The Storybook Groom

by Sarah Gay

  He hadn’t meant his comment to be provocative, but, by the rising color in Ginny’s cheeks, she was either upset or intrigued by the idea.

  She took a sip of the orange juice Jean had brought out to them and pointed to the glass. “Fresh squeezed?”

  “I buy bushels of oranges from a farmer in southern Texas.” He took a few gulps before continuing. “Jean makes me fresh juice whenever he’s here.”

  “Do you ever cook?”

  “Is that another trick question?” He motioned to Jean, who approached with two plates loaded with Eggs Benedict, asparagus, and baby red potatoes sautéed in olive oil and rosemary. “Would you, if you had Jean around?” Jean made Torin’s favorite hearty breakfast at least once a week.

  She pointed her fork at Torin and laughed. “No. I wouldn’t. Ever.” She took a hefty bite and moaned. “Ever. Cook again.”

  It made him happy to see her eating with such gusto. When he caught her eye, he winked. “Then don’t. Ever cook again.”

  She threw her head back and laughed. “Are you inviting me to come stay here with you, so I can be pampered by Jean?”

  “Since Jean works for me, it would be more like me pampering you.”

  Ginny’s fork stopped in the air midway from her mouth to her plate and her eyes widened. “Huh?”

  He took her fork out of her hand, wove his fingers through hers, and smiled. “Someday, I could see you here with me, relaxing by the pool, laughing, holding hands.” He leaned across the table. “Kissing.”

  Ginny held his gaze. And, by the soft look in her eyes, she wanted to kiss him almost as much as he wanted to kiss her. She pulled back just before their lips met. “About that story. The one about you feeling like a piece of meat?” She blinked her eyes as if trying to refocus. “Because if I kiss you now.” She fanned her face. “I’m not going to lie, it would have a lot to do with physical attraction.”

  He wanted to do a fist bump in the air and shout Amen! to the heavens, but he didn’t want to appear shallow. “What’s wrong with physical attraction? I’m happy to be your personal piece of meat any day of the week.” He slapped his thigh and laughed. “I ain’t never heard a guy say ‘Dag gummit, she used me.’”

  She shook her head. “And I don’t think I’ve heard anyone say ‘dag gummit’ before.”

  “Tell you what.” He pointed to her. “Promise me this. If I tell you my piece-a-meat story, then you’ll kiss me the next time you feel the slightest attraction to me.”

  She crossed her arms, but those gorgeous green eyes twinkled as they smiled up at him. “Not sure that’s a fair trade, but you’re on.”

  He finished off his last bite and pushed his plate out of the way, resting his elbows into the table. “Have you ever heard of the NFL Scouting Combine?”

  “Hm. I think so. I think I saw something on cable once where a bunch of collegiate football players worked out and were ranked or something.”

  “That’s a part of it. I was invited my junior year in college to Indianapolis to be one of three hundred guys to participate in physical and mental evaluations with the chance of being recruited.”

  “How many collegiate football players make it into the NFL?”

  He whistled. “Last time I checked, only two percent ever make it to the pros.”

  “Wow. Those are slim chances.” She batted her eyelashes repeatedly. “Same percentage of the world’s population with green eyes.”

  “But out of that two percent, you have prettiest green eyes I’ve ever seen.”

  She scooted her chair closer to him, but no kiss.

  He continued, “And if these teams are going to invest several millions into each player…” He tapped his fingers on the table. “They want to know what they’re buying.”

  “Buying?” she said with disgust. “You feel like they bought you?”

  “They did buy me.” He practically laughed out the words. “They bought my body.”

  She reached across the table and gave him a quick peck on his lips, sending his brain into overdrive. “Go on,” she said, relaxing back into her seat like nothing had just transpired between them.

  He cleared his throat before continuing. “I was stoked to have been picked, and seriously nervous. When I first arrived at the combine, I was taken to an open room with several other prospective players and immediately told to strip down.”

  “Completely?”

  “Like the good Lord sent me to this earth.”

  She reached across the table again and kissed his forehead.

  He’d take whatever she’d give. “They dressed us in this little loin cloth. I’m not going to lie.” He scratched at the two-day stubble on his chin. “I felt strong…in a Native American, tribal sort of way.”

  She stood, swinging her arms as she walked around the table to him. “I need to watch what I promise next time.” She slowly bent down and softly pressed her lips to his.

  Torin could taste the sugary citrus from the orange juice still lingering on her lips. He imagined her kiss exemplified her, delicate and sweet. He had to refrain himself from pulling her in at her waist and kissing her deeper. This was on her terms, not his. When she pulled away, it took him a minute to regain his senses.

  She brought her chair around the table and repositioned it kiddy corner and across from his. He had a sudden urge to touch the satiny emerald dress that flowed over her curves in the most intoxicating way. He imagined it felt like silk. When she sat in her seat in a way that their legs grazed each other, he placed his hands under his thighs to restrain them.

  He blew out a breath. “I’ve got more.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “The first day was all physicals, x-rays, blood work, and medical exams by the team doctors in front of the several executive team recruiters, owners, who knows who they were exactly. Let’s just call them, the buyers.” He waited for a minute, then waved his hands in a come on, bring on the kisses motion, but she didn’t budge.

  “Nope.” She shook her head. “That just makes me sad. Go on.”

  He’d have to step up his game. “Imagine, sitting on an examining table of sorts with a bright light above your head and in the distance a long table with men and women, the buyers, asking you all sorts of questions about past broken bones, diet, and I can’t remember half the stuff they asked. They would even approach my table and prod at my arm or lift my leg.” He looked over at her with hope.

  She listened intently but didn’t move.

  “That was the first team. From there, I moved to the next room, and the next, and the next, until I had met with each and every NFL team.

  “How many NFL teams are there?”

  “Thirty-two.” He shook his head. “That was a long day.”

  She rubbed her face. “I can’t even imagine.”

  “That was just the beginning. The next few days were intense physical and mental evaluations, a few of which are likely what you saw on the NFL channel; like the forty-yard dash, two hundred and twenty-five bench press repetitions, the broad jump, and the vertical jump, just to name a few.”

  “So…how many bench presses did you do?”

  Her eyes told him he had a good chance of getting another kiss if he made the right play.

  “Thirty-eight.” He paused as her face darkened to a passionate pink. “I was only three reps away from attaining the record that year.”

  * * *

  Ginny’s head spun with the image of Torin all greased up and tanned as he pressed the weighted bar up. Okay, so that was more like an international weight lifting contest, but she could dream. As her knee brushed against his, her muscles loosened and relaxed.

  She had made him a promise, and she had every intention of keeping her word. She slipped off her chair and onto his lap. Their breath mingled for a few seconds before she surrendered to his soft lips. He responded to her kiss like a Steamboat Springs’ breeze, both warm and cold, clement and temperate.

  Ginny’s hand moved from his chest, up the side of his neck, and to the back of h
is head. She played with his loose curls that ended at the nape of his neck. She then stretched out her fingers, placed her hand on the back of his neck and held his head in place as her lips echoed her rapture, growing more intense by the second. As their lips danced, the spirit inside her knew Torin’s soul complimented hers in a most glorious way. Maybe they did have a chance. She couldn’t deny her intense physical, and now almost spiritual draw to him.

  She noticed that he hadn’t wrapped his arms around her. She released his lips and looked down. “Why are you sitting on your hands?”

  “You’re in the driver’s seat,” he said as if sitting on his hands was completely normal.

  She lifted her eyebrows. “What?”

  “I’m enjoying how you take control.” He blew out a breath. “And honestly, sometimes my hands have a mind of their own, and this is the only way I can control them.”

  “Thank you. But it might be nice to feel the strength of your hands on my back.”

  Torin’s face turned a shade of scarlet as he blinked his eyes. “You see. I really like you. Like I really, really like you. And, although I believe attraction is a gift from God, I also hold firm that love and commitment are a necessary ingredient to fully acting out that attraction.”

  “You are one peculiar man.” She tapped his chest. “You know that?”

  His brow knit together. “Is that a good thing?”

  She placed her hands on his checks and held his face as she stared into his tranquil eyes. “You are the most amazing person I’ve ever met.”

  “Okay.” He placed his hands on the small of her back. “Maybe this once.”

  Torin pulled Ginny up and into him. Suddenly, it wasn’t just her kissing him. His lips warmed her neck before they found her mouth again. His touch no longer calmed her; it caused sparks to blaze through her chest and heat her blood.

  Lost in his spellbinding kisses, Ginny had no idea how much time had passed since they’d begun kissing.

  He cupped her cheek in his palm. “I need to slow down, or I’ll never make it to the sportsman’s expo.”

  She jumped up from his lap and sucked in a quick breath. “Scarlett! I told her I would help her set up.”

  “When do you need to be there?”

  “12:30.”

  He wrestled his phone out of his pocket. “No worries.” He rubbed her arm. “It’s only 10:00.”

  She relaxed into his touch. “I’d better get home and get ready.”

  “I’ll see you out.” He held up a finger. “Just give me one minute to cool off after that intense hour-long workout.”

  An hour? Yikes! They had kissed the entire morning away.

  Torin rested his phone on the table, stripped off his shirt as he ran toward the pool, and did a front flip into the water when he reached the edge. Something stirred inside Ginny; something beautiful, thrilling, and downright nerve wracking. She flicked off her heels and followed Torin into the pool with a splash.

  “Yeah!” he yelled, throwing a fist in the air.

  She did the doggy paddle to him. She couldn’t perform any other swim stroke with how her dress clung to her body.

  He grabbed her by the waist and laid a kiss on her she was sure could have boiled the water with how her temperature rose.

  He pulled back. “You jumping in here with me, all wet and stunning, kind of defeats the purpose of me getting in.”

  She replied to his look of accusation with a seductive smile. “You can run and hide but I will always find you,” she teased.

  “Ditto.”

  “Promise?” she questioned with eagerness, resting her head into his neck and enjoying how his wet skin suctioned to her cheek.

  “Always. And I’ll seal it with a kiss.”

  She tilted her chin up to accept his kiss. Her heart warmed when her eyes settled into his sincere gaze. His lips met hers, and she knew he was for real. This was real. Torin meant what he said, and if she could finally take down her protective barrier, she might have a chance at her own personal storybook ending.

  7

  Torin entered the Dallas Expo Center at the VIP entrance in the back. Being famous did have its perks and walking down the windowless, artificially bright tunnel without anyone pulling at his sleeve or trying to seduce him was definitely a perk. But he knew the special treatment wouldn’t last forever. The average career span for an NFL player was a grand three years.

  He was already pushing six, but he had had two Super Bowl appearances, which extended that average out by a few years. Point being, his career couldn’t last forever. And with the end of his career came the end of stardom and those perks would drizzle away. He’d seen it time and time again after his buddies got dropped.

  “Torin Godfrey?” a tall brunette with thick black bangs and round glasses asked as she approached him.

  He nodded.

  “Please come with me. I was asked to escort you to the door nearest your booth.” She pointed to the enormous metal doors that, if the circus hadn’t retired, two elephants could fit through.

  He scratched his chin as she waved her fob key in front of the security pad and the colossal doors opened inward. “I know I’m big, but I’m guessing you were expecting someone much bigger.”

  “The crowd is going to love you,” she said in a monotone voice. “We please just ask that you refrain from any garish behavior that would draw attention away from our sponsors.”

  If he had to guess, he’d say that was meant as a disparagement not a compliment, but it didn’t matter; he’d be with Ginny soon.

  His fellow MIT classmate hadn’t exaggerated when he said it would be the sportsman’s expo of the century. The two hundred thousand square foot column free exhibit hall was lined with hundreds of booths and several thousand people bumping shoulders to get through to the end of the maze. And where did the maze end? These organizers knew what they were doing when they put the Titans, the big draw to the expo, at the end of the road.

  The doors to the expo had opened ten minutes ago, but you’d never know it by looking at the Titan’s sport’s drink table, where a few of the Titan cheerleaders were handing out drinks. They already had several fans lined up for autographs from the players.

  Torin scratched the back of his neck, dreading the next four or five hours. He had hoped to steal a few moments away with Ginny, but that didn’t seem possible.

  “Hey man!” Demitri, one of his fellow Titan teammates, approached with his fist extended out to Torin.

  Torin gave him a fist bump. “What’s up, man?”

  “How’d I let you rope me into this?” Demitri motioned to the room. “Look at this insanity.”

  “What are you talking about?” Torin wasn’t going to take his crap. “You begged me to put you on the ticket when I told you you wouldn’t be required to go to Toronto in December if you did this gig.”

  Demitri shrugged. “Oh yeah.” He laughed. “Hey, you gotta check out this hottie who’s setting up next to us.”

  Torin pushed his buddy to the side when he caught Ginny’s warm vanilla scent. She stood with her back to him. Her ginger hair cascaded halfway down her back in more defined curls than earlier. He couldn’t breathe for what seemed like a full minute when she tossed her hair, exposing her creamy back. She wore one of those cut-out, almost backless shirts that so many hip college kids wore to show off their sporty under clothes.

  He approached her clandestine like, spun her around by her waist, placed his “strong hands” on her back, and pulled her into him. He kissed her softly, like she had kissed him that first time. She kissed him back, but it didn’t hold the same emotion. The kiss felt empty somehow.

  “Torin?” Ginny’s voice came from his right side.

  He turned his head to the voice. Ginny stood with her hands on her hips and rapidly tapped her foot. The fear he experienced at that moment rivaled anything he’d ever felt on the football field, including those few times he knew he’d get knocked to the ground so hard he’d see stars and break some
thing important.

  He slowly glanced down at the girl he had just kissed. She smiled up at him with those same intoxicating green eyes. She appeared identical to Ginny, yet, when he looked closer, there was something about her nose and chin that weren’t an exact match.

  “I am so, so sorry.” He took a few steps back and faced Ginny. “You didn’t tell me you were a twin.”

  “That’s because I’m not a twin.” Ginny’s foot continued to tap, and she didn’t look happy. “Scarlett is three years younger than me.”

  Scarlett held her hand out to Torin and winked. “Nice to meet you, Torin.”

  “You finished, Scarlett?” Ginny said in a more amicable tone.

  Scarlett gave her sister a nod. “I think you could say we’re even now.”

  Ginny’s composure softened as she shook her head and laughed. “I guess you could say that.”

  Torin looked from sister to sister, still not sure if he was off the hook.

  “It’s okay.” Ginny took hold of Torin’s hand. “You’re lucky that I sort of let her college boyfriend kiss me after she broke his heart.”

  “What she isn’t telling you,” Scarlett piped in as she continued arranging her back supports on the display table, “is that she let him believe he was kissing me.”

  Ginny shrugged. “The guy was depressed.”

  “I’m depressed,” Torin chimed in. “Really, really depressed.” He puckered his lips.

  Ginny laughed, then clicked her tongue. “I think we may have already given these people, and possibly the world, a pretty good show.”

  She was right. Chances were at least one person had recorded that kiss and it was now spreading like wildfire through the internet. Good thing he wanted Ginny in his life long-term. He didn’t mind speaking to the press about her, but how would she respond to the media?

  Torin glanced around the room. “At least the monotone, round glasses lady didn’t see that garish spectacle.”

  “Monotone lady?” Ginny questioned with more surprise in her voice than normal.