by Taylor Hart
A small smile played at her lips. “Go put Travis to bed.”
“Uncle DJ!” Travis yelled out.
He shrugged off his jacket and she took it, their hands brushing again. “Okay, but we’re talking about everything when I come back.”
“Oh, we are, huh?”
Again, he quickly kissed her, nipping at her lip. “We are.”
More tension pulsed between them, and she smiled. “I broke things off with him last night.”
“What?” Surprise and shock spiked through his veins.
She gave him one last playful kiss. “You’re right. We’ll talk about it after Travis is put to bed.”
He turned back, pulling her in and kissing her deeply.
She resisted at first, but gave into it.
“Uncle DJ!”
He laughed and pulled back. “Hold please.”
She giggled.
He rushed to Travis’s room, feeling like a million bucks. “Hey!”
“Uncle DJ!” Travis threw himself into his arms.
So much emotion washed through him. He loved this kid so much.
DJ gestured for him to lie back. “Just lie down, and I’ll tell you another story about a Texas Rebel win.” She broke it off with him!
“I don’t want that story,” Travis said, turning on his side.
DJ pulled the little chair closer to his bedside, trying to focus. “You don’t?” he asked, putting a hand on the boy’s head. His heart swelled. DJ needed to see this kid every day, almost as much as he needed to see the kid’s mom.
“No, I want a story about my dad when he was my age.”
DJ relaxed, noting how differently he felt about his brother after today. “Okay, when your dad was nine, well, I was nine, too.”
Travis laughed. “I know, silly. You were twins.”
“Your dad liked to build things.”
“Like me,” Travis said, delighted.
DJ nodded. It had been wonderful to remember all the good things about his brother over the past few days. He cleared his throat. “One day, your dad and I and your mother decided we would take the boat across to the island.”
“When you were nine?”
“Yep. My mama was still alive then, and when we got back, she was mad something fierce.” He pointed at Travis. “And I don’t want you to ever do it. It was a dangerous thing to do.”
Travis laughed. “Okay.”
“Anyway, your dad convinced us to bring a bunch of wood and paint, and we worked all day until we built a little fort.”
Travis’s face went serious. “What did you call it?”
DJ grinned, remembering.
“The No Girls Fort,” Aspen said softly from the doorway.
He turned.
The same teasing smile was on her face.
Every part of him wanted this woman. He reached out a hand to her. “That’s right.”
Aspen strode in, easily taking his hand.
Loving being with these two so much, he cheerfully pulled her to his lap.
“No.” She tried to get up.
“Sit, Mama,” Travis commanded.
DJ playfully grabbed her around the waist to keep her from standing.
She gave in.
DJ smiled to himself; the boy’s bossiness was working to his advantage. He relished her settling into him. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer.
“Story!” Travis called out.
Aspen wagged her finger in the air. “First of all, your father and your uncle were mean to me that day.”
“No,” DJ said, resting his head against her shoulder.
“Yes. They tried to tell me I couldn’t be in their club.”
Travis laughed. “But you were their friend, right? Both of their friends.”
“Right?” DJ asked, holding her closely again and never wanting to let her go.
She smiled. “Yeah, I was friends with both of them.”
DJ sucked in a breath. Suddenly, he knew it had been natural for her to love them both—just as it had been natural for both of them to love her. “As I was saying, we built this awesome fort, and it took us most of the day because we only had scraps of wood. And we did let your mom in because we changed the name of the fort.”
“To what?” asked Travis.
She met his eyes and smiled. “To The Barbie Clubhouse.”
DJ laughed with her. “Name didn’t stick, though.”
“You two both agreed to it,” she protested.
He was mesmerized by the way she had gotten him and his brother to agree to so many things. “Yes, we did. ’Cause we felt sorry we’d hurt your feelings.”
Travis giggled.
“You think that’s funny?” DJ reached out and tickled him beneath the chin. That led to a tickling war between all of them; even Aspen tried to help Travis tickle DJ. Both of them ended up being pinned.
“Give!” Aspen yelled out.
DJ let go and collapsed onto the bed with them. They all snuggled together, and DJ put his arms around them, knowing he never wanted to let go.
Chapter 24
Aspen waited in the living room for DJ to finish with Travis. She pushed down her hair; it was all messed up from the tickle war. She loved that DJ and Travis were so close. She loved everything that being with DJ symbolized. At the same time, it baffled her. Could this really be happening?
She stood next to the Christmas tree and stared out the window at the small town of Southport. Without warning, DJ hugged her from behind, wrapping his arms around her waist and inhaling her scent.
She tensed. “I just broke up with my boyfriend. Should I really be doing this?”
He gave her a bored look then tickled her again.
Unwillingly, she giggled and swatted at him. “Stop.”
“This is the most right thing you could do, Aspen Jane Roads.” He buried his face in her hair and breathed in deeply.
She found it funny that he was using her middle name. “You like to smell me like you’re going to eat me.”
“I would eat you if I could; you smell that good.”
Aspen turned in his arms, not wanting to overthink what was happening between them. Not wanting to…Her thoughts trailed away as his lips met hers briefly. She grinned. “You taste good.”
He let out a light laugh. “Oh yeah.” He trailed kisses up to her ear and then down her jawline.
“DJ…we’d better take it slow.”
He let out a low laugh. “I’m done with slow.”
Her heart raced.
He put his lips to her forehead. “Tell me what happened with Harrison.”
She hedged. “I’ve known it wouldn’t work with him and, I guess, the truth is…I should have ended it a long time ago.”
He waited.
“I know people think that all of his proposals were fake.”
“They weren’t?”
She sighed. “He proposed a couple of months ago…for real.”
“How did you know it was real?”
She felt bad about this. “Because he was devastated when I told him no. And he had a ring.”
“Wow.”
“So, Harrison just acted like it wasn’t real and swept it beneath the rug, like…it didn’t mean anything.” She shook her head. “I told him last night that I was sorry for not just ending it back then.”
DJ nodded.
She pulled back. “But I was wrong to do that to him.” She shook a finger at DJ. “He is a good person, and I feel bad for hurting him. I was just…unclear about my future, and I didn’t do anything about it.”
For a moment neither of them spoke.
Gently, he trailed a hand down her hair. “Are you certain now?”
Happiness surged through her, and she leaned up, kissing his jawline. “I am.”
His eyes took on a serious glint, and he pressed his lips to hers. “And we’re agreed that slow is out of the question?”
Little explosions went off everywhere as he reached for her, pu
shing his hands into her hair, kissing her deeply.
She laughed and couldn’t stop herself from trailing her fingers up his abs, feeling the definition through his shirt.
“Asp, you’re killing me, woman.”
“Really? I would think a football legend would have more, hmm, willpower than that.” She let her hands roam up his shoulders, up his neck, and then over his face. The man had always been strong, but now he was built for football. Like a tank, as the article in Sports Weekly had said.
He froze, closing his eyes. “Killing. Me.”
She gently moved her hands over his five-o’clock shadow. “You’re gorgeous, ya know?”
DJ’s eyes opened slowly. He put both of his hands on her face, then lightly moved them through her hair. “No, gorgeous is what you are.”
She loved how she felt when he touched her, adored her, wanted her. She closed her eyes, letting him have his way with her hair for a moment.
“I know you may not want to talk about this, but…did you really feel like you’d betrayed Travis?”
Her eyes flashed open, and she nodded. “Yes. I’ve hated myself and have been tortured by that fact for ten years, because I did feel like part of me had somehow betrayed him by loving you.”
Gently, he kissed her lips, and fire breathed through her. “You never betrayed Travis,” he said, his voice turning soft. He traced the outline of her face. “I realized tonight, when we were talking about The No Girls Fort…”
“The Barbie Clubhouse.”
He squeezed her tighter and smiled. “Anyway, I realized that it was always you and me and Travis.”
“Yeah, it was.”
“So I guess you can love us both and that has to be okay.”
She smiled at him. “Yeah, it does.”
He pulled back. “I also need to tell you that when I came to Travis’s funeral and saw you pregnant, I didn’t think about your pain. About what you were going through.” He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. “I’ve been so selfish. And with my dad…”
“Stop.” She pressed her fingers over his lips. “I don’t want to talk about all the mistakes anymore. I don’t want to talk about all the things we messed up. I’m tired of regrets, DJ. I’m just so tired of them.”
She moaned, and he moaned back. She knew exactly what he meant by ‘killing him’ because he was killing her, too.
“I am going to make up all the lost time to you.” He kissed the side of her face, then her eyelids.
Their make-out session lasted for a long time in front of that Christmas tree.
Finally, he pulled back, running the back of his hand down her face. “I want to do this right with you.” He frowned, looking so serious. “I want to do everything right with you.”
“I do too, and I want you to know that I’ll come with you.”
He froze. “What?”
She laughed, feeling lighter than she’d ever felt. “If you live in San Antonio and you want us with you…we’ll come.”
He smiled. “You would do that?”
She nodded.
DJ picked up her hand and kissed the back of it. “I bought the house.”
She gaped at him. “What?”
“Bill actually let me buy it back from him. He told me tonight at the care center.”
Overwhelmed, she laughed. “I can’t believe it.”
“Really, I blame your son, because he gave me a vision of restoring it with you.”
“He did?”
He grazed her face with the back of his hand. “And I blame you, too.”
Butterflies went off inside her. “For what? Giving you happiness?”
“Exactly. You see, I came back to Southport because my team lost a really important man.”
“Terry Jones,” she said softly.
“And my brothers on the defensive line and I decided we would fix any regrets we had this Christmas.”
She found this interesting.
He nodded. “So I came to fix things with my dad.”
Chills washed through her. He’d succeeded in doing that.
“But see, then I saw you again, and I met the most awesome nephew a guy could have.”
She let out a light laugh, thinking about how Travis had instantly loved him. “He kinda adores you.”
DJ stared into her eyes. “And then you forgave me and everything is different now.”
Her eyes misted. “And you forgave me.”
Her heart swelled, and she put her hand on his face. “So, what’s the plan now?”
He trailed kisses down her jawline. “I’m going to marry you and fix up the house with you.”
She pulled back, shock coursing through her. “You haven’t asked yet.”
“You ready for me to ask? For real?”
She laughed. “For being such a cocky football player, you really didn’t think I’d pick you?”
“Well, I was hoping.”
“Wait, so what about the Rebels?”
He grunted. “I think we’d better just win the championship this year so I can retire.”
She was humbled. “Are you serious? What about leaving Texas?”
“Texas is a great place, but this is home.” DJ stole another kiss and grinned. “Southport is filled with all the people I care about.”
“It is?”
He laughed. “And I have to coach Travis’s football team, so I’m kinda locked in.”
She pressed her lips to his. “That’s true.”
Suddenly, he was down on one knee.
Hyper butterflies pulsed into the lower part of her gut. “What are you doing?”
“Shh.” He took her hand. “I don’t want slow. I just want you. And Travis. Forever. Will you marry me?”
Time seemed to stop, and she stared into the eyes of the boy she’d always loved. “I will.”
He tugged her into him as he stood, kissing her.
And she kissed him back. And everything felt right and perfect and true.
“I love you, Asp. I love you, and I want to make you happy for the rest of my life.”
Tears fell from her eyes. “I love you, too!”
They kissed again, and she knew that they would be happy. Because she’d always loved him. And she always would.
Epilogue
One month later
Final Championship Game between the Texas Rebels and the Colorado Storm
There were two seconds left. The Rebels were up by two. It was 16–14. But the Storm had called a timeout.
Sweat poured down DJ’s head, getting into his eyes. He ignored it. Will Kent, quarterback for the Storm, was about to pass the ball into the end zone and win the game if he could—but not if DJ had anything to do with it.
DJ looked up at the VIP box. Travis was pressed against the glass, his hand spread out to him. Aspen also had her hand pressed to the glass. A pang of happiness shot through him. He’d married Aspen the day after he’d proposed. In the care center. His father standing next to him and Travis next to her.
Her parents had been both surprised and somewhat delighted, as Aspen had told them all the events that had transpired in their absence. Her mother had made the best of it, hosting a small open house at her new house and giving everyone tours of it as a special bonus.
Even though DJ’s father hadn’t remembered him until later, he’d been a sport about it, wishing them well over and over.
The past couple of weeks had been intense. Aspen and Travis had joined him in San Antonio while he finished out the season.
But this was it.
It was ‘game time,’ as Travis would say. If they won this game, the Texas Rebels would win it all!
Which meant DJ could go out at the top.
Truthfully, DJ would have still gone out of professional football and moved back to Southport. He hadn’t told Aspen yet, but he was retiring no matter what. Of course he would.
It was her.
And she meant everything to him.
DJ focused on his target—Wil
l Kent. The man who needed to be taken down a notch.
The timeout ended, and the teams assumed their positions.
As the lineman hiked the ball at Will, DJ rushed at him. Will pulled back, releasing the spiral, but DJ knocked it out of the air. The timer went off, and the crowd went wild.
His teammates—Sy, Jett, Austin, and Emmit—surrounded him, all of them pushing each other and ripping off their helmets.
“Rebels! Rebels! Rebels!” the crowd chanted.
Jett and Emmit hoisted DJ onto their shoulders, and DJ hoisted his helmet into the air for the crowd.
Unimaginably, the crowd got louder. Between the noise and his triumph, DJ was overwhelmed.
“DJ!”
He looked down and saw Travis and Aspen rushing toward him, escorted by security. He tapped Sy’s shoulder. “Let me down, man!”
After they’d put him down, he made his way through the flood of his laughing teammates. All he could focus on was his people.
“You did it!” Travis leapt at him.
DJ picked the boy up, flinging him into the air, and both of them laughed. He put him down and reached for Aspen.
She cheered and went into his arms, then shrieked as he lifted her and spun her around. “You’re crazy!”
He let out another whoop and kissed her deeply. “Yes, I am!” DJ knew that this was what Terry Jones had. Purpose. People. No regrets. He put his fist into the air, turning to his teammates. “No regrets!”
Immediately, the four men put their fists into the air. “No regrets!”
God really had worked everything out. And it was perfect.
“Love you,” Aspen said, still holding to him.
He kissed her. “Love you, too.”
“Hey!” Travis tugged at his jersey. “What about me?”
DJ laughed and picked him up to hold him over his head. “Rebels!”
“Rebels!” Travis shouted back.
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