Page 103 of Praising the Pitcher

I’m crying, Gigi is crying, and my sister? She’s sure as hell crying. Even so, she pushes through and makes us repeat a spew of vows. It’s all a blur, but when she says the words I’ve been waiting for and pronounces us husband and wife, my lips are on Gigi’s, kissing her more deeply and with more love than ever, the words not even having fully left Haven’s lips.

I cup her face, kissing my wife.

Damn, I fucking love the way that sounds.

Finally pulling back, I drag in a much-needed breath of air into my lungs and smile against her plump, swollen lips.

“I love you, Mrs. King,” I utter.

“I love you more,” she whispers.

When we turn to face our family, I slide my hand to hers and hold it up. They cheer, and my mom sobs big, happy cries while my dad holds her against him.

Today, I got to watch Gigi play in her first professional softball game. And now, she’s my wife.

Being with her has taught me a lot. Patience. Respect. A love I truly didn’t even know I could feel so deeply. And most importantly, it’s taught me to trust again. I trust her more than I trust anyone in the world. And I choose her above anyone else too.

Gigi King will go down as one of the greatest softball pitchers in history. And I’ll be the lucky bastard who gets to come home to her each day.

If life were a game, I’d say I won. And to think, it all started when we were both too broken to trust anyone else. Yet with her, it came so easy. And truthfully, it always has.

I may have thought keeping her at arm’s length was for the best in the beginning, but let’s be real … I never stood a chance. That girl owns every single part of me.

And she always will. In this life and all the others.

That much, I’m sure of.

EPILOGUE

GIGI

TEN MONTHS LATER

The sun warms every part of my body and the hushed sound of waves hitting the shore is peaceful enough to threaten me back into the deep sleep I’ve been in and out of on this beach for most of the day. That is, until my husband pushes his hard dick against the side of my body, and suddenly, I’m not so sleepy.

Since we got married just a few months shy of a year ago, there hasn’t been any time for us to sneak away on our honeymoon. Between my game schedule last summer that led into the fall paired with the grueling training schedule, and Noah finishing his last year of college while playing football—oh, and signing to play for the NFL in the same city I’m in—life has been a complete whirlwind. Not to mention how much of it has been spent apart while he’s back at NEU and I’m in Portsmouth. We made do with lots of spicy FaceTime calls. Some even included a handful of fun toys too. But now, we’ll finally get to live together. And a week in this tropical paradise has been a literal gift. One we both desperately needed and I’m a little sad to be leaving in a few days.

Noah booked us a beautiful house directly on the beach. And the best part? We’ve had the place to ourselves, and no one can get in or out of the area without a special key card. The only time I’ve seen anyone who isn’t him is when we’ve gone out to eat, explored the nearby attractions, and when we went on the snorkeling experience—where I decided I hate snorkeling and don’t ever wish to partake in that again.

“Someone is happy to be lying beside his wife,” I murmur, my mouth turning up in a grin. “Hello there, to you too.”

“Fuck, I love when you call yourself my wife,” his deep voice says, just like he has countless times before. His hand takes mine, leading it to the hard bulge in his swim trunks that I already felt against me. “This is what it does to me when I look at you and know you’re my wife.”

I crack my eyes open and prop myself up. God, he looks so good. His hair is still a little damp from when he went in the waves a bit ago. His body is rock hard, and I replay licking every single bit of it last night under the moonlight in the lounge chair outside our rental as I worked my way to his hard, huge cock.

“I think you’ll like me even more without the dreadful tan lines I’m going to have from this bathing suit.”

Reaching for the back of my neck, his eyes immediately dart to my fingers and narrow, like he knows exactly what I’m doing. The question is, will he get mad?

“Smoke,” he starts, and I can’t tell if it’s a warning or something else. “You know I’d love to lie here with you while you have your perfect tits out. But if you think I’ll be able to leave you alone, you’re fucking wrong.” He growls the last words out, his dick stretching, growing harder against my side. “And you’re lucky no one is around. No way would I let anyone else see what’s all mine.”

I untie the first set of strings, letting it fall forward before I do the same to the tie in the back.

Just like I knew he would, he palms my tit, pinching my nipple before moving to the other. A sharp hiss leaves his lips. “Fuck … you’re so sexy, I can’t fucking take it.”

I give him one last teasing look before I lie back and close my eyes again. But even through sunglasses and shut eyes, I feel his gaze on me, drinking in every inch of exposed skin.

“You love this, don’t you, baby?” He puts a spread hand on my stomach. “You love that we’re out in the open, and you can be my filthy little wife.”