by Teagan Kade
David’s eyebrows lift. “Depends whether you’re clothed or not, I suppose.”
Chance’s smile grows. “Oh, clothes will definitely be lacking in our cabin. Don’t you worry about that.”
David pretends he’s blind. “Eye bleach! Where’s the eye bleach?” Sarah elbows him and his eyes snap open to Sam. “I wasn’t talking about you, Sam. You’re beautiful.”
Sarah rolls her eyes at me, reaching forward and taking Sam’s arm. “Come on, Sam. Why don’t we grab a coffee and let those two knuckleheads kiss each other goodbye.”
I watch the two of them go off together when something bumps into my leg. I look down to find a little boy in a Wildcats’s cap standing in my shadow. I notice Mom standing off to the side.
“Mr. Adams?” he queries in a squeaky voice. “Can I have your autograph?”
I reach down and take the playing card and pen he’s holding in his hand. I look a bit worn in the picture. It was only taken at the start of the season, but in it I see someone I barely recognize. How far I’ve come. How far we have come.
“Mr. Adams?” asks the kid again since I’m standing there gaping at myself like an idiot.
“What’s your name, kid?”
“Chance,” he replies.
I hand the card back with a wink at Mom. “Your parents have good taste.”
‘Thank you,’ Mom mouths back.
The kid runs off. I notice David standing there with his hands on his hips. “What’s with you?”
“You’re standing here with perhaps the greatest wide receiver the game has ever seen and I don’t even get a second glance.”
I shrug, smiling. “I can’t help it if all the fans want me.”
David pokes me in the chest. “And here I was thinking you were finally falling back down to Earth.”
I look over to Sam sipping on her coffee by the cart, picturing the way she bucked below me this morning as she came, the way her pussy gripped my shaft in the throes of it. “Far from it, my friend. Far from it.”
“So?”
“So what?”
“Kids,” continues David. “You seem pretty good with them. The girls love you. When are you two going to start a family of your own?”
“Whoa, we’re not even married yet and you’re already trying to sort play dates?”
David crosses his arms. “I’m just sayin’, you better put a ring on that sooner rather than later.”
“You think she’s going to run off on me?”
“I see the way you two are together. It’s an inevitability. Why procrastinate?”
“You just want to get wasted kid-free at the wedding, don’t you?”
He nods. “It has been a long time since I’ve been to a wedding… or slept with a bridesmaid.”
It takes me a second to catch on. “I see what you did there, but you’re way ahead here. I mean, I, you know. It’s not—”
He shakes his head. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say my line of questioning here is making the mighty woman slayer that is Chance Adams sweat a little, no?”
He knows me too well. “I’m not ready. It’s too soon.”
David continues shaking his head. “Suit yourself.”
The girls arrive just in time.
Sarah hands a coffee to David. “What are you two scheming here?”
David looks to me. “Just planning ahead.”
An announcement comes over the PA for boarding to begin. Sam starts to pull on my arm, always a stickler for punctuality. “Come on, babe. They’re boarding.”
Sarah takes the hint. “We’ll leave you guys to it.” She comes forward and hugs us in turn. “You two be good, you hear?”
“I’m always good,” I protest.
Sam swats my ass. “I’ll keep him in line. Don’t worry.”
David puckers his lips at me. “Good. I wouldn’t want that sweet little butt of yours to come back as damaged property.”
Now I’m the one shaking my head. “Come here, you fucker.”
I pull him in for an embrace, slap him twice on the back before pushing him away. “Now get, we got business to attend to.”
Sam sidles up beside me as the two of them work back through the crowds waving. “Business?”
I run my hands down her waist, desperately wanting to keep running them inside her pants. “Dirty, dirty business.”
As I kiss her, I think over David’s words. He’ll kill me when we get back.
Carefully as I can, I run my hand into my pocket, checking one final time that the ring is still there.
Epilogue
Sam
The team is huddled tight together, Chance arm-in-arm with them. I stand to the side listening to him speak to his troops.
“We’re going to out there,” he says, “and we’re going to kick some ass. Who’s with me?”
The players let up a war cry.
“Hands in the middle, and break.”
I watch as the team heads onto the field, Chance pulling up by my side looking a little too proud. “You think you’ve got this one in the bag, don’t you?”
He looks at me with complete confidence. “I am their coach, am I not? How could they not win?”
I place my forefinger under my chin. “I don’t know. Maybe because they’re all under five?”
The first play is a shambles, both teams fumbling the ball and more than one player completely confused as to where they should be running. Another’s already running to the sidelines looking for Mommy.
“That way!” shouts Chance. “Not… no… Oh, hell.”
I have to laugh. “Not as easy as it looks, huh?”
He’s got his hands on his head. “And I though the early nineties Colts were bad. It’s like these kids are deliberately trying to make me look bad.”
“You’re the one who’s going to have to explain to their parents why they’re suddenly running around saying they’re going to ‘kick ass.’”
We both smile, Chance pulling me into a tight embrace.
I push back a little. “Careful. You wouldn’t want to squash another future quarterback, would you?”
His hands move down to the small bump of my belly.
“It’s not a crystal ball, you know.”
He closes his eyes. “I see fame and fortune, women falling at his feet.”
“His? You seem pretty damn certain it’s a boy.”
He looks around me to our one-year-old daughter giggling away in her stroller, Felicity, our little lucky charm, even if Chance has got into the habit of calling her ‘Flick.’ I’m much more partial to ‘Fee,’ but you can’t have everything.
Or can you?
I’ve got the man of my dreams and the stable love I always thought was a construct of Hollywood and pulpy romance novels. People say you can’t love one person for a lifetime, but I beg to differ. I’m whole when I’m with Chance, empowered. Everything is just that little bit more alive, more exciting when shared with someone you’ve poured your soul out to.
And the sex… Those same people are all ‘it’s different after you’ve had a baby, you’ll lose interest,’ but nothing could be further from the truth. If anything, we’re even closer now, more adventurous in the bedroom… and kitchen, and dining room, and car. I feel like a teenager again.
Chance is on top of his game with the Cats, helping them to yet another NFL championship. Companies are knocking down our door for endorsement opportunities, but Chance’s number-one priority is his family. He wants to spend as much time as possible with us, even managed to talk Morgan into cutting back on his training hours.
It’s so weird to think of our first meeting in that tiny massage room, the arrogant boy with his bravado and endless lines. The boy, that life, is gone and in its place is a man with everything he’s ever wanted and more.
I smile with the satisfaction that whatever problems may come, whatever challenges may arise, we’re going to face them hand-in-hand, together, as a family.
I turn and follow his ga
ze to our daughter, can’t get enough of the way his face lights whenever he sees her.
I reach down and lightly brush his crotch, leaning forward to whisper in his ear. “Guess you got your happy ending after all.”
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