Trick Play (Mavericks Tackle Love Book 3)

by Max Monroe

  I frowned, and she waved a hand between us in a panic as she silently berated herself.

  “No, no. Jesus. I mean, I guess I’m bad at this. It’s just…I couldn’t see what I can see now, but it didn’t have anything to do with you.”

  She took a breath as I stared blankly, the confusion of her ramble truly winning out over my attempts to decode it.

  “Okay,” she started again as I waited silently. “My mom died when she had me. I never knew her. My dad raised me…and my uncle and Aunt Bethie, really…but yeah, there was a serious lack of female guidance in my life.”

  I nodded calmly, wanting to give her a little encouragement to go on but not wanting to get carried away. There was so much more to know and to find out before we could even begin to contemplate… Yeah, I just needed to take it one step at a time.

  “My dad was the best…seriously…but he was a cop and my uncle was a cop and everyone he ever brought around me was a cop. I saw him in that role over and over and over again, but I never saw the role he played before I got there.” She bit her lip and only paused the briefest of moments to take a needed breath and continued.

  “He explained to me—today, actually—the way it’d been with my mom…you know, before. How she’d been the real priority in his life. How the job had always come second. He didn’t realize until now that he’d done me a real disservice by failing to highlight that as he raised me.”

  She squeezed her eyes shut and started again. “God. I’m messing this up, I know, but what I’m trying to say is that I didn’t realize anything else could be as important as the job. I didn’t know how to let something else in my life. How to rearrange my priorities. I didn’t know how…and I didn’t know I wanted to…until you.”

  My heart pounded as the words she’d said coursed through my chest and hit the beating target. She was exposed and begging, and yet…I couldn’t let it go that easily.

  I’d been down the road, I’d paid the toll, and I’d been robbed of the destination.

  I needed to know that this time was different. That it wouldn’t be just a flash in the pan until next time. I needed to know I could let myself fall.

  It was all I could do to speak without stumbling.

  But I had to get it out; I had to give her everything.

  “Twice, you’ve broken it off without warning. Twice, you’ve decided not to trust me with the truth. How do I give this another shot? How do I trust it won’t happen a third time?”

  “Cam—”

  “How do I trust anything about the time we spent together? How do I know it’s real? I don’t know if I knew a single real thing about you until I read that article, Lana. I’m in the press. I’m in the media. I usually tell people to come to me for the facts. You didn’t give me the option.”

  She licked her lips, her body shaking as she gathered herself and wiped at the tear pushing out of the corner of her eye.

  “I couldn’t.”

  “You could have trusted me.”

  “I know,” she agreed, and her lip trembled. “Trust me, I know. And I’m sorry that I let fear get in the way of doing what I should have done all along. I’m sorry I wasn’t honest with you from the start,” she said through a shaky breath, and a fresh sheen of tears took up residence in her eyes.

  “You should have told me,” I said. “I never would have interfered. But at least I would have known it was real.”

  “Cam,” she whispered my name like a fucking prayer. “It was real.”

  I stared at her, looking into the depths of her blue eyes, and searched for any sign that she was giving me anything but the truth.

  “It was real,” she repeated, and emotion and honesty vibrated her words. “Because I know you. And because, regardless of the stripping and the undercover and the whole mess of it, at the end of the day, at the end of it all…when I was with you, I was me. Lana. My laughs were me. Our hilarious conversations, that was me on the other end. And the nights we spent exploring one another until the need for sleep forced us to stop, that was me touching you, kissing you, loving you…” She paused, put a hand to her chest, and steadied her breath.

  “And, right now,” she continued, her heart inside her words and nothing but love shining from the deep blue of her eyes. “Well, I’m also just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to forgive her.”

  The instantly recognizable line, albeit modified slightly in the most perfect way, from my favorite romantic movie in the world, hit me right in the chest.

  A passing conversation. A throwaway comment. A cheesy fucking movie.

  But she’d remembered it. She’d felt it. She’d really lived it.

  We were real.

  When I’d left my dad’s house, I hadn’t really had an exact destination in mind.

  But my heart had taken the wheel, and before I knew it, I was at Cam’s house.

  I’d been nervous and scared. And it had taken several pep talks inside my car to find the strength to shut off the engine and walk up to the porch.

  The instant he’d opened his front door, I’d turned into a rambling mess of words, but every one of them had been honest. They’d been real. Their foundation rooted inside my entire being, inside my soul.

  And now, with Cam’s handsome face looking into mine, I had to lift my hand to my chest to steady the pounding rhythm inside my body.

  My heart wanted him. Just him. Only him.

  I knew I didn’t necessarily deserve his forgiveness, but I’d be a stupid woman if I didn’t try. Hell, I’d get on my hands and knees and beg if it meant there was a chance I’d succeed.

  I didn’t know what my future held, what our future held, but I knew if I had a choice, he would be my number one priority.

  I wished I could have snapped my fingers and taken back all of the mistakes I’d made with him. I wished I could have had a redo and prevented the mountain of hurt I’d carelessly tossed his way.

  But I couldn’t do that. All I had was right now. All I had were my words.

  Just show him, Lana, I coached myself. Show him how real it is. How real it has always been.

  Instantly, the truth spilled out.

  “And right now,” I said, honesty and familiarity and love—God, so much love—rang like a bell inside my voice. “Well, I’m also just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to forgive her.”

  Even if Cam wasn’t going to give me a second chance.

  Even if he told me to leave.

  Even if it this was the end of the possibility of us, at least I’d be able to walk away knowing I’d told him the truth. My truth.

  That every moment with him had left a mark on my heart, a mark on me, and no matter what he decided, I’d never be able to go forward without recognizing the depth he’d found in me.

  He stared at me for a long moment, and I didn’t avert my eyes. I didn’t hide behind a veil of hesitation or indecision. No. I looked right back at him.

  I left my heart and my soul wide open and completely vulnerable and bare.

  I’d never done that for anyone.

  But Cam wasn’t just anyone.

  He was the only person who’d ever really made me feel something. Feel love. Feel like I was living.

  “Fuck, finally,” he said, soft as a whisper.

  He moved quick as a whip, stepping down onto the porch, and between one heartbeat and the next, I was in his arms and those eyes of his gazed profoundly into mine.

  “Thank you for being honest with me,” he said, and his lips were mere inches from my trembling mouth. “All I’ve ever wanted is the real you.”

  A fresh surge of tears blurred my vision and spilled over onto my cheeks. “I’m sorry it took me so long.”

  “Baby.” He leaned his forehead against mine. “I know what we had, what we still have, and I know it’s real.” The warmth of his sweet breath brushed across my face. “It’s going to be real for a long fucking time, Lana.”

  Waves upon waves of relief washed over me, and my heart
soared like a kite inside my chest.

  “It’s real, Cam,” I whispered back. “I’ve never wanted anything so bad in my entire life.”

  Finally—God, it felt like I’d been waiting a lifetime—he leaned down to touch his lips to mine, and the instant our mouths fused, I melted into his kiss.

  It felt like heaven. It felt like home.

  Love and happiness rolled through my body like a tidal wave, and tears continued to stream down my cheeks, the salty liquid mixing and mingling with our lips.

  I didn’t hesitate to kiss him right back. I gripped his shoulders and did everything in my power to show him just how much I’d missed him. Just how much I needed him.

  Because I did.

  I needed him.

  His hands slid into my hair, and I moaned as his fingertips stroked the silky strands.

  He melded his mouth to mine, and our tongues danced in tiny licks and soft caresses. His heart beat in rhythm with mine, and every inch of my skin pulsed with the awareness that he and I were a we.

  It was hands down the best kiss of my entire life.

  I love him. I love him. I love him, my heart chanted in sync with its erratic beats.

  When he leaned back, his loving honey-brown eyes staring down at me, I felt like the only girl in the entire world. His girl.

  “God, I missed you.”

  “Me too, Cam. So much.”

  He lifted me into his arms, and I wrapped my legs around his waist. If I could stick to this man like glue for the rest of my life, you bet your ass, I’d do it.

  He smiled as he brushed a few rogue tears from my cheeks.

  And I smiled right back.

  In that moment, I felt our hearts reach out and intertwine.

  “Now,” he said with that sexy smirk I loved so much. “Before I take you inside and have my wicked way with you, I think we need to do one very important thing first.”

  I raised my brows.

  “We’ve never had the pleasure of being officially introduced before, and I think it’s probably important we do that now,” he explained, and his eyes brightened playfully. “Hi, I’m Cameron Mitchell.”

  I laughed at the absurdity of our introduction—me wrapped around his body like a little monkey, but I loved it all the same.

  “Hi.” I giggled, pushing my body back just enough to offer him an absurd hand. He took it without ridicule. “I’m Lana Simone.”

  “Damn, it sure is nice to finally meet you, Lana Simone.”

  I giggled again when my full name—my real, whole name—left his lips.

  “Even though we’ve just been formally introduced for the first time, and this is probably going to sound crazy…” He paused and touched his nose to mine. “I’m one hundred percent certain I love you.”

  We were complicated and our path had been more than difficult, but at the end of the day, at the root of it all, it was that simple—love. That was what brought us together.

  And it didn’t live in a name.

  “I love you too,” I whispered back.

  He pressed a soft kiss to my lips again, but the kiss didn’t last long, and before I knew it, with me still in his arms, he stepped inside the house, kicked the door shut, and headed up the stairs.

  Just as we reached the threshold of his bedroom, I asked the one and only question that was on my mind.

  “So, besides heading inside your bedroom to have our wicked way with each other, where do we go from here?”

  He smiled. “Anywhere, everywhere. Wherever the hell you want, as long as we go together.”

  “Together,” I repeated, and nothing had ever felt more right.

  Together. With Cam. The one and only place I wanted to be.

  This man, he had my heart. He had my all.

  And he finally had my name.

  Hopefully one day, though, he wouldn’t need it. He’d give me the one he’d known his whole life.

  Mitchell.

  “Donuts?” Leo Landry, my now best friend and the best cornerback in the country, questioned as I molded the last of Lana’s perfect proposal display into the shape of a heart. “Don’t you think that’s a little offensive?”

  It’d been two years since I’d learned the woman of my dreams’ last name and set my life on a course for perfection.

  I had the girl, the career, and after two years of hanging out together, a pain-in-the-ass friend I was sure would be in my life forever.

  And tonight, I was proposing to Lana.

  “What? What in the hell is offensive about donuts?” I asked, lighting the first tiny tea-something candle before moving on to the next one. “Lana loves donuts.”

  “She’s a cop,” Leo clarified. “Cops and donuts are kind of a thing.”

  I rolled my eyes at his ridiculous insinuation and took a break in the decorating to shove him in the shoulder and ruffle his precisely coiffed hair.

  As the always older—obviously wiser—party in our duo, I felt it my duty to impart sagacity in situations like this. Situations that, when occurring in a team setting, always got Leo’s balls busted.

  “Okay, Leo-it-all. Stop being so fucking pushy with information. This is why Sean fucks with you literally every time he’s in your presence.”

  Leo scoffed. “Sean fucks with me because he loves to fuck with people.”

  “No,” I challenged. “He fucks with you because you make yourself a target with shit like that.”

  He grabbed a candle from the little bag on the table and swiped the lighter from my hand to set it aflame.

  “You act like you know everything and dispute everything everyone else says. Cut back on it, and I guarantee he’ll leave you alone from time to time.”

  He rolled his eyes and lit another candle, mocking, “Fine. I’ll shut up. I won’t mention at all how the wind is blowing sand in the glaze of your donuts. I hope Lana likes them gritty.”

  Any thankfulness I’d been feeling for his help in this endeavor rolled out with the tide. And, as I punched him square in the stomach, his breath left too.

  “Bye, Leo.”

  He laughed through his pain and stumbled to keep his feet. “I thought I was invited to the proposal?”

  “Invitation,” I enunciated, “rescinded.”

  Cocky son of a bitch that he was, the news of his change in plans this evening didn’t faze him in the slightest.

  With a wave and a flick, he headed off the beach, toward the back of my Manasquan house, a smile plastered to his face as he palmed his keys.

  Lana’s family, an entire male brigade, emerged from the storage area under the stilts, and I sighed in relief. There was still so much to set up, and I was drowning in the details. Now that Leo was leaving, I was going to need all the help I could get.

  At the notice of our company, Leo, of course, found his voice again, eager to get in a parting shot before making his final exit. What a shit stirrer. “Oh yeah, Cam!” he yelled over his shoulder. The volume and tone of his voice carried easily in the open space, and I hadn’t even a single doubt, straight to Lana’s dad’s ears. “Helpful hint. Sand sticks to other, more delicate things, just like it does to glaze. Something to keep in mind when you’re narrowing down a location for a sexual celebration.”

  That fucking guy. I loved him like a brother, but I was going to kill him.

  Lucky for him, it’d have to wait a day or two.

  “You plannin’ on trying some sex on the beach, son?” Lana’s “Uncle” Buddy asked as he made his way to me, not even bothering to bury the lead.

  Jesus. They’d just arrived, but I was already starting to rethink my decision to invite the other six men in Lana’s life to help set up and witness what should be a momentous occasion for both of us.

  I was also thankful my parents just so happened to be out of town visiting my baby sister Beth at her current graduate university in Paris.

  “Not a good idea,” Tommy interjected as Lana’s cousin Steve playfully covered his ears. Anthony Simone, Lana’s dad, didn’t
bother being so subtle.

  “Jesus Christ, stop talking about my daughter having sex out here. It’ll be all I can picture for the rest of the night.”

  Uncle Joe scoffed. “Don’t be ridiculous, Ant. You know Lan is having sex. She’s been having it for a long time now.”

  I closed my eyes tight to gather myself amid the family circus. Lana was going to be here any minute, and nothing was ready.

  And with the way Joe was eyeing the donuts, it’d be a miracle if I actually pulled off my proposal plan without any casualties.

  “Joe, if you touch even one of those donuts, I’ll strangle you.”

  “All right. All right.” Joe grinned and raised both hands in the air. “I think you’ve got about three more than you actually need, but I won’t touch them.”

  “Yeah,” Buddy chimed in and put his hands to his hips while he stared down at the display of dough and sugary glaze. “There’s definitely about three too many here, Cam.”

  I stepped in front of both of them before they could give in to their pastry temptation. “Don’t. Touch. The. Donuts.”

  “Are we at least gonna be allowed to eat one after you get down on one knee?” Buddy asked and Joe nodded.

  “Yeah, because it’d sure be a waste if that wasn’t the case.”

  For the love of God, why were we still talking about donuts?

  “Guys! Please!” I demanded their attention before they caused me to blow a fucking gasket. “Can we all just focus for a minute? I need help lighting the rest of the candles and laying out the flower petals starting up at the house. And I haven’t even started on dinner. I was supposed to have it in the oven by now.”

  “Just relax now, son,” Anthony comforted, his daughter and sex and sand in unmentionable places and fucking donuts finally forgotten. “We’ll get to work on all this shit, and we’ll have it done in no time. It’s gonna be perfect.”

  I took a deep breath, filling my lungs completely to smother the nerves, and finally, I nodded.

  If we worked together, everything would be ready for Lana’s perfect proposal in no time.

  “Dad? Cam?” a voice I knew like the back of my hand filled my ears from behind the rowdy crowd. I dropped my chin to my chest. “What’s everybody doing here? What’s going on?”