by Ryan, Kaylee
“Ready?”
“Yes.”
He stands from the bed, offers me his hand, and links our fingers together. Hand in hand, we head out to the garage. He offers to stop for breakfast, but I’m cutting it close on time, so I decline.
“I should be home around five or a little after.”
He leans over the console and kisses me sweetly. “Have a good day, baby.”
Butterflies swarm my belly. “You too.” I wave awkwardly and climb out of his SUV. He doesn’t move until I’m in the house. Not able to resist, I peek out the blinds and watch him drive away. I pinch my leg and jump from the pain. I had to make sure I wasn’t dreaming that this is real, that this is really my life. With a smile on my face, I rush to the shower and get ready for work.
* * *
I’ve just released the dogs so they can run as my stomach grumbles. Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I see it’s just after ten. I should have taken the time to at least grab a granola bar this morning. Oh, well, I’ll just have to deal until I can run out for lunch. I rushed out of the house this morning without packing anything. Being hungry is worth not running late. I usually hate to have to rush, and it puts my entire day off-kilter, but somehow, today that’s not the case. Well, unless you count my stomach’s angry growl. I guess waking up with Landon makes all the difference.
Heading back inside, I find Aubrey in our shared office. “Hey, what are you looking at so hard?” I ask, watching her stare at her laptop.
“Just going over the details for the adoption fair this weekend.”
“What can I do? We’re all set, right?”
“Yes. We have plenty of volunteers, but I’m just worried about the attendance. Our fairs here at the shelter don’t do nearly as well as the ones when we hold them at the mall or other shopping centers. We’re at capacity and I’m hoping we can find some of our animals forever homes.”
“Okay. So what do we do? We’ve got social media ads going. We’ve passed out over five hundred flyers. We have posters hanging all around town. What are we missing?” Before she can answer, the chime sounds, letting us know we have a visitor. There are no volunteers on the schedule until this afternoon. Standing from my desk, I start for the door, but before I can make it to the threshold, Landon is there.
“Hey.” He leans in for a quick kiss. “I assumed you didn’t take the time to eat. I know how much you hate to run late, so I stopped at the Seaside Café and bought you your favorite.” He holds up the bag from the café as his proof.
“Best bo— guy ever,” I stumble over my words.
He leans in close, placing his lips next to my ear. “Boyfriend, Em. You had it right the first time.” His lips press against mine, and that’s all it takes for me to get lost in him.
“This is new.” Aubrey chuckles, pulling us out of our trance.
Landon smiles down at me, hands me the bag from the café, and turns his attention to Aubrey. “Landon Barker, boyfriend to Emma Deaton.” He smirks, holding his hand out for Aubrey to shake.
“Stop.” I pull on his arm, bringing it back to his side. He takes that as an opportunity to lace his fingers with mine.
“Looks like I missed a lot last night from Harvey’s until now.”
“You could say that,” I confess.
“What I want to know is why am I just now hearing about it?” Her smile is wide as her eyes give me a knowing look.
“I was running late, and came in and got straight to work. I was going to tell you, but you looked like someone just kicked your puppy and we started talking about the adoption event on Saturday and well, this guy decided to show up and started throwing around titles.” I bump my shoulder into Landon’s.
“Hey, I earned that title. I’m all about throwing it around.”
Aubrey sighs. “Sorry, I’m just worried about this event.”
“What event?” Landon asks.
“We schedule several adoption events each year. Keeps the public informed and reminds them we’re here. We’re at capacity for the animals, and Aubrey’s concerned we’re not going to have a good turnout. Usually we go to a shopping mall or a pet store, something like that, and transport a few of the dogs and cats, but since we have Buckwheat and we’re so full, we thought we would schedule the event here. We won’t have the same traffic as the shopping centers.”
“When is the event?”
“Saturday.”
He nods. “What time?”
“One o’clock.”
“I was hoping you might say that.” We stand by and watch as he pulls his phone out of his back pocket and his fingers fly across the screen. “There.” He looks proud of himself as he turns his phone to show me the screen.
@LandonBarkerOfficial come help me support the South Bay Animal Shelter this
Saturday at 1 PM. #AdoptAPet #Trojans
“I have twenty-four million followers.” He winks. I read the Tweet for a third time, processing what this could mean for the shelter.
“Landon, that’s amazing. Wait, don’t you have practice on Saturday?”
“We do, but just in the morning. We’re reviewing game film. I’ll be out of there by noon. I’ll get Case and a few of the guys to come too. They can Tweet it out to their followers as well.”
“The Cocky Bastard can too. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that,” Aubrey says. “Thank you, Landon.”
“I usually have PR send over pictures and things to sign, but I’m not going to do that this time. I want to get the public here, and I can sign anything they bring with them, but I want to make this day about the shelter.”
“Thank you.” I rise on my tiptoes and kiss him.
“If that’s what I get for doing something nice, I need to step up my game.” He grins, and I can’t help but playfully roll my eyes.
“You two are so cute together. I love this.” Aubrey waves her hands at us.
“Yeah, I love it too,” Landon says softly, his eyes holding mine. “You need any help around here today?” He tucks a loose strand of hair behind my ear.
“No, we have a roster of volunteers this afternoon. Thank you for what you did.”
“Anything for you.” He leans down for another kiss and I have to force myself to not take it too far, knowing that Aubrey is in the room with us. “I’ll see you tonight?” he asks when we finally pull apart.
“Yes.”
“Pack a bag. I’ll pick you up and we’ll go back to my place.”
“Okay.” A slow grin crosses his face. I don’t know if he thought I was going to fight him on it or what, but I’m not. I’m putting myself out there, my heart too, and letting the chips fall where they may. “Thank you for breakfast.”
“You’re welcome,” he says, giving me another chaste kiss. “Aubrey, it was good to see you.” He releases his hold on me and steps back. “Later, freckles.”
“Damn.” Aubrey pretends to fan herself with her hands. “That was hot.”
“Yeah he is,” I agree, making her laugh.
“So, you took my advice I see.”
“I did and we talked last night. We’re dating exclusively. I stayed at his place last night.”
“Give me all the juicy details.”
“Nothing much to tell really. We made out like teenagers, and then fell asleep.”
“Huh.”
“What? Huh? What’s that for?”
“Seems I was right. He’s not the playboy you think he is.”
“Maybe. He says you can’t believe everything you read, and I trust him. He’s given me no reason not to. He’s picking me up at my place after work and he just told me to pack a bag, so I guess I’m staying over again. Not that I mind. His bed is like sleeping on fluffy clouds. It’s insane.”
“The man in it isn’t so bad either, right?” She wags her eyebrows.
“Not bad at all.” I laugh as her phone rings.
“Cocky,” she greets her husband.
I tune her out, not wanting to listen to their conversation,
and dig into the bag from the café. Sure enough, he got me my cinnamon coffee cake muffin, and Aubrey the banana nut. “He’s observant, I’ll give him that,” I murmur to myself.
“That was Chance. I told him about Landon and he’s going to send out a Tweet as well. Hopefully there are a lot of locals who follow him.”
“That’s great. Sounds like this event is going to turn around after all.” As soon as the words are out of my mouth, the phone rings. Aubrey answers and I take the chance to bite into my muffin.
“That was someone who saw Landon’s tweet. They wanted to know what time the event started. Holy shit, Emma. Maybe we’re not ready for this type of exposure.”
“Meh,” I say, waving her off. “That’s good press for the shelter. Hell, maybe we’ll even get some new volunteers because of it too.”
“Wouldn’t that be nice? Just think of all the things that we could finally do. That ever-growing to-do list we could mark off if we had more help.”
The phone rings again, and I answer this time. More of the same… what time does the event start and what time will Landon Barker be here. Aubrey and I scarf down bites of muffin between fielding calls. By the time the volunteers arrive for the day, we’ve managed to do nothing but answer the phone. Maybe Aubrey’s right—we might not be ready for a crowd of this magnitude.
“You know, maybe we should have a sheriff here. You know, crowd control and all that. I know it takes out of the budget, but with the way the phone’s been ringing, it’s probably a safe bet that having someone here would be beneficial.”
“I agree. I’ll call the sheriff’s department now and see if they have anyone willing to pick up a shift.”
I quickly give a rundown of what needs to be done to the volunteers and field more calls while Aubrey arranges security. In a matter of minutes, Landon has turned this into an “I don’t know how it’s going to turn out” to “this is bigger than we ever could have imagined.”
* * *
By the time I pull into my driveway at ten minutes after five, I’m exhausted. It’s been a long day of fielding calls. While it’s not the physical work I’m used to, mentally I’m drained. In a good way. I never could have dreamed that one simple Tweet from Landon could bring this kind of publicity to the shelter.
Before I even get my car in Park, Landon is pulling in behind me. His long legs carry him to my door and he’s pulling it open before I can even get the chance. “Hey, freckles.”
“Hi.” I smile up at him. He offers me his hand and helps me from the car. “Sorry, I still need to pack, and I could use a shower.”
“You can shower at my place. Rough day?”
“Mentally, yes. Your Tweet created a stir. The phone has rung off the hook all day long. I can’t thank you enough.”
“Don’t mention it. I got Case and a few of the other guys on board as well. Trent is going to bring his wife, Luna.”
“Seriously? You’re amazing.”
“Amazing enough for a kiss? It’s been way too long.” He leans in and presses a soft kiss to the corner of my mouth. “I missed you today.”
“It’s been like six hours since you saw me last.” I’m going for nonchalant like I didn’t miss him too.
He nods and the expression on his face is serious. “That’s too long, Em.”
“Get used to it, pal. What do you think is going to happen next week when you have an away game?”
“You know my schedule?” He grins.
“Is that creepy?”
He chuckles. “Not creepy at all. Come on. Let’s get you packed and we’ll pick up some food on the way home. I was going to make dinner, but I do believe my time is better spent holding you.” He wraps an arm around my shoulders and guides me into the house.
As I’m tossing items in an overnight bag, I wonder if this is all too soon. Am I rushing this? It feels right, though, and that’s what matters. I can only imagine what Aubrey would be telling me right now. She and Chance fell in love in a week. Not that I love Landon, but I do really like him. We’re both adults and as long as we’re both on the same page with where this is going, I’m not going to let my fear get in the way.
“You ready?” Landon asks when I enter the living room.
“Yes. I think I have what I need.”
“You know, I’ve never asked you, why don’t you have any animals?”
“The landlord doesn’t allow it. Doesn’t mean I haven’t brought a few home from time to time.” I shrug. “One day I’ll buy my own place so I can have a pet.”
“Dog or cat?”
“Dogs.”
He nods. “Yeah, man’s best friend. I had a golden retriever as a kid. His name was Ace. If I wasn’t at football practice, I was out in the backyard with him. He died my senior year of high school. I swear he was a member of the family. Hit me and my parents hard.”
“Landon Barker, you’re nothing but a big ole softy.”
“Shh,” he says dramatically. “Don’t let that get out. It will ruin my street cred.”
I throw my head back in laughter. “Sorry to break it to you, Number Eighteen, you don’t have any street cred. Your skill and your number get you respect.”
“As long as it gets me yours.” He stands from his spot on the couch, and reaches for my bag. “What sounds good to eat?”
“Honestly, a burger from Harvey’s.”
“That’s my girl,” he says, guiding me outside with his hand on the small of my back. He stops and makes sure the door is locked. “I was thinking I could drop you off at work in the morning on my way to the field, and then pick you up. That way we’re not taking two cars.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“It’s selfish, really. It gives me more time with you.”
“Well, when you put it like that.” I smile and he returns it. His is just as wide as he leads me to the passenger side of his SUV.
“You want me to call it in?” he asks, reaching for his phone.
“Nah, we can go in and eat.”
He reaches across the console and links his fingers with mine, and we’re on our way to dinner. Just like that. He’s so seamlessly slipped his way into my life, and I realize I wasn’t really living before Landon.
Chapter 16
Landon
“Hey, Harv.” I wave to him at his spot behind the counter. With Emma’s fingers laced with mine, I lead her to a table in the back corner. It’s hard to tell when any of my teammates will show up, and I want her all to myself. They’ve yet to meet her officially as mine, and part of me wants to shout it so the entire world can hear and part of me wants to keep her for myself. There has only been one incident where the press got a photo of us, but you can’t see her face. I want the world to know, but at the same time, I don’t want that intrusion into our life. They print complete shit and I have no doubt there will be something printed that will threaten what we have. It’s not a risk I want to take.
Not with her.
So, for now I’m going to keep her all to myself. Well, until this weekend that is. My Tweet is getting national attention. They’re going to want to know my connection to the shelter, and I’ll tell them. That gives me this week for us time before the world thinks they have a right to invade our privacy and meddle in our lives. I hate it, but I love football. It’s the price I pay to play a sport I love for a living.
“Emma, nice to see you again,” Harvey greets her. “This guy treating you right?”
She smiles and nods. What she doesn’t know is that he’d ream my ass if there was any other answer than yes. “Perfect gentleman,” she replies with a kind smile.
“Now I know you’re pulling my leg. This guy?” He points at me.
“Right?” she agrees with him. “I was surprised myself.”
I should give them a hard time, but the smile on her face makes any amount of ribbing worth it.
“All right, here’s a menu. What can I get you to drink?”
“Root beer for me, please,” Emma says.
“Just water for me, Harv, thanks.”
“I want to try something different. Any suggestions?” Em asks, her eyes scanning the menu.
“It’s all good. I’ve never had anything that came from Harvey’s kitchen that wasn’t.”
“Really? Okay.” She scans the menu again. “I think I’m going with chicken tenders and onion rings.”
“Excellent choice,” Harvey says, placing our drinks and straws in front of us. “What about you, Landon?”
“I’ll have the same. Barbecue sauce please.” I hand him my menu.
“Emma? Barbecue?”
“Yes, please.” She opens her straw and places it in her drink, taking a long pull. “How was your day?”
It’s a question I’ve come to expect from her; she actually cares about how my day went, not the money or the fame, but how it affected me. “Good. I didn’t do a lot. I went to the gym and worked out, did a little cleaning.”
“Cleaning? I thought you had someone who cleaned for you?”
“I do, but this kind of cleaning is all on me. I just went through some of my clothes, moved some things around.” What I don’t tell her is that I cleared out a couple of drawers for her and made some space in my closet and in the bathroom for her things. I want her to feel comfortable at my place and this is just another way of me showing her. I want her. I want her in my house, in my bed, in my life, and by my side.
“Look at you being all domestic,” she teases.
I just shake my head and smile. “What about you? The phones were crazy?”
“Almost as soon as your Tweet went out, the lines were lit up, and it was like that all day. Turns out the quarterback for the Trojans has a pretty big fan base.”
“There’s only one fan I’m interested in.”
“CJ’s loyalty lies with his daddy’s team, so you’re safe.”
Reaching across the table, I take her hand in mine. “Just you, Em. You’re the only one who matters.”
