Chloe
“Love seeing you in my jersey,” Austin says before he captures my lips in a deep kiss and smacks my ass.
“You guys are gross,” Claire jokes, perched on Easton’s lap.
“But no one could compare to your cuteness, baby girl,” Noah coos, holding sweet Emmaline over his head before cradling her against his chest and dropping a kiss to her forehead.
“Agreed.” I collapse on the couch in the living room. Just last month, I moved in with Austin and, being the incredible man he is, he agreed to let me redecorate the space.
Easton passed along the number of his buddy Evan’s wife, Charlie, who is an interior designer in New York. Through a series of Zoom calls, we managed to transform this space from a bachelor pad to a welcoming and warm home.
Austin hands Indy a fresh glass of wine and sits on the couch next to me, wrapping his arm around my shoulders.
Indy takes a sip and groans appreciatively. “Oh, wine, how I’ve missed you.” But her wine is quickly forgotten as her gaze lands on her husband, whispering lullabies to their daughter, and a wistful smile crosses her lips.
“So,” East says, reaching forward to grab a handful of pretzels from the bowl on the coffee table, “we’re clearly old.”
“Speak for yourself,” Austin says, shifting to pick up his beer.
Noah shakes his head. “Nah, Easton’s right. We just won our second game of the season and instead of hitting up Taps to celebrate we’re—”
“Watching a three-month-old blink,” Claire finishes, her eyes trained on Emmaline.
I chuckle, tucking my feet underneath me and snuggling into Austin’s side. “I think I like this better than Taps.”
“See.” East points at me. “Old.”
I shrug. “I’m okay with it.”
“Me too.” Indy leans back in her chair and takes another sip of wine, her eyes fluttering closed. “I’m too tired to go to Taps anyway.”
“Want to play a game?” Austin asks.
Claire narrows her eyes. “Want kind of game?”
“Not a drinking one,” Noah decides.
Indy snorts. “Sure, now no one wants to drink…”
“Scrabble?” I suggest.
Claire groans. “So you can kick all our asses?”
“Hey! I’m good at Scrabble.” Indy perks up.
Emmaline gurgles and Noah walks across the room to the window, pointing to the city below.
“I’m in,” East agrees. “Claire can be on my team.”
Austin stands and rummages through a cupboard until he finds Scrabble.
I clear the charcuterie board and drinks off the coffee table. We all huddle around, dressed in sweats and hockey jerseys, with fuzzy socks and slippers on our feet. It’s definitely a far cry from the start of summer but as I look around the room at the faces of my friends who have become my family, a sense of peace washes over me. Being banished to Boston definitely turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to me.
Austin unfolds the board and I pass around the bag with the letter tiles.
We all set up our tiles and Easton lifts his chin in my direction. “You go first, Chlo.”
I grin, glancing at Austin.
His eyes spark as they hold mine.
Slowly, I spell out my word. Love.
Claire groans as Easton snickers.
Without missing a beat, my man lays down his tiles, using the o in “love” to make “you.”
“Jesus,” Indy mumbles, rolling her eyes. “I’m totally going to win.”
Under the table, Austin’s hand finds mine and I flip my palm up so he can lace our fingers together.
Easton carries on with the next word but I’m not paying attention to the game.
I’m staring into the deep blue eyes of Austin Merrick wondering how the hell I got so lucky.
He leans forward, brushing his lips over my ear. “Love you, Chlo.”
“I love you.”
Austin’s eyes soften. He looks at me like I’m more beautiful than witnessing life come into the world. Like the rest of the room faded away. Like he’s madly in love with me.
I bite my bottom lip and stare back, knowing that I’m finally enough.
For me, for him, for us.
Thank you so much for reading The Rule Maker! I hope you loved it!
If you want more hockey heartthrobs and swoon for single-dad romances, don’t miss James and Bella’s emotional and heartbreaking book. Preorder The Defender now, releasing August 5.
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