I giggle because the thought did cross my mind when I looked at the jerseyoptions. “Maybe.”
He unhooks the first one, revealing a tiny patch of skin. “Good choice.” Leaning in, he kisses the bared skin, then unhooks another button. A tiny bit of teal lace peeks out. “Hmm. What’s this?”
I wriggle slightly. “Guess you’ll have to keep going.”
He lifts his head and gives me a smirk. “I don’t plan on stopping, Specs. Not now, not ever.”
The rest of the buttons are opened a lot faster, and he spreads the sides of his jersey wide, revealing my teal bra and…nothing else.
“Look at you. So fucking wet and ready for me. What am I gonna do with you?”
It’s my turn to smirk and wiggle my eyebrows. “I can think of a few things…”
“Good thing we’ve got plenty of time to try them all out.”
“Oh yeah? How much time?” I tease, but Maverick doesn’t seem to find it funny. His smile is gone, and he seems oddly quiet.
“How about forever?”
I assume he’s saying it offhandedly, the way he has a few times before. Talking about us being together forever. But then I notice the nervous expression that’s come over him, and the way he’s playing with my ring finger.
“Wait. Are you?” I start, then stop. “We’re naked in bed and you’re…”
“Asking you to marry me?” He lets out a nervous laugh. “Yeah. I had all these plans to do it up on the rooftop. I was gonna set up a romantic evening like we had before, but I can’t wait any longer. I need you to know what you mean to me. Ineed you to know that I can’t imagine life without you. And I’m dying to know if you’ll do me the biggest honour of my entire fucking life and be my wife.”
My eyes fill with tears, and he lifts a thumb to gently wipe them away.
“Are those happy tears?”
“Of course, they are,” I cry, flinging my arms around him. “Yes, I’ll marry you. Yes, yes, yes!”
Forever with Maverick King? Sounds better than any life I could have ever imagined for myself.
Our relationship might have started as a publicity stunt, but we’re the only ones who know that. To the rest of the world, our love story started that night at the bar, when he saved me from my ex.
Come to think of it… Maybe thatwasthe night it all began. The night my tattooed bad boy changed my life.
And made me fall in love.
Epilogue
*Four Years Later*
Maverick
Hoisting this trophy up in the air is the biggestfuck youI could possibly send to everyone in my life that ever held me back or made me think I wasn’t worth it. The noise of the crowd is deafening. I’m jostled around by teammates and their family and friends. Theirs, not mine. There’s only two people I give a flying shit about seeing right now.
As if the crowd can read my mind, it parts. And there she fucking is.
“Dude, are you smiling?” Monty slings his arm over my shoulders, and I don’t even bother shrugging him off. Even now, after all these years playing together, he still gives me grief when I smile.
Like it’s rare or something.
Maybe at one time it was, but not recently. These last several years, I’ve had nonstop reasons to smile.
“Fuck off, Monty,” I say, but there’s no bite to my words. His eyes light up when he sees Lark, and his arm falls away.
“You love me and you know it,” he teases, but his attention isn’t on me anymore. And I don’t blame him. He’s finally getting his forever with the girl he’s wanted for so fucking long. And no one deserves it more than that dude.
