Page 90 of The Right Player
“Hey, it was Zach who told me your favorite players. I just asked for a favor from my new teammates.” Makoa winked at the guys, then, who all smiled in return, and then Mike held his hand out for Gemma’s.
“If your husband doesn’t mind, I think we oughta get out there for a dance or two. What do you say?”
Gemma scoffed, waving her hand over her shoulder. “I say whether my husband wants me to or not, let’s dance!”
She was already tugging the guys onto the floor when Zach laughed, looking back at me and Makoa with a shrug. “That one’s mine.”
We laughed, too, and then Zach followed them out onto the dance floor, and the rest of the guests were pulling out their phones to snap pictures, realizing who the new attendees were.
I smiled at Makoa as he watched the dance floor, sliding into his lap and pressing a kiss to his cheek. “That was really sweet of you.”
He shrugged. “It was nothing.”
“Can you believe you’re a Chicago Bear now?”
He chuckled. “Well, it’s not my first NFL team, remember? But… I think this will be even better than San Francisco. I’ve got a chance to get some real playing time, and maybe, one day… I’ll be a starter, and everyone will want my name on a jersey.”
I frowned. “Hey, I’m supposed to be the only girl wearing your jersey.”
“Might have to share me with the fans, babe.”
I tilted my head to the side. “Hmm… I’ll think about it.” I smiled, kissing him quickly before I wrapped my arms around his neck with a sigh. “Man, with the season starting, I’m never going to see you, am I?”
“I’ll have Tuesdays off… sort of.”
I chuckled. “I’ll take whatever I can get.” I paused then, searching his honey eyes with my own. “I’m really proud of you.”
Makoa answered with a deep, breath-stealing kiss, and then the DJ announced that it was time for all “the single ladies” to gather on the dance floor.
I groaned at the prospect, but Makoa shoved me out there, and I stood with my arms crossed in the back of a group of giggling, excited girls waiting for the bouquet.
Except when Gemma stood on the little stage at the front of the dance floor, she didn’t have flowers at all.
She had a football.
Because, of course.
And I knew when I saw that devilish gleam in her eyes when she turned around that she was launching that sucker straight at me.
It was a flurry of hands and hair and chiffon when that ball was tossed in the air, but the girls had absolutely no chance at catching the ball. Gemma had thrown it high and far to the back where I stood, and I didn’t have to move a single inch to reach up and catch it.
She turned, acting like she was surprised when she saw the ball in my hand, and she did a little dance of glee before hopping down off the stage and going back to dancing with the Chicago Bears players.
I made my way over to where Makoa still sat at the table, tossing the football to him when I was close enough.
He caught it easily, laughing and reading the writing on the ball once I was back in his lap.
“Great catch, you’re next!” he read aloud, tossing the football up and catching it again before he looked at me. “What do you think of that?”
“What do you think of that?”
He shrugged, putting the ball aside and holding me in his arms. “I think you’d look pretty damn hot in a white dress.”
I smiled. “That so?”
“Mm,” he said, pulling me into him for a long, promising kiss. His lips found my ear next. “Belle Kumaka,” he whispered. “Kind of has a ring to it, don’t you think?”
My stomach filled with butterflies, their wings so powerful that they floated me up to standing, and I tugged on Makoa’s hand until he was standing, too.
“Alright, Romeo. Let’s just get through our first year of dating, huh? Then we can talk about weddings.”
“You’ll be lucky if I wait that long,” he said as I pulled him out onto the dance floor. When we made it, he swept me up in his arms, pressing a kiss behind my ear. “I’ve been waiting my whole life for you, Belle Monroe. And I’m never letting you go now.”
He kissed me again before I was spun out, twirled back in, and dipped back for a dramatic entry to the dance floor. I shoved him off me when we were standing again, rolling my eyes as he winked and did the cabbage patch over to where the rest of the team was dancing with Gemma and Zach.
For a long while, I stood at the edge of the dance floor, watching all of them. I watched my best friend smile like it was the best day of her life, and I knew without a doubt that it was. I watched her husband, who looked at her like she was his entire world, and I knew without a doubt that she was.
