by Lynn, Stacey
Good. We’ll be there around 5. You going to watch?
He meant the press conference. I hadn’t been certain until he asked, but it was so important to him.
I wouldn’t miss it.
Good. Sleep tonight and I’ll see you tomorrow.
I’d hesitated. Typed out a text and deleted it. Repeated the same thing. It was too soon. And it shouldn’t be said over text that I loved him.
You too.
I settled on that and hit send and it was the last time we spoke.
Sunday morning I’d gotten up and headed to my parents. Haley and Blake arrived late, Haley looking greener but after resting on the couch with ginger ale and crackers nearby, her color and energy level improved some.
Tanner and Heather showed up right before lunch, typical for Tanner, and Jaxon showed up shortly after. I’d looked at him expecting answers and he came to me. Kissed my cheek and whispered, “Later. It’s all good.”
And that was that. I trusted Jaxon. I loved Gage. They’d do whatever they could to salvage my job and make sure there weren’t more pictures out in cyberland.
So really, there was nothing to do except grab a snack plate my mom had out on the kitchen table, a glass of wine, and sit down to watch the press conference.
As soon as Gage stepped up to the podium, my body tensed. Damn. He was so sexy. Dressed in a suit and tie, sporting a Rough Riders hat that didn’t match the outfit, but fit him perfectly, he grinned into the cameras and leaned toward the microphones. “Good morning, and thank you for being here today to help me celebrate something close to my own family’s heart. My own brother, Harrison, would have loved all of this…”
Gage didn’t falter as he spoke. He made the small crowd chuckle at times, tear up at others, me especially when he mentioned Brandon and Penny, and so many other families I’d personally met. There were clips of the families entering the center for the first time, a red ribbon Gage cut with gigantic scissors looking more like hedge clippers. There were shots of him bending low, shaking hands with a boy in a wheelchair. Hugging a little girl with a casted leg as she leaned on her crutches.
Overall, as the opening and press conference continued, my heart grew twelve sizes and cemented the fact that I was totally head over heels in love with this man. It went splendidly until a question made all the women in my mom’s living room gasp and my brothers stood at attention.
“You were in the news earlier this week, Gage. Care to comment?”
“Only to say who I love and how we show that love to each other is no one’s business. Next question?”
The same reporter who I couldn’t see didn’t let up. He asked another question and while Gage had been pointing at someone else, the man asked, “Is it true it was outside a sex club?”
Gage’s scowl went electric.
“Wow,” Heather said. “Gage looks ready to rip that podium into pieces. That guy is dead meat.”
“No kidding,” Haley replied.
“I like him,” my mom said.
I was too intent on watching every feature and muscle in his jaw and face harden and tick. “What it is, is none of your business like I already said, and it’s shameful you call yourself a reporter while you’re intent on throwing a fellow one under the bus. You’re the only person in this room who has anything to be ashamed about. Now,” he looked at another hand raised and pointed. “Next question.”
“Wowzers,” Haley said. “He’s so totally hot.”
“Your husband’s right here, you know,” Blake said, arms crossed over his chest, pouty expression.
“I know dear,” she said, patting his thigh and not looking at him. “I know.”
“Is anyone else going to comment on the fact that Gage Bryant just proclaimed his love for Elizabeth on live television?” That came from Heather, whose voice was close to squealing levels.
He’d done that. I’d heard it. He alluded to it, but he hadn’t said it outright. Neither had I. But Gage had not only stood in front of cameras and live television and told everyone listening he loved me, he’d shamed that reporter, and side-stepped the question of Velvet perfectly.
God. I loved him so damn much.
Tanner pressed his finger to his ear and jiggled it. “Yeah, I feel like I need to bleach my ears now.”
My dad pushed off the rocking chair. “I need a beer. Get me when the games start.”
“Dad—” I called. He stopped walking and looked at me over his shoulder.
“What?”
I grinned at him. “I’ll always be your little girl, you know.”
“Damn straight. And if that guy didn’t love you like I thought he should, he wouldn’t be walking in this door later. He better make sure he deserves you or the first thing he’ll be meetin’ is the barrel of my shotgun.”
He nodded once. Went to the kitchen. Next to me, my mom pulled me into a one-armed hug. “That means he likes him.”
Haley, Heather, and I glanced at each other. Right before we burst into laughter.
* * *
It was later, after lunch and after Gage’s statement, “who I love…” looped in my mind on repeat a thousand times if not more, and in between games when excitement had turned to frazzled and crazed nerves.
Any minute from now, Gage was showing up at my parents’ house. We were going to watch the second game together, eat dinner at halftime and when the game was over, I was going back to Gage’s house. With his parents. For the entire night.
A lump the size of Texas had lodged itself in my throat and I was a pacing wild wreck.
“Calm down,” my mom said. “The boy loves you. And you’ve already met his parents.”
“Yeah, before I was caught canoodling with their son all over the internet.”
“Canoodling,” Jaxon snorted. “Is that what the kids are calling it these days?”
“Oh, they’re here!” Heather shouted. She rushed out of my parents’ formal living room waving her hands. “They’re here. I saw them pull up. Seriously, girl. He is gorgeous with a capital G.”
“I know,” I laughed. But God, I was terrified.
“I’ll get the door,” my mom said, and there was no arguing with Marcia when it came to welcoming people into their home. Even knowing Gage’s mom as little as I did, those two would be fast friends. Hopefully.
I was on her heels, my sisters-in-law hanging in the kitchen and my brothers near them, interested while pretending not to be, and when I reached my mom at the door, she was opening it before the bell had rung but with perfect timing.
Graham and Sue Bryant were stepping onto the porch, Gage stood behind them, a whole head taller than his dad, even taller than his mom.
Next to my mom, relief washed through me at the sight of them. Then something else. My love for him warmed, wrapped itself around my heart and spread through my veins until I shivered from the heat of my reaction to him.
God, I loved him. I was one lucky, lucky girl.
“Hello,” my mom said. She clasped Sue’s hand first, pulled her into a hug which Sue returned like they’d already been friends for a lifetime. “It’s so lovely to meet you.”
“Thank you for having us,” Sue said. “Especially on such short notice.”
“Yes. It’s very kind of you,” Graham said. He stepped up to my mom and held out his hand.
She shook it kindly before gesturing for them to enter. “Marcia Hayes and we’re thrilled to have the whole family together.”
Oh God. I was going to cry. She was laying it on a bit thick but it was Sue who grinned. “Seems like that’s the way it’s going to be anyway.”
She pressed her kiss to my cheeks. “Lovely to see you, Elizabeth. You’re just as pretty as I remember.” Her hand curved around my shoulder as she passed and introduced me to Graham.
“It’s a pleasure,” I said to him, and then was dumbfounded when he forwent my hand and hugged me.
“Any girl of my son’s is one of mine,” he whispered in my ear. “And the pleasure is our
s, I promise.”
“Thank you.” Oh dear. Tears were beckoning and it took all of me to step back so they could enter. My mom carried on with introductions, and as their voices faded, it was just me and Gage on the doorstep to my parents’ house.
“Hey,” I said. My hand ran through my hair and I shifted on bare feet. He seemed so much larger, in his suit, a bouquet of red roses in his hand, and a smile that made my heart leap and jump. I licked my lips, tingles spiking when his gaze dropped and watched the slide of my tongue. “You’re here.”
“I am. You’re lovely as always.”
I was in jeans and a sweater that wrapped and tied at my waist. I’d thought of dressing up, but that’d be weird at my own parents’ house.
I was speechless. He’d said he loved me to reporters and cameras, but there we were, grinning at each other like fools.
“Are those for my mom?” I pointed to the flowers.
“No.” He held them out to me. “Did you watch?”
He meant the press conference and not the game, but both had happy endings as far as I was concerned. The Rough Riders biggest rivals and team tied for first place in the division lost.
“I did. It was…interesting.” I took the flowers from him and inhaled the sweet scent of roses. “You were wonderful.”
He stepped closer, pressed his hand to my waist. The depth of his emotion for me shone in his eyes, making me thankful he was holding me up. Goodness. Would I ever stop reacting so powerfully to his presence? Hopefully not.
“I was honest. And I need you to hear it from me, here, at your parents with our families inside so you have no doubts what I want from you. I love you, Elizabeth Hayes. I fell in love with you at the first sight of you and I hope like hell you feel the same for me.”
“I do.” I didn’t hesitate. I couldn’t. It felt like I’d been holding that back for years. And it’d been weeks. “I love you, too.”
“Good.” His other hand went to my neck and he yanked me toward him. His mouth slammed onto mine and he kissed me, harshly, pressing his mouth to mine and as I relaxed into him, he groaned and pulled back. “We’ll continue this later. I should get in there and meet everyone.”
I wanted nothing more. I curled my hand around the doorknob and glanced at him over my shoulder. Winking, I said, “Just watch out for dad’s shotgun.”
We opened the door to a cacophony of voices. Deep masculine ones, high-pitched feminine laughter.
Gage took my hand and led us into the living room where everyone was smiling, gathering, and fortunately for the both of us, no shotgun was in sight.
It was never needed. My dad fell in love with Gage Bryant the player years ago, and in a split second of seeing us enter the room together, knowing he was the man I loved, my dad fell in love with Gage Bryant, the man good enough for his only daughter.
Epilogue
Gage
Tristan stood as tall and proud as I’d ever seen him near the end of the hall. The lights on the wall cast an eerie glow, and the scent of something meant to seduce and relax slid over me.
I was focused on very little except the small, trembling hand clasping firmly in mine at my side as Elizabeth and I walked toward him and the small black box burning a hole in my suit pocket.
Beneath my ribs, my heart pounded with a steady but rapidly increasing thump. Tristan helped me plan the entire night down to the blindfold dangling from his hand. It was just like the first time I met Elizabeth, except this time we were entering the room together. And hopefully, by the time we left, she will have promised to be mine forever.
“Tristan.” I greeted him with a small chin dip. I arrived hours ago to help set everything up and then went to get Elizabeth before bringing her here.
He returned the gesture and turned to Elizabeth. “Ma chérie. Bonsoir.”
She pressed a small piece of hair behind her ear, grinning up at the man like she’d expected to be here. In actuality, I’d promised her a surprise and when we pulled up at the back entrance, her face had paled. We hadn’t been to Velvet in six months, since the photos of us broke. Media had surrounded the club for a week or two, causing Tristan myriad headaches with the members. Many had left, but many more had requested to join which had pissed him off even more. Elizabeth and I didn’t come out of respect to the trouble we’d brought to his livelihood and also because we no longer needed it. She gave me everything I needed and craved in the privacy of our own homes.
“Hi Tristan,” she said. Her hand trembled as it drifted down and curled around my forearm where I held her other hand. “How are you?”
“Magnifique,” he replied. “It is lovely to see you again. And I believe, it’s been requested you wear this.”
He raised his arm and from outstretched fingers dangled the blindfold.
Elizabeth let out a small gasp and looked up at me. “A blindfold?”
“Just for a bit.”
A glimmer of excitement sparkled in her pretty blue eyes and she took it from Tristan. “Okay, then. Whatever you say, sir.”
I choked down a laugh. She hadn’t called me that since she found out who I was. This woman. I loved her more every day and she constantly impressed the hell out of me. After the press conference, she’d been suspended from work for thirty days. She was fortunate enough not to be fired, and even though it was upsetting feeling like everything she’d worked so hard for had been ruined, she was still grateful to have a job. She returned to the station after her suspension, dove in to behind the scenes reporting until all hints of attention on us disappeared and worked her ass off to regain any respect she may have lost among both her peers and viewers.
That was my girl. A fighter with the largest and strongest heart and mind of anyone I’d ever met.
A week after the press conference, all trace of photos of us disappeared courtesy of Jaxon’s team. He’d found Mel in her apartment in Holly Springs. After a brief conversation he relayed to me with dozens of colorful curse words thrown in, calling her every wretched name I knew and a handful I didn’t, she swore she wouldn’t be a problem moving forward. He confiscated her laptop and cell phone, and the last update he gave me was that Mel Anderson was now living in Idaho, on her family’s llama and alpaca farm.
Far away from us and hopefully she’d stay there. Once Jaxon and I reassured Elizabeth that Mel wouldn’t be a problem, she never asked about her again. She trusted both of us to take care of her and from that day on, she put that blip in the road far in her rearview.
Her ability to move on and bounce back were only some of the many things I loved about her.
“Come on,” I said, taking the blindfold from her and sliding it over her eyes. Once I assured she couldn’t peek, I grinned at Tristan and clasped my hand to his shoulder. “Thanks for all your help.”
“No problem. Enjoy your evening. And you too, ma chérie.”
“Thanks, Tristan. Have a good night.”
“I would say the same to you, but I’m sure yours will be much better.”
She slid a questioning glance my way even though she couldn’t see me and I rested my hand on her lower back. I already knew as soon as we went into that room that mine would end up being the best ever.
“I’m going to open the door and once it’s closed, I want you to do everything I say. Understand?”
She brushed her hands together and nodded. “Of course. I always do.”
Like hell she did. She had a mind of her own and only submitted when it came to getting my cock in her. “Sure you don’t,” I teased and reached around her to open the door. As I pushed it open, I turned back to Tristan.
He flashed me a wink, waved, and hustled down the hallway. He would hurry to get a front-row seat. When I called him earlier in the week to see if I could do this here, he’d emphatically declared there was no way he was missing it.
She inhaled heavily as we entered, her entire chest rising and lowering with her slow, intentional breaths. As the door shut behind us, I guided her to the center of
the room. Curling my hands around her shoulders, I adjusted her so once she could see, she’d see everything.
“There are roses in here,” she said. Her voice was quiet, a mere whisper of a breath I’d have a difficult time hearing if I wasn’t standing so close. “Lots of them.”
“There are.”
God, she was fucking pretty. Earlier I’d told her to dress up for a nice dinner so she’d outdone herself and slid into a fitted black dress with shimmers of silver down the length of it. It stopped above her knees and she was several inches taller in her heels. I’d already removed her coat and even though the room was warm, goose bumps still traveled up and down the length of her bare arms.
I slid my hands to her shoulders and curled them around her neck. “Are you ready?”
“I’m always ready for you.”
That, I knew well. Elizabeth could get turned on by a kiss to her throat, a fingertip trailing down her hand, or a few dirty texts I’d send on the way home from a workout. The woman was always ready for me and I fucking loved her ravenous hunger to always be so close and connected to me.
“Good. You know I love you, right?” I lowered my mouth to hers and kissed her. My hands stayed where they were at her neck and I used my thumbs to tilt her chin up. “You know I love you, right?”
“Yes,” she whispered against my lips.
Aware we were being watched, I kept the kiss chaste. For now.
“Okay. Close your eyes.” I slid off the blindfold and ran my fingers through her hair. I was blocking her view to the gathering area, but the lights had been on this room for an hour and the crowd had gathered, waiting. I ignored them as much as possible, my focus solely on Elizabeth, but now that she was about to see them, I nibbled my lip.
Whatever. They wouldn’t be open for long.
She stood in front of me, pulse wildly pumping at the base of her throat and I pressed my thumb over the stop. It was racing and at her sides, she had her hands fisted so harsh her knuckles were white.
“Why are you so nervous?” I asked, running my finger over her cheek. She hadn’t been this nervous even the first night we met. Odd how a stranger could soothe her more than me.
