We step out, onto the rubber mat, holding hands. We put on our blade covers and he leads me into the locker room where Parker undresses me, slow and purposeful. Then he undresses himself.
I don’t expect it when he pulls his jersey out of his hockey bag. “Wear this.” He holds it up in front of me. Number 80, P. O’Ryan.
“This is all I’ve wanted in life—the woman I love wearing my jersey.”
He slips it over my head, methodical and slow. My mouth hurts from smiling so hard. “If you liked me wearing your t-shirt, what does wearing your jersey do to you?”
“Let me show you.”
And he does. He makes love to me in the locker room. It’s so slow and sensual from against the lockers to the wooden benches to sitting on the edge of bathroom sink. “I love seeing my number draped over your chest and back.”
As always Parker makes sure that my pleasure comes first and often before he grunts and lets out a deep guttural growl and pumping into me.
I play with his damp hair as he collapses on me and rollsus on our sides. I wipe the hair off his forehead and say, “I love watching you come inside me.”
He reaches for a thin, scratchy towel and carefully cleans us up like even this deserves tenderness.
“Let’s go home.”
Home.
THIRTY-SEVEN
ANNIKA - SIX WEEKS LATER
The ball hangs in the air like a bubble just out of reach. Parker leaps and stretches. My hands tent over my nose, nerves prickling, heart pumping.
Catch it. Catch it, babe.
Parker’s hands close around the ball like they were always meant to.
Clean.
Certain.
Never a doubt.
He tucks it in, drives forward across the line. The stadium erupts in a roar loud enough to rattle my ribs.
The brothers have secured their place in sports history with a 27-21 overtime victory. The first brother trio to win the ultimate game.
Confetti cannons fire.
Gold and green paper flutters down.
The Austin Armadillos just won the championship.
And Parker didn’t hesitate, not once.
I don’t realize I’m crying until Noelle bumps my shoulder, laughing through her own tears, baby balanced on her hip. Most of the O’Ryan family are all together, except Sutton. She’s on the field.
Paulina yells, “Why doesn’t confetti rain down in tennis?” Then she and her boyfriend Trevor jump over the wall and run onto the field, screaming.
“I told you,” Noelle shouts over the noise.
“Told me what?”
“You were good for him. Now he’s a champion because of you,” she says, full of pride for her best friend and brother.
