Pucking Strong (Jacksonville Rays #4)

by Emily Rath

“Henrik,” I say on a breath. His smile flickers as those around us share confused glances. “Call me Karlsson. Everyone does.” Dropping my hand, he breaks our cosmic connection . . . and my heart.

“This is my PT. You got that, assholes? I don’t make the rules, but I will enforce them.”

“Hey, Teddy.” He smiles that smile that only reaches his eyes. God, I haven’t seen that smile in six long years. “Good to see you again.” Well, fuck me. Apparently, the love of my life remembers my name.

“I can help, Karlsson . . . if you’ll have me.”

What the hell am I doing? Oh god, I need to have my head examined. I signed a contract for my dream job today, and then two seconds later I threw myself at the world’s most unobtainable man.

Totally understandable

There’s nothing wrong with you, Karlsson. I’m weird because I’m weird, not because you’re weird. You’re perfect, okay? You just be you, and I’ll be me, and we’ll just be weird and awkward together. Sound good?”

OMG TEDDY YOU’RE SO GODDAMN ADORABLE

“Mitt lilla lamm, inga fler tårar. Jag är här nu.” She sobs, clinging to him. “Jag är ledsen,” he cries, brushing back her hair. “Lilla lamm, jag är så ledsen.”

Holy fuck I’m sooobbinngg

“Karro has come up with a name for her bear,” he announces in English. I blink myself out of my stupor and sit forward. “Oh, yeah?” “She doesn’t want to call him Nalle.” “Well, what do you want to call him?” Gazing across the bed at me, Karlsson smiles that smile that only touches his eyes. “She wants to call him Teddy.”

DR DR EMILY RATH I CAN’T 😭😭😭😭😭😭♥️

Married to Henrik Karlsson, and I didn’t even get a kiss. This was a big fucking mistake.

“A child was taken from her. Now a new child is given. Let her bond with him awhile. You and I will go lay your sister to rest.”

“Gud, hjälpe mig.” “Henrik?” “The bed linens still smell like her.” Oh god. How can one sentence hold so much power?

You haven’t lived until you’ve seen Henrik Karlsson walk off a plane wearing a tailored three-piece suit.

“Do you trust me, Teddy? Do you trust my heart as I trust yours?”

“You’re someone. You’re my someone. And I want to take care of you. Please, Teddy—you’ve been taking care of me so well for weeks now. Let me return the favor. Don’t drive off in the dark to go sit alone in an empty hotel room. Stay. Stay here with me and let me take care of you for a change.”

Once Hanna enters Karro’s room and I hear the way Hanna exclaims with delight, I know it’s all over for me. The world’s most perfect Swedish nanny is about to swoop in and steal my fake family right out from under me.

“Jag saknar Mamma.” I lean down, kissing the top of her head. “Can you translate for me?” She sniffles, pulling Teddy the Bear onto her lap with her casted hand. “I miss Mamma.”

Poor baby😭🩷🩷🩷

As I stand here, heart racing, the truth settles over me: I don’t want Teddy out with another man tonight. I want him home, laughing with Karro on the couch, making banana splits, and teaching me to braid her hair. I want him home with me.

Lord knows he’s done enough for me already. Whatever my husband wants, he gets.

“Teddy O’Connor is my partner, and that’s all you get to know. That’s all any of you deserve. He’s mine, and I will fight as fiercely for him as I have for every other man on my team. More so, because at the end of the day, my teammates go home to their partners. I go home to Teddy.

“And Mama, you know I love you. I respect you. And I’m truly sorry for all the hurt I caused.” Hands on his hips, he stares her down. “But if you ever talk to my husband like that again, it’ll be the last time you ever talk to me.”

Six years ago, yes, you pulled me away from that speeding truck. But that’s the only time you get to save me. Because you’re on my list now. You’re mine, Henrik. And I’ll be damned if I let anyone, my own mother included, make you think you’re not worth saving—”

“I know you’re scared. You have every reason to doubt me, to want to protect your heart. I’m asking you to give me a chance.”

“Du är min man,” he growls. Then he’s kissing me. Oh my god, Henrik Karlsson is kissing me.

finallyyyyyyy🥺🥺🥺🥺

“We’re already breaking all the rules. You sleep in my bed. Tonight, you kissed me. Now, look me in the eyes, and tell me who I am.” He holds my gaze. “If you want the rule broken, you break it.”

“I’ll not share you, Teddy. You are my husband, or you’re nothing.”

He’s like my own personal sun.

God help me, they both like Kalles Kaviar. It’s this awful, fishy paste made from salted cod roe.

Eeeeyyy, don’t hate on my tubed caviar! Legit eating it rn 🤣

“Teddy.” I squeeze his thigh again and he stops, my breath held tight. Still smiling, I lift my other hand and brush my fingertips down the locs on his shoulder. “Never make yourself smaller. Not for Karolina, and certainly not for me.”

“You are just enough. You’re my partner, my husband. And you’re Karolina’s fiercest guardian.

“I want you to take this cock and put it inside me,” he says against my lips. “Paint my insides with your cum; drag your nails down my back. Don’t stop until I’m marked inside and out. Everyone will know why I call you min man.”

My flabber has been thoroughly ghasted holy fuck

“Because I love you.”

😭😭😭😭😭♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️

I think I could chart the pattern of the freckles on your cheeks with my eyes closed. They’re more precious to me now than the stars in the sky. They are the constellation that guides me home. To you. Always to you. Only to you. My life and my love, my only one.”