Page 90 of Scoring with the Coach's Daughter

And tonight, it’s about to get even better.

I glance to my left, where Sam is plating corn on the cob, completely in her element. The firelight flickers against her sun-kissed skin, the breeze catching strands of her hair as she tucks them behind her ear. She looks happy. Relaxed.

She looks like forever.

I step up beside her, brushing my fingers lightly against her lower back. “Need some help?”

She smirks, tilting her head up at me. “I’m starting to think you just show up when the work is already done.”

“That’s only half true,” I tease, stealing a piece of corn from the plate and taking a bite.

Sam rolls her eyes, but there’s no hiding the way she leans into me. The way she wants me close.

I glance over my shoulder at Ellie, who’s now standing with Maggie, watching me closely. She knows what’s coming. She was in on it.

I clear my throat, my heart picking up speed. “Hey, Sam?”

She turns, raising a brow. “Yeah?”

I take her hand, my fingers curling around hers. “Come with me for a second.”

Her brows furrow, but she lets me pull her toward the shoreline, the sand cooling beneath our feet as the water laps at the edges. The sound of conversation behind us quiets, and I know we have everyone’s attention now.

Perfect.

Sam glances up at me, a flicker of suspicion in her eyes. “What’s going on?”

I swallow past the lump in my throat, suddenly so aware of the weight in my pocket. “I’ve been thinking a lot about promises lately,” I start, my voice steady, even as my pulse hammers. “The ones we make, the ones we keep. The ones that change everything.”

Her lips part slightly, her breath hitching.

“I made a promise to Ellie the first time I flipped her a pancake,” I continue, my grip on her hand tightening. “And I made a promise to myself the first time I kissed you. That I’d stick. That I’d be here. That no matter what, I wasn’t going anywhere.”

Sam’s eyes shimmer in the fading light, her fingers tremblingslightly in mine.

I drop to one knee.

A gasp catches in her throat, her free hand flying to her mouth as I pull the ring from my pocket—a simple gold band, elegant and timeless, just like her.

“I want to make another promise,” I say, my voice is rough now, torn with emotion. “To spend the rest of my life loving you. To stand beside you, to build a life together, to make every single day something worth remembering. Summers in South Carolina, winters in Maine, pancakes on Sundays, and whatever else comes our way.”

A tear slips down her cheek, but she’s smiling now, her whole face lit up with something I’ve never seen before—something that feels like home.

“Marry me, Sam.” My voice is softer now, but no less certain. “Be my forever.”

The silence stretches for just a heartbeat—long enough for my heart to nearly give out—before she lets out a breathless laugh, nodding so hard her curls bounce.

“Yes,” she whispers. Then louder. “Yes, Jake, of course.”

The second I slide the ring onto her finger, she pulls me to my feet, crashing into me, her arms locking around my neck as I lift her off the ground. Cheers erupt behind us—Ellie’s excited shriek, Maggie’s whoop of approval, Sam’s parents clapping.

Ellie runs toward us, barreling into Sam’s side, her arms looping around both of us. “Does this mean Jake gets to be my dad now?”

Sam laughs, pressing a kiss to her temple. “I think that’s exactly what it means.”

Ellie grins up at me, her eyes dancing. “I told you she’d say yes.”

I chuckle, ruffling her curls. “Yeah, you did, Peanut.”

As the sun sinks below the horizon, casting the sky in deeppurples and golds, I glance around at the people surrounding us—the family we’ve built, the love we’ve found.

A new beginning.

A forever worth every risk.

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