Page 10 of The Goalie

I shake his hand and smile back at him. “I just wanted to thank you for signing me to your team. And for the very generous contract.”

“You’re worth every penny,” he says as he hits my shoulder. “Come, I’ll give you the tour. You have to see the wine cellar on this thing.”

“Okay,” I say with a laugh as he brings me down the hall.

I take one last look at the team by the bar and my heart nearly stops when I see her.

She’s… She’s everything.

My lungs forget how to breathe as I stand here, stunned to my very core.

She’s standing beside the coach with her arm on his, looking like an angel.

At first, I think it’s the coach’s wife, but she’s way too young for that. I heard that the coach has been married for a long time, so she can’t possibly be his wife.

But… who?

I’m desperate to find out. My insides are screaming at me to go down there and claim her as my own. To profess my undying love for her. To put a ring on her finger. To pick her up and carry her home.

“Excuse me, Mr. VanMorgan,” the Captain says as he returns. “One more question for you.”

Brantley turns to me. “Excuse me, Nolan, just for a minute.”

I nod to him and immediately look back at my girl as they walk into the control room to talk.

My whole body tingles as I stare at her, wondering if she’s real. Her brown hair falls like silk over her shoulders, her eyes a stunning shade of blue I’ve never seen before as if the universe has saved it exclusively for her.

Her silver dress shimmers and sparkles with every move she makes as if it’s woven from stardust and moonlight. It makes those hips mesmerizing to stare at.

She laughs at something Sebastian says to the group and my chest gets all tight with the need to be closer to her, to be touching her, to be basking in her radiance. Her smile is stunning. It’s brighter than the sun. It’s more powerful than the stars. It’s pulling me in like a black hole.

Her ethereal beauty has my hands trembling.

My world has shifted.

Everything revolves around her now.

I hope VanMorgan never returns. I can’t take my eyes off her. Every second I stare at her, I’m drawn in further, I become more obsessed. Something deep and primal is taking over my body. An insatiable hunger that might never leave.

I can already see our whole future together laid out in front of me—marriage, kids, growing old together—I can see it all. Talking all night with a bottle of wine, sleeping in with our limbs all tangled up, traveling the world, getting married, playing with our kids, growing old and gray… My heart is racing with anticipation to experience it all with this angel.

She’s mine and she has no idea.

I grip the metal railing and squeeze it as the waitress hands her a drink. She takes a sip—placing those soft luscious lips on the glass—and then her eyes connect with mine.

It’s like a shot in the heart. Those gorgeous blue eyes gazing up at me are piercing.

She doesn’t look away. Neither do I.

I see a spark in her eyes. A spark of something that promises everything.

“Mr. Barlowe,” Brantley says, nearly giving me a heart attack. I didn’t hear him sneaking up on me. I was too focused on my girl. “I’m terribly sorry about that. Shall we begin the tour?”

“Um,” I say with an itch in my throat. I turn back to my girl and her eyes are already off me. She’s speaking to the group. I wonder what she’s saying. “Yes.”

I take one last long look at her and then follow Brantley along the deck. He’s talking about the teak floors we’re walking on, but all I’m thinking about is her.

“This yacht has it all,” he says as he opens a door and we head inside. “It came with a helicopter, can you believe that?”

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