She beams up at me. “Marrying you, no-brainer.”
I scoff. “I mean about all this stuff. This circu—”
“Don’t you dare call our wedding a circus. I let Posey and Boon say it, and sometimes Wes, but you’re not allowed. You will sleep on the couch.”
I laugh as she eyes me. “Fine, fine. This production.”
She glares. “I don’t like that either.”
I shake my head. “So, this is happening?”
“Oh, it’s happening, and it’s going to be amazing.”
“Okay,” I say, kissing her lip. “I have one question. Where is the Cup going?”
Grace holds up her fingers, showing me the iPad with a very detailed sketch of the wedding. Under the huge altar is the Cup in all its beautiful glory. Grace points to it with her pen and says, “You’ll be married in front of it, and then you’ll pour the two colors of sand into it, becoming one. I have the smaller Stanley Cup replica for y’all to keep the sand in later.”
I nod as Shelli grins at me. “Happy with that?”
“Yup, especially since so many of my buddies from other teams are coming—oh, and Chandler,” I tease, but Grace doesn’t laugh.
“My son-in-law is still very upset,” she tells me, and I grin.
“Yeah, giving up a three-game lead and losing is something to still be upset about,” I say proudly. The Assassins were down-and-out; no one thought we could come back, but we did, and I held that Cup above my head and kissed my girl. Pretty incredible.
“It’s all fun and games until he doesn’t come,” she warns me, but Shelli just laughs.
“He’ll come. His kids are in the wedding along with his wife, so he’ll come. He’ll be bitter, but he’ll be here.”
We all share a laugh as I slide my hand in Shelli’s. She looks up at me with all the love in the world in her eyes. She loves me, I know this, and hell if I don’t love her more than life itself. I lace our fingers together before I bring our hands up, kissing the back of her hand. With everything going on, it hasn’t just been her and me. When we’re alone, we’re both bone-tired. The play-offs were long and hard. Yeah, we brought home the Cup, but as soon as that was over, we went into hard-core house hunting and wedding planning. Shelli worked her ass off for the alumni game, and then Posey’s wedding happened in there too. So much has been going on, and I feel like Shelli and I haven’t connected like we did before the Cup run. I know I have her for the rest of our lives, but I don’t ever want to stop chasing her. “Are we done?”
Shelli looks back at her mom and aunt, where they are discussing whatever the hell is on Grace’s iPad. “Here, yeah. But I have to go get ready for the bachelorette party tonight.”
I shake my head. “That’s not until eight. We have plenty of time.”
“Plenty of time for what?”
“I have a surprise for you.”
She raises her eyebrows. “For me?”
I nod. “Always you.”
I pull her along without either of us saying goodbye to Elli or Grace. Reason being, they both know where we’re going. They helped me plan it. I take Shelli to the back of the barn and then up the spiral staircase to the second level.
I look back to Shelli, and she’s excited but wary. “Where are we going?”
“You’ll see,” I say sweetly, kissing the back of her hand once more. She thinks there are only dressing rooms up here, but I’m about to show her so much more. I turn the handle on the door that leads to an open-air balcony hidden by the large cupola of the barn. I look back at her as she takes in all the pink flower petals covering the balcony and scattered around the two brass bathtubs I had filled with all her favorite bath salts and hot water. It’s not hot out, but it’s not cold either. It’s a perfect late-summer afternoon, ideal for a dip in these two tubs, which have a table between them holding a charcuterie board for us to share. Candles are everywhere, along with a bottle of her favorite white wine.
She looks over at me, her jaw falling open as she laughs. “For real?”
I grin, pulling her to me. “For real.” We walk together to the table, where a rose is lying. I pick it up, handing it to her as she sighs in happiness. “I love you, Shelli Grace.”
Her eyes are a bit misty as she glances up at me. “I love you too, Aiden James.”
Our lips meet, and within seconds, I know the connection is back. Honestly, I don’t even know why I thought it was gone.
Shelli and I, well, we’re meant for each other.
A+S 4Ever.
Chapter 2
Shelli
I sit in my little getup that Posey got for me. I’m wearing the most adorable crown that reads “Future Mrs.” and a matching sash. I made her promise not to have anything with penises on it since Emery would be joining us for dinner. I’m aware she’s almost sixteen and knows what a penis is, but just in case, I don’t want to be the one to show her one. That’s all I need—my future mother-in-law coming after me for exposing her daughter to a penis. And a plastic one, at that. Ugh, I am thinking way too hard about plastic penises right now. Especially when I have the real deal at home.