Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 96712 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96712 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
I grab the ring box out of my gear bag and take a deep breath.
It’s over. The season is officially done, and Noah and I made a pact. We announce it to the world tonight that we’re married. Have been since week nine of the season. Damon, Maddox, and JJ were the only witnesses to the nuptials, so they know, but no one else. Until now.
“Whoa, is that what I think it is?” Talon says over my shoulder, staring at the platinum band.
I laugh. “Probably not. It’s not an engagement ring.” I take the ring out and slip it on. “You might want to hurry up and finish putting your suit on. You don’t want to miss my statement to the press.”
I leave their stunned faces and head to the locker room door where I know press will be waiting outside to talk to us. Talon and Miller chase after me, although Miller struggles to keep up with his leg.
There’ll be an official press conference later about the game, and they’ll want me for that, but that won’t be the place to do this.
As expected, the hallway is filled with cameras and reporters, and behind them, up the corridor a bit farther, is the man himself. The one I get to come home to every day for the rest of my life.
Microphones are shoved in my face and questions are shouted at me. The one that sticks out is “How does it feel having made the winning touchdown?”
I simply smile and stare at Noah while I say, “It was the second most fulfilling moment of my life.” Knowing the follow-up question will be what the first was, I answer before they ask it. “Nothing will beat the day I married my husband, but this is pretty close.”
Nothing else needs to be said, so I push my way through the throng of media where I greet my husband with a kiss that will go viral on the internet within minutes.
As I stand at the bar at the Rainbow Beds fundraiser in New York and go to take a sip of my scotch, my eye catches on my hand, and it pauses halfway to my mouth. I’m still not used to it—the championship ring or the wedding band—but I can’t get enough of either of them.
Maddox swats my hand away before I get to take a drink. “Yeah, yeah, we get it. You won the Super Bowl. Put the ring away already.”
I raise my hand to run through my hair, purposefully showing it off more. “Don’t know why you’re complaining. You’re getting ten percent of my new contract because of the ring.”
Maddox smirks. “Thanks for buying us a house, by the way.”
“You’re welcome.” The words sound sarcastic, but I actually mean it. I stare at my drink, trying to find the courage to say what I want to say—what I’ve wanted to say to Maddox for a long time. “I never thanked you for turning up on my doorstep and introducing me to Damon. You saved more than my career that night.” I never told anyone about how dark I went after I was outed. I don’t know how far I would’ve gone if Maddox hadn’t given me hope.
He elbows me. “I never thanked you for making me realize I might not be entirely straight. Even if it did take another four years to acknowledge it.”
“Call it even?”
Maddox throws his arms around me and holds me tight.
“Hands off my husband,” Noah growls beside us, appearing out of nowhere. I wonder how much he heard.
“He was mine first,” Maddox says, and I playfully push him off me. “Geez, I’m kidding. I have my own man around here somewhere.”
My mother-in-law approaches us with her hands on her trim waist and a perfectly shaped eyebrow raised. “Noah, you should be working the room, not spending time with your husband. You can do that at home.” She steps forward to drag him away but touches my forearm as they pass. “Even if you do look amazing in that suit.” She leans in and kisses my cheek, and I thank God at least one of my in-laws likes me. What she likes more, though, is the fact Noah’s passionate about something for once. He speaks of Rainbow Beds like it’s his baby.
Noah’s mom is great, and when we decided to keep the charity in New York, she immediately volunteered to help us out. I was worried about setting it up in Chicago and then getting cut from the Warriors, and with JJ in New York, we knew we’d be back and forth between the two cities anyway.
After Noah’s mom drags him away, it’s back to just me and Maddox, and my shoulders lose some tension in them.
“How you holding up?” Maddox asks.
“Is it that obvious I still suck at these things? All the people coming and going, the having to talk and socialize …”