Total pages in book: 37
Estimated words: 34702 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 174(@200wpm)___ 139(@250wpm)___ 116(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 34702 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 174(@200wpm)___ 139(@250wpm)___ 116(@300wpm)
“I was gonna wait,” I murmured, my voice rough against her temple. “Had this whole thing planned. Something big. Romantic. Thought it’d be a story we’d tell the kids one day.”
She tipped her head back, studying me with those intelligent eyes. “Planned for what?”
I shook my head, not ready to ruin the tiny slice of a surprise romantic moment I was about to give her.
“I can’t wait anymore.” My throat was thick. “I need to do it now.”
Still holding her waist, I turned us toward the dining room. She followed without protest, her steps slow and quiet on the hardwood. I led her over to the window, where the skyline stretched wide and silver around us. The room was dim, just moonlight and shadows in the faint glow of candles. Gerber daisies lined the table and window ledge, pops of color against the dark. Her favorite.
She stopped short. “Raiden.”
I wrapped my arms back around her, pulling her against my chest. One of my hands settled on the slight swell of her belly. Just enough to feel it. To know.
“You have no idea how much I love you, Marissa.” The words were steady. Absolute. “You’re essential to my survival. I can’t live without you. You’re my first thought when I wake up and the last one before I sleep. You and these babies—you’re fucking everything to me.”
She smiled, her eyes shining and lips parting to speak, but I shook my head again, and she stopped.
I dropped to one knee, and her gasp hit me like a 225-pound linebacker.
Looking up at her beautiful, radiant face, I felt my heart thunder against my ribs. “Marry me, baby. Let me spend the rest of my life taking care of you and our kids. I don’t want a world where you’re not mine in every way.”
I dug a little box out of my pocket and opened it, revealing a sparkling diamond engagement ring.
She sucked in a breath and blinked as if to make sure it was real. “It’s beautiful.”
“Not half as gorgeous as you. Now, are you going to marry me? Or do I have to tie you to the bed and keep you from coming until you agree?”
Marissa rolled her eyes, but tears spilled over her cheeks. She dropped down to her knees with me, laughing and crying at the same time. “Yes. Of course, yes.”
I took the ring from its velvet bed, and she giggled when I fumbled it, my hands shaking now for an entirely different reason. I slipped the band on her finger—simple, elegant, and unmistakable. “Between this rock, your sexy-as-fuck belly, and your soon-to-be new last name, nobody will question who you belong to.”
I cupped her face and claimed her mouth with a kiss that was all hunger and love. Her hands clutched at my shoulders, pulling me closer like she needed me as much as I needed her.
When we came up for air, she stared at her ring for a few beats, then looked back at me. “Raiden…I love you so much.”
“Same, baby. And I meant it.” I pressed a kiss to her palm. “You’re mine. Forever.”
I wrapped my arms around her, our foreheads pressed together, and simply held her for a while.
This woman.
She was everything.
My whole damn world.
EPILOGUE
MARISSA
Covering the first Nighthawks home game of the season with my belly rounding out my shirt and fresh red streaks in my hair wasn’t how I expected my move to football coverage to look. But here I was—balancing a laptop on my baby bump like it was part of the press box furniture, trying to type with what felt like a tiny tight end doing drills inside me.
The stadium vibrated beneath us as the game clock dipped under a minute. The crowd was still losing its collective mind over Raiden’s third touchdown of the night. Three. As in one for each time I’d kissed him before he left this morning.
“Shaffer is locked in,” the reporter beside me said, pushing his glasses up his nose. “Marriage looks good on the guy.”
I pretended to focus on my stat sheet. “I’ll make sure to tell him you said so.”
He chuckled. “You two are disgustingly cute. Don’t deny it.”
I didn’t bother trying.
The press box buzzed as the final drive wrapped up. Below, the field looked like a living, breathing ocean of red as fans surged to their feet.
On my other side, a younger reporter twisted in her chair toward me.
“Did you see Micah Hayes tonight? Twenty-one tackles.” She widened her eyes dramatically. “If the rumors I’ve heard about him and that girl at The Tight Line are true? That man is trying to show off.”
I kept my smile polite. “You all know better than to ask me for insider gossip about Raiden’s teammates. My lips are sealed.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she sighed. “It was still worth a shot.”