Page 387 of Faking the Goal

"A picnic."

"A picnic?" She gestures wildly around the room. "This is every hopeless-romantic date fantasy I've ever had brought to fucking life. Look at this place! It's so beautiful that beautiful doesn't even fucking cover it."

I shrug. "You wanted your stupid manga date."

Her head snaps toward me. "My stupid manga date?"

I grin. "Fine. They're not stupid. Just way too sappy for my taste."

"But you still did all this for me?"

I hook an arm around her waist and pull her against me. "Of course I did."

Her expression softens as I lean down and kiss the tip of her nose.

"I love you, Trouble." I brush another kiss over her forehead. "If something this sappy makes you this fucking happy, I'll do it. Every time."

"Even if you secretly hate it?"

"I don't hate anything that puts that look on your face."

Fuck.

Her eyes immediately fill even more.

"Shit." I sigh. "That was sappy too, wasn't it?"

A watery laugh bursts out of her. "So fucking sappy."

"Yeah, well." I wipe a tear from beneath her eye with my thumb. "Don't get used to it."

"Too late. You've set a precedent now, Grumpy."

Fucking hell.

I really walked myself into that one.

An hour later, most of the food is gone, Taylor has eaten enough dango to put herself into a sugar coma, and apparently my arm has become a pillow.

Not that I'm complaining.

She's curled into my side on the blankets with her head tucked against my chest, one leg tangled lazily with mine while my arm wraps around her shoulders. Somewhere along the way, she stole my other hand too, and now she's playing absently with my fingers while we stare up at the cherry blossom branches above us.

"Ken-chan?"

"Hmm?"

"Have you thought about what happens after we graduate?"

I look down at her. "With us?"

"Yeah." Her fingers continue playing with mine. "I mean, we graduate next spring, and then you have Vegas. Training camp. Hopefully the NHL eventually. And I..." She trails off.

"You what?"

She gives me a little shrug. "I still don't know exactly where I'll end up."

I shift onto my side so I can see her properly. "You still want wildlife photography?"