WE WOULD BE LAKE AND CAGE
LAKE
Brooke and Robleft and then life got real again. I went to a few appointments with Cage then Flint took over so I could get back to my job. Three weeks after he came home from the hospital, the neck brace was off, but surgery was still in question. I jumped at every chance to go to an interview about my magazine spread, or spend the day testing new legs, or anything to keep my mind off Cage and his decision. That’s what it had become—his decision.
I gave up my shoes out of grief and an instant loss of myself after my accident. I didn’t want Cage giving up football for the same reason. Of course, I didn’t want him to play either, but… free will, unconditional love, and all the necessary emotions that came with life.
“You’re home early.” Cage smiled as he chopped red peppers.
He was my new idol. The guy spent five to six hours a day in therapy, yet came home and made dinner every night with his signature dimply smile plastered to his face.
“Tired. I’m just tired.” I lifted myself onto the counter a foot from his ninja chopping.
“Well you’ve been working seven days a week for the pasttwo weeks.” He held a slice of pepper up to my lips.
I opened my mouth then chewed it while nodding to acknowledge he was right, I’d been working too much. “So tomorrow is the day.”
“Yep.” He kept his head down, eyes trained to the sharp knife moving rapidly just millimeters from his fingers.
“You’ve made your decision?”
“We’ll find out, won’t we?”
We agreed his decision to play or retire would be his and his alone. I requested we not discuss it, and in true Lake Jones contumacious fashion, I told him I didn’t want to know until he made the official announcement on TV. I said I wanted to watch and find out with the rest of the world. However, I felt pretty certain he was going to play. He’d had too many surgery consults and second opinions for a surgery that was only necessary if he planned on trying to return to football.
“I love you no matter what you choose.”
Cage chuckled. “Good to know.”
Gah! I wanted to know, but I did not ask. My stubbornness was a living, breathing being all of its own.
“We should start planning a wedding, don’t you think?”
I smiled. “Yes. I think we should. Are you thinking spring, before training camp?”
Cage scraped the diced peppers from the cutting board to the salad bowl, a sly grin tugged at his lips. “I’m thinking we fly to Vegas and just do it.”
“Ha! My mom would disown me. Lara and Drake did the Vegas thing, and I think my mom is still pissed about it. She has this wedding dress, a gawd-awful looking thing, which was her mother’s dress. I don’t think it was ever white, but it’s now a piss yellow. Anyway, my mom promised her mom she’d wearit for her wedding, but after having Luke before they got married, her hips and boobs no longer fit into the ugly dress. Soo… she promised my grandmother, before she died, that Lara or I would wear it. Honestly, I think that’s why Lara went to Vegas.”
Cage stuck his rice and vegetable dish into the oven. He ate a near perfect diet before his accident, but afterward, he went even stricter with it to help his body heal faster. I had to sneak my marshmallow treats because I hated the disapproving eye he gave me when I ate them in front of him.
“So you’re going to wear a piss yellow wedding dress from two generations back just to make your mom happy?”
“Yes. I’m the only one who fits into the dress, so I’m going to pair it with some kick-ass heels and wear the hell out of it so my grandmother smiles down on me and my mother no longer feels her wrath.”
He slipped off the oven mitts and grabbed the inside of my knees, spreading them so he could stand between my legs, pulling me close to him. “You’re such a good girl, Lake Jones.” Brushing his nose against mine, he palmed my ass.
I tried to play it cool, like I wasn’t dying to be intimate with him, but it had been over a month since we’d had sex and I. Was. Hungry.
I cleared my throat, snaking my hands up the inside of his shirt. “I’m not.”
“No?” His grin taunted me.
I sucked in a breath as he kissed my lower lip before drawing it into his mouth and dragging it through his teeth.
“No,” I whispered, working the button and zipper to his jeans.
“Lake…” His breath hitched as my hand slid into his briefs.
