Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 73794 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73794 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
“It is,” Caleb said quietly. “Pretty sure I’m lucky to have literally crashed into you.”
“And I’m lucky to have been in the wrong place at the right time.” I rolled so I could give him a quick kiss. “You can run into me anytime.”
“But I know what you mean.” He laced our fingers together. “Our luck—the chance thing that brought us together—makes me appreciate little things more.”
“Yeah. So much of this season was luck. We played Rainbow Cove in the semifinals right after their quarterback went down in the quarterfinals with an ACL injury. We won a couple of coin-flip calls in other games. And now we’re champions, and don’t get me wrong, the kids worked tremendously hard for it—”
“And you. You worked hard too,” Caleb reminded me.
“We all worked hard, but luck plays a role. And then Declan was on top of the standings for his league, and now bad luck.”
“He’ll be okay.” Caleb held me a little tighter. “And we’ll all be here for him, Sean, and Denver. That’s luck too. Having such a good group of friends.”
“That’s not luck. That’s what happens when friends become closer than family.”
“True.” Caleb went quiet for a bit. “It blows my mind that I’ve gone from the kid with no friends to more than I can count between work, your group, the parent club… Damn, I am the lucky one.”
“Nah. That’s me.” I kissed him again. “And out of all my friends, you’re my favorite. My best friend.”
“Aww.” He looked up at the ceiling, but his blush gave him away. “You’re my favorite too.”
Someday, likely very soon, on a corny occasion like Christmas Eve or Valentine’s Day, I’d do the asking. And he’d say yes. He could beat me to the punch, of course, but he’d always been a little more cautious about laying his heart on the line. That was okay. I could take a risk for us both. What mattered was that we loved each other. Of that, I had zero doubt. Exactly how I didn’t doubt that he truly was my best friend, my soulmate, and the one person on earth I wanted to make it official with.
I stroked his fingers, rubbing my thumb down his ring finger.
“What are you doing?” he asked sleepily as he dropped his gaze to our linked hands.
“Thinking about all the holiday sales. Isn’t it cyber-something or small-business whatever coming up?”
“You want to go shopping?” Caleb blinked. “Who are you, and what have you done with Sergeant Tony Capo?”
“Me? You’re the one who made me fall in love.” I gave him a noisy kiss on the neck. “And yeah, we might have some shopping to do.”
“You sure?” There was that cautious part of Caleb again, the part that had been hurt before, the part I would always want to protect.
“I am absolutely, positively sure I want to shop with you. And do everything else with you.”
“Good.” He kissed me, carefully at first, then he gave into a giddy joy that always seemed to erupt between us when we least expected it. And for the first time since leaving the army, I was certain I was on the right path for the future I’d never dreamed of wanting, but I would do everything in my power to defend.