Off Sides

across his cheek to his ear, I tell him how much I love him.
    Nibbling on his neck, I promise never to leave him again.
    As his hands work their magic on me, his kisses bind me to him forever.
    As our breathing becomes rough and our whispers hoarse, I beg him to make love to me.
    And before the night is through, he does.

EPILOGUE

    15 Months Later

    Ryan

    I wake up and glance at the alarm clock.
    5:52 a.m.
    It’s going to go off in eight minutes and I groan inwardly. Freakin’ early mornings. Reaching over, I flip the switch to turn it off. Then I roll over to the soft bundle sleeping next to me. My Danny.
    She’s laying on her right side with her back to me. Her left arm is tucked to her chest, her fist resting under her chin. She’s snoring softly—a fact I learned she did quite frequently after we moved in together, but I think it’s adorable. I slide over and press the front of my body to her back then wrap my arm around her to pull her even closer. She lets out a little sigh then resumes snoring. I smile to myself and bury my nose in her neck. She smells like sunshine to me. Always sunshine.
    I place a kiss on her shoulder —so gentle —I’ll be the only one to ever know it was there.
    Reluctantly, I slide out of bed. There’s nothing more I would rather do than roll Danny under me and bury myself in her but she was up late last night studying and she needs the sleep.
    As I pad into the bathroom, I smile thinking about her. She re-enrolled in Julliard and will graduate this coming spring. She has been studying hard and playing her violin even harder. Her delicate finger tips are now hard with callouses, but they still make me shiver when she drags them across my skin. I am so proud of her and of course, we are both incredibly lucky that I signed to play hockey with the New York Rangers. I honestly don’t know what I would have done if I couldn’t join a New York team so that I could be near Danny. For me, it was out of the question that Danny would go anywhere but Julliard. I would accept nothing less.
    Turning on the shower, I strip out of my boxers. I go ahead and shave while the shower is heating up, grinning at the lucky fool staring back at me in the mirror. Danny and I had many discussions, and some heated fights, about her music career. She insisted she could go to school anywhere and thus could be with me wherever I ended up playing hockey. That didn’t set well with me. Danny is so talented...she deserves to be at Julliard. By some miracle, the New York Rangers wanted me and Julliard gladly accepted Danny back.
    So here we are, living in Manhattan, in a small two-bedroom apartment that conveniently sits almost smack dab in the middle of Julliard and Madison Square Gardens. And my life is almost perfect.
    Almost.

    ***

    I finished a short run this morning just to get my muscles loose. I have a team meeting in a few hours to prepare for tonight’s game. The fantastic hockey I’ve been playing has earned me a spot on the Rangers’ second line and it’s a dream come true for me. Almost as good as having Danny in my life.
    Bundled up in a fuzzy yellow robe, Danny softly walks into the living room while I’m watching ESPN Sports Center. I set my coffee down and open my arms. She has that sleepy look in her eyes and she crawls onto my lap to snuggle in.
    “Did you get some good sleep?” I ask.
    “Mmmm. Hmmmm,” she purrs as she nods her head up and down against my chest. I reach my hand up and smooth some of the tangles in her hair.
    “I’m glad. You’ve been burning the midnight oil quite a bit, baby.”
    As if to just prove my point, she stretches her arms out and gives a loud yawn. Then she tucks back in to my body. I turn my attention back to Sports Center, trying to get up to speed on all the highlights. It seems to be the only time I can get to find out what is going on in the sports world.
    Danny tilts her head up and places a soft kiss on the edge of my jaw. “Did you hear back from your parents yet?”
    I clench my teeth and just shake my head at her. I invited my parents to the game tonight as my father is giving a speech in New York tomorrow. I didn’t really expect them to accept the invite, because hey, they’ve declined all of the other invitations Danny and I have extended to them. My mother is still staunchly against my relationship with Danny and my father does whatever my mother tells him to do. I would never have invited them at all, but Danny’s big heart