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“Let her have this.” “Have what?” “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.”
“Ett rent hjärta,” he whispers in Swedish. If I ever knew how to breathe, I’ve long forgotten. “What does that mean?” The knuckles of his right hand brush over the point where my heart thrums in my chest. “It means you have a pure heart.”
Fuck, he looks good enough to spread on toast.
You haven’t lived until you’ve seen Henrik Karlsson walk off a plane wearing a tailored three-piece suit. Fuck me, that’s what I want: Swedish Henrik and game-day fit Henrik. I’ll spread one on toast and down the other like a shot.
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.
This professional athlete, who smashes men into boards for a living, is as gentle as a lamb. He draws me baths and rolls up my clean socks. He’s quiet, and noble, and loyal, and I fucking love him.
“I don’t own you,” he blurts. “Even with that ring on your finger, even with the contract signed, you are not mine. But I’m possessive, Teddy. I’m precious about my things and about the people close to me. I like control, and I like to feel . . . ordered.
“There,” I soothe, taking a deep breath and letting it out. “You can’t drown if you’re holding onto the dock. Now go to sleep. You have a game tomorrow.”
He wants me to score a goal so he can embarrass me with whatever song he picked? Done. Lord knows he’s done enough for me already. Whatever my husband wants, he gets.
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. The only question you get to ask me about him for the rest of my time in this League is how happy he makes me. And my answer will never change: He makes me very happy.
“The way he was looking at you all night?” She pretends to fan herself. “Hoo, he looked like he wanted to eat you with a spoon.”
You give and give. Lord knows you’d give until there’s nothing left for yourself.”
you’re so gorgeous, I wanna cry myself to sleep at night.”
From the moment I first saw you, I thought you were the most beautiful man I’d ever seen.
“Hey, Teddy?” He stills, not looking up at me. “What?” “I think you’re beautiful too.”
“How will I know if I can give you everything you want, if you won’t let me try?”
“From the moment we met out on that sidewalk six years ago, you crashed into my life, and into my heart, and literally swept me off my fucking feet. I looked up at you and felt like I’d just found the one.
I will take every crumb you offer because I can’t walk away from you. I certainly can’t walk away from Karro. She’s sunk her hooks in me all the way to my beating heart. I love that little girl. So now I’m twice as twisted up, wriggling like a fish on both your lines.”
you’re in love with me. If it’s all the same to you, I’d like to see if I could learn to love you too.”
“I’ll not share you, Teddy. You are my husband, or you’re nothing.”
“Say you’re mine too. Maybe with another, I could have shared. But not you, Henrik. Never you. You’re mine, or you’re nothing.”
Not to get too cheesy, but in the immortal words of Kiss, I was made for lovin’ you, baby.”
“I fucking love it, you caveman. Are you kidding? Literally any attention from you, I’m gonna eat with a spoon. You’re my kryptonite, Henrik. You’re my fucking sun.”
The chaos they bring to each day is now more precious to me than any cheering crowd, any professional accolade.”
“Where the hell am I gonna go, huh? You’ve ruined me, Henrik. One look at you, and I was done. Just say the word, and I’ll follow you anywhere.”
“Marry me again. Marry me properly. With flower girls, and photographers, and vows in English.”
“I’ve kept it safe for you, mitt hjärta. You told me to wait and give it to a partner I love, cherish, and adore.” He holds it out to me. “Will you take it now? Take it, like you’ve taken my heart.”
“Better than a roller coaster?” I can’t contain my cheesy quip. “Baby, you know you’re my favorite fucking ride.”
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.”
