Page 23 of Virgin Pass

Chapter Twelve

Austin

“You got that thing on?”I nod at the camera transmitting to the giant screen at the end of the field.

The young cameraman grins. “Yes, sir.”

I refocus on Lori and open my arms. My angel jumps into them and kisses me, laughing and crying and holding me tight. God, what a high. Having her greet me on the field like this is even better than winning the game—and that feels pretty fucking good. This, however, is way better.

“Lori, will you hold this?” I hand her the game ball. She takes it and laughs again. When I drop to my knee, she loses her smile, her expression suddenly uncertain. The crowd goes silent and my heart stops. This is it. “I swore I’d only do this once, and here it is.”

“A-Austin?” Her pretty mouth falls open. She swings her gaze to the giant screen we’re being displayed on to the entire crowd and all the fans watching from home. “What are you doing?”

She gasps when I pull out a little black velvet box from behind my back and pop it open, facing her. As soon as she spots the princess-cut ring winking at her, her eyes round as she bounces her gaze from the ring to me and back several times. “Oh my god, is that—is this—is that?”

“Lori Connor,” I pause and glare when a handful of microphones are shoved in my face. With a sigh, I continue. “My lucky angel, I fell in love with you when you lured me into that corridor and wowed me with your smarts. Then I kissed you and that was it for me. I knew then I wanted to marry you, to call you my wife. Please angel, marry me and make me the luckiest son of a bitch in the world.”

Her eyes well with tears as her chin trembles. She covers her mouth with a hand as a sob sneaks out. Oh, Jesus. I really hope that’s a good reaction. I’m silent, unable to breathe, as I wait for her answer. My muscles tighten, my grip on the little velvet box seemingly the only thing grounding me. Why won’t she say anything?

Then slowly, torturously slow, she offers a slight nod. Then another and another. When she removes her hand from her mouth, I see she’s been mouthing yes over and over, but her sobs are covering her voice.

“Yes?” I ask, hopeful.

She bursts into laughter. “Yes! Oh, Austin. Yes, yes, yes. A million times yes.”

The crowd erupts in cheers and whistles. My entire body breathes a sigh of relief. I’ve never proposed to anyone before and wasn’t sure if I did it right. Judging by her reaction, I did. As I take the ring from the box and slide it on her finger, claiming her as mine in a way that announces it to the rest of the world, I stand and hug her tight, lifting her off the ground. “My angel.”

“Your lucky angel,” she sighs, hugging me close—but not so close that she can’t eye the diamond on her finger at the same time.

“You like?”

“It’s okay,” she teases, leaning back to grin at me. “I mean, it’s the first time I’ve had a skating rink attached to my finger, but I’ll find a way to adjust.”

“It’s the only time,” I correct. The love I have for this woman bursts inside me. I’ll never be able to put into words how much she means, so I’ll have to show her, each and every day. “You are mine, Lori. No other rings will adorn your fingers but the ones I give you.”

She laughs and snuggles to me, tucking her head into the crook of my neck. “I can live with that,” she sighs.

Finally, the camera lights shut off as the reporters race off to be the first to comment on the story, the fact I just proposed to my girl on national TV. It’s not every day something like that happens.

I hold Lori, kissing her temple and whispering promises that bubble up from somewhere deep in my soul. I don’t even realize them until I’m saying them to her. “I’m going to build you the house of your dreams, angel. You’ll have a home office that’s going to make the other agents cry, it’ll be that good. I want kids, lots and lots of kids, so we’ll need a house big enough for them all.”

“And dogs,” she offers, drawing a grin from me. “Lots and lots of dogs.”

“One for every kid,” I agree. “I’ll make sure we have a media room with a huge screen to watch the tapes of all the players you’ll pick up.”

“About that.” She pushes out of my arms and lowers her gaze beneath her lashes. Why won’t she look at me now? I watch her, studying her body language. It’s what I do and has kept me from getting permanently injured on the field.

She’s hiding something. That I won’t allow, not now, not ever. We are a team, a partnership. I can’t fix whatever has her so upset if she doesn’t tell me what it is. “What’s going on, Lori? Talk to me, tell me why you won’t look at me.”

She finally meets my gaze. Her tears are gone, replaced with a look of determination shining in her pretty eyes, fixing her expression. “Austin, um, I can no longer rep you.”

Her announcement hits me physically and I stumble back. Thank god the cameras are already gone. “What? Why? If it’s because we’ll be married—”

“It has nothing to do with that,” she says, cutting me off before rolling her eyes. “I mean, it has everything to do with that. But—it really has nothing to do with that.”

“You’re not making any sense.” I immediately rerun the plays in my head that lead up to this point, looking for that key moment things went off the rails, but come up empty. “What’s going on? Why don’t you want to be my agent?”

She sighs. “It’s not you. Really. But…” she clasps her hands together, as if drawing strength from the rock on her wedding finger. Finally, she speaks. “I don’t want to be anyone’s agent. I never did.”

“Oh. Well, hell. That’s easy.” I grin and pull her back into my arms, relief easing my muscles. “You can quit. I’ve got this.”

“I don’t want you to have to take care of me.”

“I don’t have to,” I counter and look deep into her eyes. “I want to. And, in turn, you’ll take care of me.” When she frowns, I explain. “I’m a mess, angel. You know that. If I don’t have you keeping me in line, I’m going to wind up doing something monumentally stupid and probably on national TV. I need you, Lori. You’re my life, my everything.”

She wraps her arms around me and holds me tight. “All I’ve wanted forever is to take care of you. I love you, Austin.”

And she does. God help me if I understand why, but she does…and that really does make me the luckiest son of a bitch that ever lived.

“I love you, too, angel.”

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