Page 189

I took the bottle of water he handed me. “Thanks for coming.” I was so damn proud of Annalise and loved showing her off to my teammates. It didn’t matter that they were more than aware of how good she was. How good all the Tangerines were. I would talk her up every chance I got.

“Are you kidding?” Erik threw his arm over Wes’s shoulders. “We love being here for them. This partnership our teams have developed is long overdue.”

We had another joint practice coming up in a month, this time at the Tangerines’ practice facility. Tampa, St. Pete, and all the surrounding cities were falling in love with the synergy building between the Tampa Bay teams, with the Mantas and Tangerines leading the way.

But all I really cared about was Annalise. She streaked across the field as effortlessly as ever. Like she was born to chase a soccer ball.

“The fuck is she doing?” Rhett frowned.

Annalise pointed, yelling at two of her teammates, then clapped her hands. I grinned. “Apparently Jeri likes how fired up Annalise gets at our games and asked her to bring that same enthusiasm to the Tangerines.”

Rhett slowly turned my way, eyebrows raised. “You mean like when she chewed out Holland for missing the scoop?”

“Exactly like that.” I watched as the team responded. They were faster, more energized. “Except her fire is more positive and pointed than what she directs at us.” We sat up one night going over this. Fuck, it was hot to be able to discuss team dynamics with my woman. She was worried about getting carried away. About crossing the line from enthusiastic to destructive. So we ran scenarios, talked it out, until she felt confident she could fire up the team in a good way.

From the looks of things, she was doing a hell of a job.

“Jeri might coach herself out of a job,” Wes snickered.

Would Annalise take over as team captain one day? Maybe. For now, that was Jeri’s role and she was good at it. She saw something in Annalise and used it to the team’s advantage. That’s what leaders do. While Jeri led the team, steering them from game to game, Annalise had become the fire that drove them.

It had lit a fire in her too. She was happier than I’d ever seen her. Focused. Driven. It was like all the puzzle pieces in her life were clicking together.

I knew that feeling because I was living it myself.

“So you’re buying the Mayfield house?” Everett asked.

We all held our breaths when Jeri made a play, but the ball sailed out of bounds. “Yep. Paperwork is being drawn up and we should be signing in the next couple of weeks.”

“Neighbors with Oscar the Grouch?” Wes patted Rhett’s arm.

Which was a bold move only Wes would be arrogant enough to attempt. Rhett growled. “If you want to keep your hand, I suggest you remove it.”

Wes grinned. “If you want my ass sitting behind home plate then I would suggest you leave my annoying hand alone. I’m good, but I’m not sure I’m one-handed good.”

Rhett growled some more. “It will be nice to have Annalise so close. Not sure about Butler.”

It was such a half-hearted attempt at brushing me aside that I laughed. “Wow. You’re actually willing to tolerate me, aren’t you?” The wonders never ceased. First someone as amazing as Annalise loved me, now the grumpiest man in the world didn’t hate me.

I was a lucky man.

“Tolerate you? Sure. Because for some fucking reason my cousin likes your fucking face. And even though I’m fairly certain Annalise has lost her fucking mind, I love her and if she’s really choosing…you,” he swallowed, “then yeah. We’ll be neighbors and I’ll fucking tolerate you.”

I batted my lashes. “You love me.”

“No I fucking don’t,” he grumbled. “But you’ve been nothing but good to her, you asshole. I keep trying to find a reason to hate you but I can’t. Fucking hell.”

I worked hard to be the man Annalise needed—and Rhett Ryan tolerated. I burst with pride. But that paled to the pride I felt a second later when Annalise came out of nowhere to score an electric goal.

The entire stadium exploded. The guys slapped my shoulders and shook me around. Rhett and I high-fived. I knew there were cameras on us and in a few minutes my reactions would be splashed around social media.

I didn’t care. Not anymore. I was happy that our love story made people happy. They could have all of these moments and interpret them however they needed to, because the only story that mattered was ours. And no one would ever truly know it but us.

Fifteen minutes later she scored their second goal. There was a buzz in the crowd after that. Not just hope for a win because they were winning, but with so much game time left, the belief that something truly special would happen tonight.

Annalise had a hat trick before the half.

After the third goal her teammates lost their minds. The celebration was enormous. Capped off by her searching for me. The guys lifted me up on their shoulders while the crowd pointed up at us.