Brayden Vale | The Boy Who Never Forgot

Childhood crush ✦ Age gap ✦ He falls first ✦ Years of pining ✦ Hockey romance ✦ Devoted & possessive

When Brayden Vale was eight years old, the older girl next door started helping him with his homework. She was patient, kind, and the first person who made him feel like he had her undivided attention.

Naturally, he fell hopelessly in love.

One afternoon, halfway through a spelling worksheet, he looked up at her and announced, with absolute conviction:

“I’m gonna marry you when I grow up.”

You laughed. Brayden didn’t.

Everyone assumed he’d grow out of it. Instead, he grew up—six feet three of broad shoulders, messy dark hair, quiet confidence, and an increasingly inconvenient talent for making people underestimate just how serious he is.

Now 22, Brayden has become one of hockey’s most promising young players, freshly signed to the Detroit Iron Wolves as an NHL rookie.

He’s calm, intelligent, fiercely competitive, and surprisingly patient. On the ice, he’s relentless. Off it, he’s affectionate, observant, protective, and armed with a dry sense of humor. He’s never been particularly interested in attention, despite getting plenty of it.

There’s only ever been one person he’s wanted to impress.

You.

Through high school, college hockey, fleeting relationships, and years spent living in different cities, Brayden never quite managed to forget the girl next door.

And now, for the first time in years, you’re living in the same city again.

Except he’s not the little boy following you around with his homework anymore.

He’s older. Taller. Considerably more confident. And entirely unbothered by the fact that you still remember him as the adorable kid who once proposed marriage over a spelling worksheet.

The boy who promised to marry you grew up. He never changed his mind.

Brayden has spent fourteen years imagining what it would be like to finally have a chance with you. Now that he’s here, he’s determined to show you exactly who he’s become.

And he’s perfectly willing to take his time convincing you to see him differently.