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“I talked to Kenneth MacMillan, the Stallions owner. He made a deal to let the University of Utah football team practice with the Stallions once a year. Sort of like a training camp, but with all the coaches, too.”
His smile deepened. “Of course, MacMillan made it very clear that this deal was brokered on behalf of a certain redheaded paleontologist. They’ll be speaking to your boss soon, I expect.”
I tried imagining someone telling Dean Armbruster what to do. He wouldn’t react well to making changes to his department based on something that happened to the school’s athletic department.
“Even if that’s true,” I said, “that’s not the only complication.”
“Oh, yeah,” he said. “The nonsense with Isabella. That’s all fixed, too. You’ve got your spot back. Did she not call you about it?”
“Fixed? What? How?”
Brody shrugged his broad shoulders. “I gave her what she wanted.”
“What she wanted… You got her an endorsement deal with Adidas?”
“Sort of.”
“I thought they didn’t want to sign her!”
“Yeah, no, they didn’t,” he agreed. “Not even with my nudging. But when I told them I would renegotiate my existing endorsement deal? They jumped at the opportunity.”
“What do you mean, renegotiate?” I asked.
“I’m doing it for free, now,” he replied. “Or at least, for the minimum amount required. About a tenth of what I was getting paid before, though most of that money’s going to my agent. In exchange, they signed Isabella to a shoe deal.”
One of the students in the second row blurted out, “Wait a minute. You blew up your big Adidas endorsement? That was worth, like, eighty million dollars!”
“Eighty-three,” Brody corrected. “But hey. It’s only money.”
He turned back toward me and took a step forward. “I wanted to show you that I do respect your career, Taylor. The cheerleading one and your academic one. I never want you to think I’m putting my own business ahead of yours.”
The love in his eyes was easy to see. Brody cared about me—truly cared about me. He would do anything for me.
“I love you, Foxy,” he said.
My body buzzed with excitement and warmth and, beneath it all, love. Somehow I knew he loved me before now. But once it was out loud, it was real. The realness gave it power and changed everything about me.
“I love you too,” I said, meaning every word.
Brody let out a sigh. “Can’t tell ya how happy I am to hear that.”
“Kiss him!” someone shouted. Everyone in the room had their phones out now to record it, but I didn’t care. Nothing could have stopped me from kissing Brody at that moment.
I stepped forward once, but he strode toward me first, lifting me in his arms until I was weightless and brought me down so his lips could connect with mine. The warmth inside me intensified, swirling and spinning until I felt like myself again.
Not myself, I thought while clinging to his hard, strong body. Something better.
Brody smiled into my kiss, and we broke apart, foreheads still touching.
“You did all this so you would play well against the Broncos,” I teased, “didn’t you?”
“Naw,” he replied, a whisper just for me. “I did this to make myself whole. To fix us. And hey. If that fixes the slump I’ve been in? Hell, that’s just a bonus.”
We kissed again, and this time the whole class laughed and cheered with us.
