could ask him to reach up and grab the moon for me and he’d do everything in his power to grasp it. “Start planning, or hire someone, and just tell me what you need me to do.”
“Show up and wear the tux I pick out for you,” I say, and he chuckles.
“Consider it done, wife.”
I smile at his endearment. “I like when you call me that, husband.”
He grins at me. “It’s really starting to feel like it, isn’t it?”
I nod. “Just wait until this baby gets here. Then our lives will be flipped upside down once again.”
He squeezes my hand again. “I can’t wait.”
CHAPTER 27
“I think I’m ready to talk about what comes next.”
His words whispered in the dark when we’re back home in our own bed come as a shock. We both fell under the covers with exhaustion once I emptied the suitcases and separated the laundry, and I assumed I’d be drifting to sleep after a quick kiss goodnight.
But his words wake me with a start.
“You are?” I ask on a gasp.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about it over the last few days. I know I said it was bad luck to talk about the future, but I haven’t really had a string of good luck lately despite my best efforts to fill myself with good luck charms.”
“Good luck charms?” I repeat. “You mean...Lucky Charms?”
He chuckles. “You figured me out. My grandfather nicknamed me Lucky Luke because of the copious amounts of Lucky Charms I ate as a kid.”
I giggle. “That clearly carried over to adulthood.”
“It gives me that warm, comforting feeling of childhood every time I pour a bowl. So, yeah, it carried over, and I’m not embarrassed by that.”
“You shouldn’t be.” I reach over and squeeze his arm. “I think it’s one of the most endearing things about you.”
“You know what’s one of the most endearing things about you?” he asks.
“Hm?” I murmur.
“Your tits.”
I smack him in the arm, and he laughs.
“I was nearly asleep when you started this conversation by saying you wanted to talk about the future,” I remind him. “You’re not getting out of that by seducing me, so get talking, Dalton.”
“Yes ma’am.” He sighs. “I keep thinking about what happens next if I can’t play. It’s a real possibility. I’m working hard, and my knee is doing better, and I want it...but there are no guarantees I’ll wind up with a contract on the other side of this. So I’ve been thinking over my options.”
“And what conclusions have you come to?” I ask.
“This all hangs on my recovery, obviously, so I don’t have a timeline...but I was thinking I could coach.”
“You’d make an incredible coach,” I say. It’s a relief to hear that he wants to coach—and not because it means he’ll still be a part of the game he loves so much, but because it’s a decision. It’s a future.
“Thank you. But I don’t think that’s what I want.”
His words shake my relief. “It’s not?”
I think he shakes his head, but it’s dark in here so I’m not sure. “No. I think I’d love it, but I think there are other ways to still be involved with the game that I’d love more.”
“Like what?”
“Big life changes mean big priority changes,” he begins.
“Such as...” I trail off and wait for him to fill in the blank.
“Such as you. I’ve never loved a woman more than I love the game. But then I met you.”
Tears fill my eyes at his words.
“You flipped my entire world upside down, Ellie, and I love it. I love you. I want to be around for you and the baby.”
“Luke...” I say, the tears in my eyes splashing over as my chest tightens with love. “I love you, too.” My words are whispered through the emotion clogging my throat.
God, I love him.
I turn in toward him and I kiss him. He welcomes me into his arms as he deepens the kiss and pulls me against him. He flips me so I’m on my back and he’s hovering over me, and I know we’re in the middle of an important conversation, but somehow this seems to be a part of it. I want to know what he wants next out of life, but I also want to feel his body as he enters mine. We can talk later. For now, our bodies will do the talking.
He’s different as he kisses me. His focus is fully on me—and it’s always been there, but he had things holding him back. The