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I was all for her sitting there until I realized that seat was up at the tip-top of the stadium. I selfishly vetoed it. It didn’t take much to convince her—Ijust told her the truth: I wanted to be able to see her face from the field during the game.
So now I search the seats just behind our sidelines, anxiously trying to spot her. To find the woman who’s my tether to happiness.
The crowd roars around me and several of my teammates jostlemy shoulders as they fly past me and onto the field. Our coach slaps my back and tells me good luck before he jogs over to his position on the sidelines. But I’m preoccupied looking forher.Nora Mackenzie Pender.
And then there she is, my wife.
Her auburn hair glints in the sunlight and her smile grows eight sizes. I missed waking up to her this morning after having to spend the night in the hotel with the team. I’m starved for the sight of her. Hungry for her touch.
Nora blows me a kiss and then points down to her new jersey I had secretly delivered to her apartment this morning. It’s the newest black-and-white design for the season that she doesn’t have yet. She spins around so I can see she’s painted the number with glitter glue and she holds her hands over her shoulder, making a heart.
At the sight of her, the rest of the stadium falls away and it’s just her standing here—her pretty mouth smiling as she turns back to me, silently calling me to her. I jog my way over and drop my helmet beside me on the turf. I grab the railing and jump up to stand level with her. The people beside her are family of the other players and don’t make any moves to touch me. But Nora, she leans forward and dives her hands right into the back of my hair.
“Well, hello there, handsome,” she says in that fake southern accent she once used on me at the bar in Vegas. The night we accidentally changed our lives forever.
“Kiss me,” I half demand, half beg.
She obliges, pressing a tame yet intoxicating kiss to my mouth. I’m vaguely aware of cheers and catcalls rising around us. “I missed you last night,” she says, breaking the kiss with a twinkle in her hazel eyes. “But I used my time well and made this epic sign.”
My gaze drops to the thick cardboard she holds up for me.
PENDER, LET ME SEE THAT TIGHT END.
I shake my head. “Is that drawing supposed to be my ass in uniform?”
“It’s an uncanny likeness.” Her eyes glow with happiness—or maybe that’s just all the glitter reflecting from the sign.
“I love you.” I lean in to kiss her one last time, but just before my lips touch hers, a hand grips my back and rips me off the wall.
“You two kiss too damn much. It’s time to play football.”
“Jamal, you have a death wish today,” I tell his retreating back. He’s sprinting out onto the field with a shit-eating grin, holding up a middle finger behind his back, specifically for me.
I glance at Nora one more time and point at her before I go join the guys on the field to stretch.This one’s for you.
The crowd loses it the second the clock runs out with Derek having just caught his twelfth catch of the game in the end zone—making it his third touchdown. The winning touchdown.
My mom and I both scream and launch ourselves at each other, hugging and jumping up and down like kids. Derek throws the ball to the ground and jogs to the fifty-yard line, stopping to face me. He smiles, drops to his knees, and fans a bow like I’m his queen. Like he did it for me. The rest of the guys quickly follow suit and before I know it, most of the team is bowing before me like I had anything to do with the incredible game Derek just played.
I’m laughing my head off, gesturing for them all to stand up, all the while feeling so relieved and proud, I could explode. He did it—and I knew he would. The entire team played like champions, but Derek was unstoppable the whole game. No one could cover him. And Nathan’s passes were flawless today.
Speaking of Nathan, when the guys all rise back to their feet, I see him cast a silly face to one of the boxes above me. Sure enough,there’s Bree sticking her tongue out at him in return. I love them. I love that I get to call them my friends now.
“Let’s see them try to cut your man after that game!” my mom says, taking my hand and squeezing it because she knows how worried I was for Derek. I didn’t want to show it, because I know that even if he played terribly today and got cut, he’d still be okay and find something new to love. Derek has too much to offer to ever truly be out of options. But I know how much he loves the Sharks and thinks of them as family. I wanted with all of my heart for him to get to stay with his friends on this team. And thanks to how he played today—there’s no question the Sharks will keep him on. It was like his ankle injury never existed and I can’t wait to listen to those assholes on sports radio eat their words.
Derek stands, tosses off his helmet, and runs full steam for me. I lean over the railing as he approaches, wrapping my arms around his sweaty neck and placing a kiss to his smiling mouth. “I’m proud of you,” I tell him, happy tears clinging to my lashes.
“Thank you for being here for me,” he tells me, his breath coming quickly. “For always being here for me.” Several people behind us are shouting his name trying to get his attention. Their new football god dropping from his throne to lavish us with attention. He kisses my cheek once and then looks past me to the crowd, taking off one of his gloves and tossing it back to a little boy about ten years old in the stands.
He then snags my hand and kisses my tattoo ring. “See you in the media room?”
He’ll have to go do a postgame press conference now—and I wouldn’t miss it for the world. Not when I know he’s going to get to gloat over how well he played.
“I’ll be there.”
He hops back down to the shouts of the crowd, and my mom beams at me. She’s told me repeatedly over the last several weeks how much she likes Derek. It means the world to have her blessing.
We pack up our things and move against the crowd, heading to the second level to Bree and Nathan’s box. It’ll be a bit until Derek’s press conference because the players will shower, and then most likely Nathan will go first with his interview. I plan to hug Bree and then eat all her free food in the box while I wait.
