“Explain it then, Carl. Explain to me what exactly my daughter was doing in your house last night and why you didn’t bother telling me about it,” he snarled.
“Mike, I will understand if after hearing this, you never want to see me again. I want you to know that I am prepared for that to happen,” I said.
Both Virginia and her dad were staring at me as I spoke. I knew she was nervous. She had been nervous the whole journey here. She was happy that I had decided to speak to her father about it and that I wasn’t pushing her away from anymore, but she was also afraid of the rift that this was going to cause in our friendship and in her own relationship with her father.
“Just tell me, Carl!” Mike growled and banged his fist down on the table. I sensed Virginia flinch beside me.
“I’m in love with your daughter and I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you sooner,” I said.
There was a deathly silence in the room. Mike’s face had turned red and he was glaring at me like he had just been slapped. When a few more moments of silence had passed between us, I knew I had to say something more.
“This isn’t just a casual fling, Mike. I am in love with Virginia and as absurd as it sounds to you, she wants to be with me too,” I said. Mike glared at me and then at his daughter again.
“Dad, I am in love with Carl. I always have been since I was a teenager. I haven’t had any boyfriends because of my feelings for him,” Virginia spoke up and I could see Mike’s mind whirling. He didn’t know how to comprehend this information; he didn’t even know whether to believe it or not.
“Take a shot at me now, Mike, if you have to. Or else I’m going to leave and we never have to pretend to be friends again,” I said and stuck my hands into the pockets of my jeans.
“Daddy . . . ” Virginia cried and Mike gulped. It was like he had lost the power of speech.
“I’m going to go,” I said when I realized that there was no point in just standing there and glaring at each other.
“Carl, wait!” Mike thundered and he had jumped out of his chair again. I was in the middle of turning from him and I stopped in my tracks. I was fully prepared for a punch. I couldn’t blame him for wanting to hit me. I had fucked his daughter and now I was claiming to be in love with her.
“I don’t want to hit you,” Mike said, and I noticed that his voice had turned somber.
“I deserve it,” I said and faced him again.
“No, you don’t. You are a man and I know that my daughter is amazing,” Mike said and looked over at Virginia. There was a weak smile grazing his lips now, and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
“If this isn’t a casual thing like you are claiming, what do I have to complain about?” Mike said and Virginia clamped a hand over her mouth. I could sense that she was happy to hear her father say it. All her nervousness had washed away. I still couldn’t get over how well Mike was taking it.
“I mean it, Mike. I’m in love with her,” I said.
I watched as my best friend stepped away from his chair, walked around the table, and approached me.
“If she loves you, too, then I couldn’t have hoped for a better man for my daughter than you, Carl. I’ve known you all my life. I know what kind of man you are. I know that you will keep her safe and you will do your best to make her happy,” he said and then I watched in disbelief as Mike stuck a hand out to me.
I shook his hand while Virginia squealed with joy beside us.
“Dad! I can’t believe this. You just made me so happy, Dad,” she screeched and threw her arms around her father. I watched as the father and daughter hugged, after which she pulled herself away from him and came over to me.
“Carl, you don’t have to be guilty anymore,” she said and there was a wide satisfied smile spreading on her face.
I nodded my head and stretched a hand towards her. She took it and I pulled her into my arms. Mike was watching us, and even he had a smile on his face.
I kissed the top of Virginia’s head as she hugged me tightly. I caught Mike’s eye and I tipped my head to him. He did the same. We both knew what that was about—we were acknowledging each other’s good decisions. Virginia was right, I didn’t have anything more to worry about. Mike had given us his approval and now as I held the woman I loved, I didn’t feel like I was doing so while betraying my best friend. She wasn’t just Mike’s daughter anymore, she was my woman.
Virginia looked up at me with a bright, shiny face.
“I love you, Carl,” she said and I kissed her lightly on her lips.
“I love you, Virginia,” I told her.
It was Mike’s humorous voice that interrupted us.
“Now get out of here before you two make me sick!” he said with a laugh. Virginia and I both looked at him with smiles on our faces. Today was the day that was going to mark the beginning of the rest of our lives.
Epilogue - Virginia
It was graduation day, and it was made even more special by the fact that I had everyone I loved around me. My parents and Carl were all there to see me receive my scroll onstage and nobody clapped harder than the man I had been in a relationship with for the past year and a half.
Afterwards, we had taken photographs of each other and Carl declared that he wanted to take us all out for a family dinner.
We were sitting together at the table in a fancy Italian restaurant. Dad and Carl were deep in conversation as usual, and as I looked at them. I knew that I couldn’t have asked for a better relationship. The fact that my boyfriend and my father were friends – were still best friends – was a gift. It almost felt like Carl had brought our family even closer together.
Even though it had taken Mom a few weeks to get accustomed to the fact that I was in a relationship with a much older man, she trusted my decision. She had seen how happy Carl made me and just like my dad, she couldn’t complain.
“I am so happy for you, honey,” Mom said to me and I turned to her and she placed a hand on mine.
“Are you going to apply for your Masters in sociology like you planned?” she asked and I nodded my head and tore myself another piece of garlic bread.
“I want to stay in academia,” I told her and she patted my hand like a proud mother.
My relationship with Carl had been a smooth, effortlessly happy one, even though it was my first serious one. It felt like I had been in a relationship for years, especially since I had been in love with him forever.
It was amazing how easily we had fallen in sync with each other and how happy it made me wake up in bed beside him. He made me more confident in myself. He made me feel beautiful and cherished every day, and it wasn’t until we got stares from people when we walked together hand in hand that I remembered he was much older than me. I couldn’t imagine myself being with anybody else – he was the man for me.
Carl stood up from his chair abruptly in the middle of his conversation with my dad. We all turned to him to find him crouching down beside my chair on one knee.
“I’m sorry, beautiful, I was going to wait until dessert but I can’t concentrate on anything else,” he said and I stared at him with my mouth hanging open.
I didn’t want my mind to go there. I didn’t want to get my hopes up. I saw him pulling out a small blue velvet box from the pocket of his pants.
“Virginia, I have a question to ask you and I hope you say yes,” he began and I clamped a hand on my mouth. I could feel my hands shaking as I stared at him opening the box. There was a beautiful solitaire diamond ring in the center of the box and it blinked at me while he remained kneeling on the floor.
“I am in love with you, and this past year and a half has been the happiest of my life. I want this to go on forever, and the only way I know how to make that happen is by asking you to be my wife,” Carl continued and I could feel my breath caught in my throat.
I hadn’t seen this coming. We hadn’t even moved in together yet, even though we had talked about it. We had decided a couple of months ago that we would seriousl
y think about moving in together after my graduation; after I had decided what I was going to do with my life after school. Carl didn’t want to discourage me from the idea that I might have to move to a different city for graduate school, even though I had already decided that I wasn’t going anywhere.
“I’ve already spoken to your parents, Virginia, and they had graciously given me their blessings. All you have to do now is say yes,” Carl said and I stared at his handsome, happy face. This was the same man who my mom used to joke about being a confirmed bachelor when I was a kid. This was the same man who had awakened the woman in me when I was a thirteen-year-old gangly teen.
I had always fantasized about being in a relationship with him, about sleeping with him, but never even in my wildest dreams had I imagined that we could be married.
“Virginia . . . ” he began to say and I jumped out of my chair and hurled myself at him.
“Yes, Carl, yes, a thousand times yes! There is no other man I would rather marry than you!” I was laughing and crying at the same time. It felt surreal to be proposed to by him; to see him on a bended knee asking for my hand.
Carl kissed me, even though he usually shied from kissing me in front of my parents. How did it matter anymore? He was going to be their son-in-law soon!
I kissed him back fiercely, and I could hear cheers and claps around us. It wasn’t just my parents who were cheering for us, it was the whole restaurant.
When we broke away from our kiss, Carl was still holding me, and with his free hand, he was slipping the ring onto my finger. It was a perfect fit, exactly the way he was for me. The diamond sparkled on my finger as I wrapped my arms around him again.
“You have no idea how happy you just made me, Virginia,” he whispered into my ear as we hugged each other again. I was smiling, my soul was souring, all my dreams were coming true, and then some!
“You have no idea how I wish I could go back to my teenage self and tell her that everything is going to be all right,” I said, just as Carl leaned in to kiss me again.
*****
THE END
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Charlize Starr
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Description
Jennifer
I have the best job in the world. I get paid for touching hot men. And not just any hot men: I am the sports therapist for Philly’s professional football team.
Of course the guys hit on me all the time. But I know their tricks. I’m a professional and never break my rules.
Until he lands on my massage table. Justin’s the most gorgeous, the most cocky, and the most annoying player on the team. He flirts without trying and offends the hell out of me. So why am I falling for him so hard?
I need to stay away from this guy, he’ll bring me nothing but trouble. But I can’t. He’s injured and Coach Michaels wants me to treat him.
Then the guy kisses me one day when I’m trying to work on him and I know I want him. I run after one explosive night together and try to hold my crumbling world together, facing life as a single mother.
He’s turned my world upside down, but I can’t ever let him know how much our night changed his.
Justin
Every guy wants to be like me. I am the most admired player in the NFL and the most desired one by the ladies. I can talk any woman into my bed. I live for the chase.
Until I lay eyes on the new sports therapist Jennifer. She’s gorgeous and tough and I know I’ve met my match. Too bad she’s not interested. But I don’t care. I’ll find a way to have her.
When I finally succeed, she gives me the best night of my life. For the first time, I want a woman to stay in my life.
She doesn’t.
I know I’ve fallen for her when the pain doesn’t go away. I need to find her to convince her we need a second chance. But where the hell is she?
Chapter One
I was working on the computer in the event planner’s office when I heard someone say my name. I tossed my thick braid over my shoulder and glanced over to see Coach Michaels standing in the doorway. “Here you are, Jennifer. Are you helping Michelle out again?” His face twisted into a frown, one that I suspected meant both sympathy and a bit of worry.
“I don’t think you’ll have to worry about her having another baby after this. This first trimester is brutal for her, Coach. She was in the bathroom most of the morning before I saw her long enough to send her home,” I remarked with a wrinkled nose as I pictured her pale face in my mind. Poor thing…I never wanted to have kids, but that was probably what most twenty-two-year-old graduates thought. “What’s up?”
“I’d like you to take a look at one of my guys. He’s dealing with something in his shoulder, and I’d rather be cautious about this.” There was an evident worry in his voice.
“Sure thing.” I stood and walked into the hallway to the room that was set up for me several feet down near the stadium. “Who is it?”
“Justin McLeod,” Coach Michaels replied, and I frowned. Even if I weren't in sports therapy, I would know something about Justin. He was gorgeous, and he knew it, but he was also an excellent quarterback. With their leading scores so far this season, I doubted that they were willing to lose him to an injury. “Do you know him?”
“Who doesn’t?” I asked as I led the way into the room connected to the locker room where all of my stuff was meticulously stored. “Is it an old injury?”
“It is. He pulled some tendons last year and the kid won’t take care of himself, Jennifer. I want you to take a feel and see what you can tell him that he’ll listen to.” Coach gave me an imploring look with his tired, dark eyes and I smiled and nodded.
“I will do my best, but stubborn athletes have a hard time with listening.” I saw Coach nod before he ran a hand through his graying hair. He wasn’t just my boss, but also my father’s best friend and lifelong family friend. I graduated from Boston University with a degree in Sports Medicine just a few months ago, and he’d needed a new therapist here in Philadelphia, so here I was. It wasn’t favoritism though I didn’t let it out that we knew each other well, fearful that it might look that way.
There was no reason to tell him that I doubted that Justin would take my words to heart. He was a wild man who played by nobody’s rules, on or off the field. He’d been spotted by the paparazzi many times at some bar with a woman or two, sometimes three. I doubted that he’d worry about his health and how it might affect the team. It was a shame that he was one of the big talents on the team and that Coach depended on him. “I’ll tell him to come and see you. Practice is over in about an hour. Can you stick around?” His eyes pleaded with me, and I nodded with what I hoped was a relaxed grin.
I knew how athletes were when they saw a girl in the staff. Not that I was a supermodel by any means, but my strawberry blonde hair was pretty and brought out my deep blue eyes. I kept myself in shape since this job required me to stay active. I could end up treating half the team on any given day and they required strength on my part. My friends thought that I just got this job to check out hot guys but it was more than that. My brothers had played sports when I was younger and whenever they got hurt, it made me realize that I wanted to help others.
One thing led to another and I found myself in college studying that very subject. I memorized more muscles than I cared to think about as well as the various injuries that could happen to them. I wanted to stay at the top of my field so when the opportunity came to work for a pro football team, I took it.
“Hello, gorgeous,” a voice said as I paused and raised an eyebrow. Any woman could appreciate a smooth voice like that, one that reminded me of a good whiskey that slid well down my throat.
I looked over to see his intense green eyes looking me up and down before they settled on my face with a crooked smile that probably melted panties right off of women in seconds. Justin McLeod was a hot specimen of a man.
“Hello. My name is Jennifer Collins. I am the new physical therapist for the team. Coach said you’re dealing with some pain?” My voice was nothing but professional as he seemed to frown and try to figure me out.
“I pulled a muscle. It’s not that big of a deal,” he shrugged before he stripped off his t-shirt and walked over to me.
“There’s no previous shoulder injury that you should be keeping track of, then?” I knew his type and rolled my eyes as he looked around the room.
“Where do you want me?” His voice was suggestive as he looked back at me and I stifled a laugh, shaking my head.
“Sit on the table there. I’ll see what I can find.” He did, and I took a moment to appreciate his muscled torso as I pressed my glossed lips together. “Right or left?”
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