Free A Bear Goal by Anya Nowlan Page B

said. “Fine, load these two fuckers on the bus. I’ll deal with you later. And you,” he said, pointing at Heath, who raised up his hands like it was a stick-up. “You better bet I’ll talk to Wiley as well about this. I don’t care who started it, you’re supposed to be smarter than this. All three of you.”
    Sable bit her tongue, wanting so bad to butt into the conversation again, but she waited patiently until the Predators scooped up her growling, pissed-off stepbrothers, carting them back to the bus.
    “I’ll catch up,” she yelled after them, getting a half-hearted wave from Solo in response.
    Then she twisted around, coming to face Heath, and slammed both her palms into his chest in apparent aggravation. He didn’t move an inch. Damn hot, strong hockey player, impervious to her annoyance.
    “What the hell was that?” she asked, not entirely sure if she was asking about her stepbrothers ending up strewn on the snow or the fact that he hadn’t hit her up on SassyDate after the game like she’d thought he would.
    “What? They came for me. I defended myself. I didn’t kill them or even wound them that bad,” Heath said with a mild smile, his hands slipping around her waist and pulling her to him.
    Sable gasped as she felt herself pushing up against him, her hands still on his wide chest but not trying to fight with him anymore.
    “I saw that. I meant… never mind,” she said, looking down.
    “Use your words, baby,” he said, his voice soft, almost a purr.
    “I thought you wanted to see me after the game,” she said, feeling like a teenager.
    “I want to see you all the time,” he said, his voice breathy.
    Sable found her chin being tilted upward to face him, his green eyes filled with mirth at the sight of her pouting lips and confused expression.
    “You didn’t text me though.”
    “No cell reception down in the dressing rooms. Or in most of Shifter Grove, really. I get the feeling that the locals don’t really want to fix that.”
    “Oh,” Sable replied, feeling… well, not any less silly than she had before.
    “Are you supposed to leave?” he asked, his grip on her tightening as they peered into one another’s eyes.
    “Yeah, I need to get on the bus.”
    “Don’t,” he said, smiling softly.
    “Why?”
    “Because I love you and I want you to stay here,” he said, as if it was the most normal thing to say.
    “I... what?! You just dump that on a girl, just like that?!” Sable gasped, though there was a quirk of a smile on her lips.
    Love was a big word and getting a shifter to say it was even bigger. The realization of what it meant took a moment to sink in, though.
    “Yeah, just like that,” Heath confirmed. “So don’t go. Stay here.”
    “And do what?” Sable asked, her hands fisting around the material of his jacket.
    “And fuck me until we’re both too worn out to move, of course,” he said, leaning in and kissing her.
    She didn’t fight it, not one bit. No, she kissed him right back, sucking on his lower lip and eagerly conforming against his body. The rational side of her was telling her to be careful, to think about it… to give it time. But her heart told her to go for it and she’d been listening to her head too long. By the time they pulled out of the kiss, she’d made her decision.
    “I’ll stay,” she said, smiling. “But you better promise to control your temper. I can’t always be there when someone wants to kick your ass.”
    “Why not?” he asked with a smile.
 

EPILOGUE
    Heath
    A year later…
     
    “Are you kidding me?! This is not what we ordered! Get this stuff right back to the goddamn Carolina bastards who sent them and tell them to read the contract for once in their lives!”
    Heath ground to a halt on the ice, leaning on his stick as he listened to the sound of his lovely, blushing bride and the future mother of his firstborn scream at pretty much the top of her lungs at someone in the stands, and waving around a handful of