Perfectly Wedded (Perfect Crush #1)

27. Sloan

TWENTY-SEVEN

Sloan

O n the night of Vale’s first game, I can tell something is up. Right after he left the house, I discovered a new jersey on our bed, one he had custom made for me by Jaz. It’s wedding-white with teal letters and sparkly gold edging. The same colors as both his team and our wedding. Maybe he’s trying to make up for the fact that I still haven’t found my ring after losing it the other night. Vale promised he’d get me another one but that doesn’t make me feel better. I want the one I picked out in Vegas, the antique one with the diamonds in the shape of a flower.

I unfold the jersey and a note falls out: “Hoping you’ll wear this to tonight’s game as my bride. After the wedding, I want to see you in nothing but this.”

My knees buckle when I read it and heat soars through my body. We haven’t slept together yet, other than sawing logs together in Cancun. But since we arrived home, Vale’s back on the floor.

And this time, it’s his choice. He says it’s because I’m too tempting, but I get the feeling it’s because he’s trying to rewind time and wait until our wedding night. And I know he’s not doing it for himself, but me.

But something else has changed too. In the past, when we joked about us being a couple, it had to do with the act we were putting on. But now things are real. Any reference to our wedding night is only a reminder that we’re about to break the last rule we set up for our marriage.

I slide on the jersey with a cute pair of joggers. If this doesn’t give Vale MacPherson a taste of our wedding night, I don’t know what will.

As soon as I arrive at the arena, I can tell something’s different.

The team introductions don’t begin with their usual music number. Instead, it’s the song we danced to on the dinner cruise in Cancun. The team begins skating out for the introductions and Vale isn’t at his usual spot in the lineup.

Instead, he’s last. And when he bursts out of the tunnel, he doesn’t stop on center ice, but heads straight toward me in the first row. Last season, I sat with Jaz in the staff box, but tonight she insisted I sit down front with all the other wives and girlfriends.

“You belong there now,” she told me, walking me to my front-row seat.

Vale stops right next to the plexiglass and puts his hands against it, almost like he’s reaching for me. He’s not wearing his usual gloves, which seems strange. Then he mouths the words, “Hello, beautiful ,” before his eyes graze over my body. “ Nice jersey. ”

Warmth zings through me, and I spin around so he can see his name on my back.

Jaz added “Mrs.” to the “MacPherson” and I couldn’t love it more.

His eyes spark and I know he’s just as pleased because he waves me toward him. “Come here, Sloan.”

I stand, matching my hands to his on the other side of the plexiglass. “I can’t come any closer,” I say with a laugh. “But I wish I could kiss you.” I don’t care who hears me now. He’s going to be my official husband, and I want the world to know.

“Then do,” he says. Someone unlatches a door nearby that leads to the rink, and an usher for the game whisks me through it.

Suddenly I’m stepping onto the ice and Vale is there, throwing off his helmet, looking into my eyes with that unfairly sexy smirk he reserves for me. This will be my undoing. I reach for his face, cup his jaw in my hands and give him a tame but mesmerizing kiss in front of everyone. He threads his fingers through my hair and I moan just a little. The taste of his lips makes me want to devour him right here. I’m vaguely aware of the cheers and catcalls as our faces are projected onto the Jumbotron above us.

Never thought I’d be doing a closeup kiss for the camera, but here we are. And there’s no one I rather do it with than Vale.

Vale pulls away just enough for me to catch my breath and leans his forehead against mine. The lights suddenly dim in the arena, and special moving lights that look like stars frame the ice around us. We’re standing in our own galaxy.

“What is going on?” I whisper. I glance, noticing the crowd has been plunged into darkness. When I finally look back at Vale, he’s on his knees with a ring in his hands. My ring.

“You found it?” I cry.

“I found you first, ” he says. “And I want to do things the right way this time. I want to start over and give you the ring the way you always dreamed of—with an official proposal. So will you marry me, Sloan?”

I blink, the room spins. I don’t even care how he found my ring. All I care about is him. “Aren’t we already married?”

“By law, yes. But we’ve done everything backward. And I never asked you to marry me officially, and that was wrong. You deserve the full experience. You deserve everything, Sloan. Thank you for trusting me enough to marry me in Vegas. I just hope this time, you’ll say yes, even if I’m a little late.”

“Yes,” I say enthusiastically, while blinking back a flood in my eyes. “I’ll say yes a thousand times more if you want me to. Thank you for being there for me, even though I didn’t deserve your love. ”

I throw myself into his arms as they wrap around my body. The crowd erupts into cheers, longer and louder than any game-winning goal.

Finally, a hand taps Vale’s shoulder, breaking up our moment.

He spins around and sees Leo impatiently waiting behind him.

“You gonna kiss all night?” Leo asks.

“You’re gonna pay for this, Ego,” Vale says, shaking his head.

“Shut up, Romeo ,” he says, skating away. “We’ve got a game to win.”