Total pages in book: 40
Estimated words: 40420 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 202(@200wpm)___ 162(@250wpm)___ 135(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 40420 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 202(@200wpm)___ 162(@250wpm)___ 135(@300wpm)
I grin, turn back to the field.
Sean snaps the ball. Patrice barrels forward. Sean shoves the ball into Patrice’s gut.
I can see the defenders. I can see their eyes lock on Patrice. Run, they’re thinking. Run the ball.
Sean holds the ball against Patrice’s gut. One second, two seconds. It stretches into eternity.
He pulls the ball back out just as Patrice hits the defenders.
He turns and drops back, twisting to the right, rolling out.
My breath catches in my throat.
Felix turns, running. Sean throws hard.
The defender on Felix dives, his hands outstretched.
Felix bodies him away and grabs the ball in the back of the end zone.
Touchdown. The crowd screams in rapture. The clock says three seconds are left.
I grin as my sideline goes nuts. I love seeing them celebrate. I drink it all in, let them congratulate me, let them celebrate. We kick the extra point, kick it off, and end the game after a few dicey seconds during the return.
I’m laughing as I jog out onto the field. That feels like the easiest win of my career, and it was against one of the toughest opponents we’ll face.
I shake hands with the opposing team’s coach. I answer media questions.
My eyes roam the crowd until I spot her, standing off to the side.
I ditch the media. They want to talk to Felix anyway.
She looks up as I approach. She smiles.
It lights up my whole world.
“You won,” she says as I stop close to her.
“I know,” I answer.
“Congratulations. You did great.”
I stare at her. I don’t move for a second.
And suddenly, it hits me. With total and absolute certainty, it hits me.
I step closer to her. She blinks, surprised. I kiss her.
She kisses me back, in the middle of a crowd, in the middle of screaming and cheering fans. People are watching. The media is watching.
I don’t care. Let them see.
I pull back. She stares, mouth open. “What… why?”
“This isn’t something we should have to hide,” I say softly. “I love you, Leah.”
“I love you too.” She blinks, and I think she might be crying.
Hands grab me. It’s Felix, Sean, Patrice. They laugh and cheer and I grin at them. Leah laughs.
“I knew it!” Sean yells. “I knew the whole time!” He’s grinning, giddy with finally revealing the secret.
“Coach and Leah sitting in a tree,” Patrice chants. “F-U-C-”
“Okay, okay, enough,” I say, laughing as Patrice finishes spelling his word. “I’m still your coach, damn it.”
The guys laugh and wander off. Media hovers nearby, probably trying to decide if they should interview me about kissing the random young member of my training staff or not.
I don’t care. Let them linger.
I kiss her again. I feel like my whole world lights up.
“Are you sure about this?” she asks me as I pull away.
“I’ve never been so sure.”
“We could get in trouble.”
“Good. Let’s get in a lot of trouble together.”
She laughs and I hug her close. I squeeze her hand and turn away.
“I’d better talk to those vultures before they lose it,” I say.
“Good luck.”
I grin at her. “See you later?”
“Always.”
I walk away, over toward the media.
It doesn’t matter to me what they’re going to say. It just doesn’t matter. The only things that are important to me are Leah and winning football games. So long as I keep winning and being with her, I can be happy.
That’s my whole world. It used to be a small world, but Leah just made it a whole lot bigger.
I have to thank her for that. I’m not alone anymore.
I’m in love instead.
21
Leah
One Year Later
I’m bundled up against the chill as I step into the stadium.
It’s early. Like, crack of dawn, no sun, freezing cold, dead tired, freaking early. I stumble forward, shivering the whole time.
I hate getting out of bed when there’s no sun yet. It’s like the hardest thing in the world. Once the sun’s up, it’s still hard, of course, but a lot easier. Your brain starts making all those nice wake-up chemicals and stuff, but when it’s dark, it’s just miserable.
Anyway, here I am, trudging down the tunnel. I can feel the wind out there, and I know it’ll be worse on the field. I’d never even consider doing this.
If it weren’t for him.
I step out of the tunnel. Up near the field, I can see two figures standing there. I sigh and hurry over to them, wind swirling around me, breath coming out in a thick white fog.
Cole looks over first. His face goes from dark and annoyed to bright and smiling almost instantly. It makes me smile too, even though I’m annoyed with him.
He’s the asshole that made me get up this morning.
“Come on, little Leah,” he whispered in my ear. “It’s time.”
“I don’t wanna,” I groaned back. I looked up at him, handsome face grinning back at me.
He laughed, pulled the covers off, kissed my lower back. “Get up,” he said, and slapped my ass, nice and hard.