by Virna DePaul
The goateed man crossed his arms, as if that would make him appear more menacing. “I’ll let him know you’re here as soon as he’s done. Listen, ladies, it’s better if you wait, so the doctors can do their concussion protocol without distraction.”
Yes, okay, true. Absolutely.
Zoe nodded and blankly plopped onto a stone bench outside the medical facility, as more and more people gathered round, including a few reporters and cameramen. Ten minutes went by. Then twenty. Then thirty.
This couldn’t be happening. What if he was injured again? What if it was worse this time? Two weeks ago he’d been talking about his fears of something bad happening to ruin his happiness, and she’d brushed him off with platitudes.
“Why did you say what you did to the guard?” Zoe suddenly asked Murph.
“What? That you’d plow him down?” Murph widened her eyes. “Because you’re solid muscle and I’m scared of you.”
“No, the other part. About me being Gabe’s girlfriend.”
“Well, aren’t you?” Murph’s beautiful clear blue eyes, a lot like Gabe’s but with perfectly groomed eyebrows above them, stared at her, a sparkle shining from inside sheer irises. “Sure looked that way to me when we were last hanging out at Pete’s.”
“We haven’t defined what we are.” She fought to keep the tears rising into her eyes at bay. Because it didn’t matter that they’d said no labels. In her heart, she was Gabe’s girlfriend. And she wanted to be even more than that to him someday.
“Then, I’ll tell you.” Murph turned her phone screen off and faced her on the bench, tucking one leg under her knee. “You’re in love with my brother.”
“What? We’ve only known each other three months.”
Murph just stared at her.
“Is it that obvious?” Zoe finally said.
“It is to me, and I’m not unhappy about it. I’ve never seen Gabe the way he’s been. When we arrived in Savannah, he was in a dark unforgiving place. I’m talking bad. He thought the world was out to get him. He thought he’d lost it all and was only hanging on because of how much he loves football, but Gabe thought the world had abandoned him. You’ve changed him, Zoe. It’s like you’ve drained the bitterness out of him one workout at a time, or one fuck at a time, either way.”
Zoe blushed but laughed at the same time. Then she leaned forward and took Murph’s hand. “Two weeks ago, he told me he was happy, Murph.”
Murph’s eyes widened with delight. “See!”
“He was also worried about something happening to change that. And now…what if?”
Murph shook her head. “We’re not thinking about what ifs. Only facts. And we don’t have the facts yet, Zoe. At least not about whether he’s injured badly. So let’s focus on the facts we do have. Gabe’s happy because you helped him get there again and I can’t thank you enough for that.”
With a cry, Zoe reached out and hugged Murph tight.
“I’m thankful too,” she said, when she pulled back. “After all, you hired me to train him.”
“Yeah, well, I have something to confess. I—”
Whatever she was going to say was interrupted when the door opened and a different security guard stepped out, pointing over the waiting crowd to them.
“Miss Murphy? Reynolds? Just you two.” He waved them inside, as the rest of the crowd groaned or asked aloud if Gabe Murphy was okay. The security guard gave no indication.
Zoe and Murph stood, navigated their way through the crowd until they reached the blue gateway then stepped inside the room. The man led them down another hallway, and the whole place was too quiet for Zoe’s taste.
“Is he okay?” Murph asked.
“I’ll let the doctors give the answers,” the security guard said, which only made Zoe’s heart pound inside her deflating chest. That didn’t sound good, and the tone with which he’d said it did not bode well.
They followed the guard into a well-lit light gray room with brick walls, sterile examination tables, and posters of famous Bootleggers all around. Zoe immediately recognized most of them, great men she’d grown up around, including her dad Kip Reynolds right there on the center wall. Seeing his youthful, hopeful face and suntanned cheeks as he cocked back a football made her heart both light up with unconditional love and sink with sadness that he was no longer that man.
They came around a corner where a doctor in Bootlegger colors and a white coat stepped out to stop them. Zoe tried to get a look around him, capturing a glimpse of white knee socks in cleats stretched out on the table, one knee propped up. The one knee propped up gave her hope. Assuming that was Gabe’s leg, it looked like he was resting and nothing worse.
“You’re his sister?” the doctor asked, plunging his hand into Murph’s. “I’m Dr. Uriel. Your brother’s going to be fine. He just got his bell rung, and his shoulder looks great. No further damage. He’ll be able to play in next week’s game.”
“Oh, thank goodness.” Zoe found herself wiping away tears of relief, turning to Murph, and laying her head on the woman’s shoulder. Murph reached a hand up to pat Zoe’s hair in consolation. She was so incredibly grateful to be here with Gabe’s sister to have someone to commiserate with.
“So we can go in there and beat him up then, is what you’re saying?” Murph smiled at the doctor, shaking her head as if lamenting the stupid big brother she had. “That’s a relief to hear, doctor. Thank you so much. Can we see him?”
“Just for a few minutes,” Dr. Uriel said. “He’s getting back his bearings. I’d like him to spend the rest of the night and all of tomorrow resting, if possible.”
Why the doctor looked at Zoe when he said that, she wasn’t sure, but it made her blush even harder. So it was known all over then? Maybe she was his girlfriend, after all. The thought of it made Zoe feel immeasurably proud, and the suspicion was confirmed when all the guys standing around the table split like Moses parting the Red Sea to let them through.
At the center of the hubbub was Gabe.
“Heyyy, look who it is.” He had an ice pack on his head and two knee braces on his legs. He was bare from the waist up, looking a little banged up but otherwise sexy as hell. “Did you guys bring doughnuts? I’m kind of craving doughnuts right now, I don’t know why.” Gabe smiled and held out one hand for both his sister and Zoe to take.
Zoe and Murph smiled at each other.
“Doughnuts? You sure you’re okay there, buddy?” Zoe asked.
“Never better.” His smile was so gorgeous, Zoe almost threw herself on top of him to kiss his sexy mouth right there in front of everybody.
“Yeah, so…my brother’s weird comes out when he’s happy. You should probably know that.” Murph gave Zoe an understanding smile before turning back to Gabe. Was that true? Was Gabe really in the best of moods because of her? Zoe loved the idea that she could make such an impact on him. More than anything, though, she was relieved to see him smiling.
Murph held a hand to his forehead like a mother might do when checking her child for fever. “Dumbass, you’re supposed to run the ball to the end zone, not bury it in the ground.”
“Thanks, Murph. I’ll remember that.” Gabe shook his head and looked at Zoe. The way his steely hot gaze zeroed in on her made her stomach crunch, especially when he said, “Guys, can Zoe and I have a minute?”
Murph patted his shoulder. “I’ll go find some doughnuts.”
The room cleared out, leaving Gabe alone with Zoe. She bit back tears, rolled her eyes to the ceiling as a way of finding strength. “You scared me.”
“Nah, you can’t kill a bad weed, peach.”
“You’re not a bad weed, Gabe. You’re the most amazing man I’ve ever met.” She leaned into him, lacing her arm around his shoulder and pressing her cheek to his sweaty, musty humid hair. “Why did you have to do that? You scared the shit out of us.”
He looked at Zoe with that sexy arched brow. “Were you scared for me?”
“Of course I was!” she said, pressing back t
he tears. “I thought you were…”
“Dead?” He cocked his head.
“No.”
“Incapacitated?”
“Maybe.”
He gave her side eye. “I’m a big boy. I can handle anything.”
Good God, this man and his belief that he was invincible. “Gabe…” She wanted to tell him how even legends eventually fell, how the greatest, most powerful, athletic, and invincible of men could fail, leaving the ones who love them dealing with pain and sadness and desperation. She wanted to tell him about her father—his idol.
“What’s wrong, peach?”
Now wasn’t the time for a full confession, not after what they’d just been through. But soon. She was going to tell Gabe everything soon. “I remember watching my dad play and how scary it was whenever he’d go down. I actually thought for a second there that you weren’t getting up. Why didn’t you just go down, Gabe? It’s better to take a tackle than fight one.”
“I don’t go down without a fight, you know this.”
“But you could’ve gotten hurt worse. I thought you’d worked through this need of yours for revenge? You hadn’t pulled a stunt like that until tonight when you just happened to play your old team. Gabe, you have to get over this.”
He listened but a shadow had fallen over his gaze. “I am over it.”
“Are you?”
“Maybe not completely, but you don’t know how far I’ve come,” he said. She remembered his sister’s words about how he’d been the happiest she’d seen him in a long time. “I didn’t fight the takedown for them, peach. It wasn’t revenge. That’s the weird part. I did it for my team. The Bootleggers deserve my 200% after how they’ve taken me in.”
She listened, her heart lightening up a bit.
“I did it for Alec’s kids in the audience. Did you see Daniel and Elliot, with their faces painted blue? I did it for Dough who only has this one season left to make it to the Super Bowl, and then his career is over. I have to push, peach. That’s the only way to make it in this world. Never give up.”
Zoe knew, looking into his eyes, that she was staring at another legend, a future Hall of Famer just like her father. Gabe Murphy didn’t get where he was by letting people take him down. He was a fighter.
“I tried not to get attached to these people. I’ve lost a lot, Zoe, and trust me, it’s hard to let new people in. But here I am, attached as fuck, happier than I’ve ever been.” He reached out and dragged her in for a kiss. Even sweaty and smelly with grass stains all over his body, the man was delicious.
“I feel that, Gabe. I was just worried, that’s all.” She kissed his cheek, his chin, his other cheek, those amazingly full lips, and that rough jawline.
“What else do you feel?” he grunted, eyes flaring, pulling her hand and sliding it down over his crotch. Even with all the protective gear, Zoe could feel what awaited her there.
“You’re bad…”
“No, I’m happy. Still,” he replied. “And you were right. I’ve got to focus on that. So let’s go home, peach. And let’s get naked. I’ll meet you there.”
Chapter 19
Gabe pulled into the driveway and cut off the rumbling Porsche engine. For a while, he sat in the darkness, staring up at the still house with a few soft-glow lights on. His eyes fell on Zoe’s car and he smiled knowing she was somewhere inside the house waiting for him.
He wanted to come home to her tomorrow. And next week. And next year. Hell, he wanted to come home to Zoe for the rest of his life. It was crazy, yes, given how short a time they’d known each other, but it was also true. Plus, the time they’d spent together had been intense. They’d seen each other practically every day. He didn’t need more time to know that Zoe was the one for him. She was everything he needed in a woman—beautiful, intelligent, sexy as fuck, sweet, and the cherry on top? She was the best damn trainer he’d ever had. Zoe would keep him on the straight and narrow all his life, in the gym and out of it.
Which was why he’d done something a little crazy.
He opened the glove compartment and pulled out the little box containing the ring he’d purchased the day after he and Zoe had had their talk about happiness.
She was his happiness, and he wanted the entire world to know it.
He opened the box and stared at the ring, little slivers of bright light twinkling in the dark. He was going to propose. Yes, there was the possibility she’d say no simply because they’d only known each other three months, but that was okay. He’d give her more time without pressure if she needed it.
He never expected to find love here in Savannah, but that was part of the human experience—seeing what you pulled out of the prize box. And because he’d learned a long time ago to make life count while you were still around, he knew this was the right choice for him.
Opening the car door, he slipped the box into his pants’ pocket, pulled his equipment bag from the back seat, and closed the door, locking it with a beep of the alarm. He headed into the emptiness of the foyer.
“Honey, I’m home,” he called with a short laugh. His ribs hurt from getting crushed. The docs told him to take it easy and relax, but he couldn’t not appreciate his woman at least once tonight. Besides, being with her was relaxing.
“Up here.” Her voice sang from the direction of their bedroom.
He tossed his bag by the door and followed the sound of her voice. Along the walls, the sconce candles were lit, dancing and flickering, creating cool shapes and shadows along the wall. Though he felt like he’d gotten run over by a semi—well, he practically had—he still anticipated whatever Zoe had in store.
When he saw the silhouette of perfection standing in their bedroom like a marble statue in some Parisian museum, he paused to admire it like he would any ancient work of art. A flicker of happiness warmed his chest—she’s mine.
“Welcome home, Gabe.” She held something in her hands he couldn’t see from the shadowy darkness across her form. All around the floor were small jar candles lighting up the room.
Slowly, he made his way toward her, wincing a couple of times with pain, knowing his aches would be erased the moment he reached her arms. On his second to last step, she shifted slightly and that was when he noticed, not only was she completely naked like he’d asked, but she had a little box for him, too. She flipped open the top of the white bakery box, displaying a perfect assortment of gourmet doughnuts—a chocolate striped one, a cookie crumble one, a red velvet one, and a few others he couldn’t tell what they were and didn’t really care, because she was a naked woman holding doughnuts.
“You must really like me,” he said.
She bit her smile in the candlelight’s glow. “You have no idea.” Her eyebrow flared. Walking backwards toward the bed, she pretend to lure him with the doughnuts while wearing the cutest, mischievous smile ever and nothing else.
“Hmm, you’re right to tempt me with food, because Lord knows I’d never follow you to bed without them,” he joked, catching up to her. She suddenly turned and ran to the other side of the bed with a squeal, holding out the doughnuts tauntingly even as she tried to escape his grasp.
But he was a player for the NFL, paid the big bucks to catch a slippery oval ball. If he could catch a football, he could catch Zoe. He plucked her out of the corner and pulled her close, right as she shoved a powdered sugary doughnut into his mouth.
“Did you guys bring doughnuts?” she said in a poor impression of his deep voice. She laughed so hard, she snorted.
God, he loved this woman. This was the reason why there was a ring in his pocket at this very moment. He chewed and swallowed the deliciousness in his mouth before answering, “That does not sound like me at all, I’m sorry to tell you. Come here.” He went in for a kiss but grabbed another piece of the same doughnut out of the box she was still holding and shoved it into her wide-open mouth. At the shocked look on her face, he shouted with laughter.
“Oops, speechless now, hmm? Know what else would muffle you up?�
�� He took the box and laid it on top of his chest of drawers, drawing Zoe in to kiss her cheek and neck before laying a big kiss on her mouth, even as she tried to finish chewing. He’d gotten hard before he ever saw her but now his cock strained painfully against his jeans.
He plopped her on the edge of the bed and started undressing as she sat there giggling. There would be a time when they would still do this in the future, he hoped, only it would be thirty years from now and they’d be older and grayer.
“You’re so fucking sexy, peach. You know that, right?”
“You tell me every day.” She smiled and moved her legs apart, giving him a view of the real sweet treats in this room.
Gabe had never seen a more beautiful body than Zoe’s—muscular without being manly, round perky breasts, those nipples—my God—he just wanted to dive in and suck on them first before anything. But that sweet pussy glistened in the candlelight and he couldn’t decide what was sweeter. The vanilla doughnut or the red velvet? One part of her body was as sweet as the next.
He stepped out of his jeans and boxers and peeled off his shirt.
“Bring that yumminess over here.” She eyed him, salivating over his cock. “And I’m not talking about the doughnuts.” Running her little pink tongue over her lips, she gave him a devilish look with that baby angel face. With her fingers, she spread apart her pussy, because she knew how much he loved when she did that. “I want you right here.”
He stepped over to her and leaned down to kiss her, but she pushed him slightly back. “Nah-ah. Put yourself here.” She tapped her pussy lips. So that was how she wanted to play—no foreplay, no kissing, or nothing. She eyed his cock, which he held in his palm like an offering.
Standing in front of her, holding open her perfectly shaped legs, he pushed his throbbing cock against her velvety smooth opening and reveled in her slick warmth engulfing him. She still had powdered sugar on her lips and along her cheek, which only reminded him of the times he’d come all over her pretty doll face. Quiet introspection came over him again, because it hadn’t been a perfect day but this was a perfect night.
