Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 82651 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 413(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82651 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 413(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
I nod, a smile drifting over my lips.
“The vehemence in your voice…you little bit of a thing ordering me to hold you. After you’d just found out something that was horrendously nasty about me. I knew you had to love me at that point.”
“That turned out to be a good night,” I murmur as I snuggle into him. “You made love to me that night.”
“Yeah, I did,” he mutters in agreement, although I still prefer us fucking most of the time. But that night was special.
“Van?” I whisper. “Am I still shiny?”
He chuckles, pulls me in tighter, and squeezes the breath out of me. “Yes, Simone. So fucking shiny you make everything else in the world seem a little dull by comparison.”
I smile at his words. I’ll never get tired of hearing that.
Epilogue
Van
I hike a well-known path through College Park, enjoying the crisp fall air and the colorful leaves. Many of them—orange, red, yellow—have already fallen to the ground, but there’s still plenty left in the trees that glow in the midday sun. I can honestly say that the New England states in the fall are spectacular.
But when I come into the clearing where Simone said she’d be waiting, my breath catches just a bit as I take in what is the most spectacularly gorgeous creature in the entire world. She’s sitting cross-legged on a plaid wool blanket, bent over a textbook opened on her lap. Wearing jeans and a bulky sweater that practically swallows her, she looks as sexy right now as she did this morning with her legs spread wide for me.
I only get a few unfettered moments to stare at her before she raises her head and catches me ogling. Lips curving into a smirking grin, I start walking toward her.
“Hey, stud,” she murmurs as I drop to my knees on the blanket in front of her. Her hand catches me around my neck and pulls me down to her mouth. It’s a fucking great kiss, but then again, all of them are with Simone.
When she releases me, I fall back to my ass, stretch my legs out, and recline on an elbow. “You going to feed me?”
She nods toward the plastic grocery bag to her right. “Sandwiches in there. I’ve got to finish reading this chapter before my class, though, so eat and be quiet.”
I chuckle as I push up to a sitting position so I can look for my lunch. As requested, I’m quiet as I chew the chicken salad sandwich and watch my girl study.
The decision to come back to Dartmouth was not made lightly. In fact, Simone and I did a lot of traveling over the summer, and almost every day, we discussed what she wanted to do.
While she is enrolled once again in this prestigious Ivy League school, she still doesn’t really have a clue what she wants to major in. But the great thing is, she’s taking some classes that interest her, and I believe she’ll find her way before too long.
The other great thing is she’s not in a rush to figure it out, and neither am I. I bought a small house in Quechee, Vermont, which is only about twenty minutes from Dartmouth’s campus across the state line in New Hampshire. I also started my own path toward achieving a new goal, a college education for myself.
I’m clearly not Dartmouth material, but I was able to enroll this semester at Green Mountain College, and I’m taking some general prereqs so I can get my feet wet. It’s been a long fucking time since I’ve had to study anything other than game film and playbooks. While Simone is still trying to figure out her path, I’m focused on psychology. That’s never wavered over my life.
Yes, I miss hockey. I didn’t make the decision to retire lightly, but when I stacked up all the pros and cons against each other, the answer was pretty clear. I was ready for a completely new life.
New career, new love, and a whole new Van Turner.
I still have my fingers in hockey, though. Simone and I will go to as many Cold Fury games as we can this year to cheer on her brothers and my former mates. I’m also volunteering with Dartmouth’s varsity hockey team.
And that’s enough for me.
Truly.
Everything is now centered around Simone and our life together in this beautiful part of our country.
After I finish my sandwich, I surf on my phone a bit while Simone reads quietly. She takes her studying seriously, and since her parents eagerly agreed to continue paying for the rest of her undergrad degree, she’s feeling extra responsibility to do right by them.
Finally, she closes her book and then pushes her arms into the air above her head, arching her back for a stretch.
When she relaxes, she smiles at me mischievously. “Want to fool around before I have to go to class?”