sad smile.

“Only they may seek shelter in your light,” he murmurs, his thumb brushing my cheek. “I must remain at the breakers, holding back the violence of the waves, ...

He drops his hand away, and I’m left swaying on my feet, my own hand rising to brush my cheek, ch...

My anger evaporates as I see the pain in his eyes. Pain I put there through my own inability to see him, to let him be seen by me. “Is that really all I am to you?...

His blue eyes break me open with their intensity. “It’s fine, necessary even.” “Necessary? Why?” He nods. ...

Oh, fuck. I step in, letting my hands smooth over his chest, fingers brushing against the soft cotton of my t-shirt. He stiffens under my hands, his eyes shutting tight as if he’s ...

His eyes open, those pools of deepest blue devastating me. I take in the furrow of his brow, the soft lines at the corners of his eyes, the dusting of faint freckles on his cheeks, the scar on his eyebrow. He’s so goddamn beautiful. Al...

“Tell me who I am,” I say, lifting my hands to cup his bearded face. “No more hiding. Stand in my light and tell me.” His hands wrap ...

“You are Caleb Price. You’re everything I’m not…everything I can’t be. You give them the things they need that I can’t provide. You help me love them the way they deserve to be loved. You’re my other half...

“We’re the harbor for them,” I reply, letting my hands drift back down to his shoulders. “But they’re an ocean away. It’s just the two of us here now. You and me, Mars. I need to know what I am to you. I need to know if there’s any...

His fingertips brush featherlight down the ink on my forearm, sending a fire racing over my skin. My dick twitches with want. But we’re nowhere close to a resolution here. I step in closer and press my palm a...

“Rachel has already carved her name into the walls of your heart. This beats for her.” I glance up, waiting for hi...

I flip my hand over, brushing my knuckles down his sternum. “And Jake and the boys claim all your softness…your quiet. You are their shelter,...

trail my hand down to his hip. “What does that leave for me?” His jaw tightens, the heat of his gaze enough to burn down the house. I stare right...

“I will not be nothing to you, Ilmari Price. And I am no longer content to stand on some distant shore, helping you hold this family together, wanti...

“I can’t breathe for wanting you. I have no pride left. No clever words. Nothing. Please…just end my fucking agony and tell me there’s something left. Tell me there’s a part of you I can have that they...

He holds my gaze, his blue eyes searching me. “The others have staked their claims on me, it’s true. But you may have the rest. Take anything…ev...

“Mars…do you love me?” My goalie lets the puck hit the back of the net. He doesn’t lift a finger to block it. “More than my own life. But you already know that. We’re so far past expressing our mutual feelings of fidelity. Ask the question you really want answered.”

lick my lips, heart racing. Sudden death. No going back. “Are you in love with me, Mars?” He closes his eyes and lets out a breath. “So much it hurts.”