Page 157 of Wait For It

Clearly, my mouth and brain were no longer working together, because I didn’t return the greeting or launch into the eloquent speech I’d written in my head on the way down the stairs.

No. Proving that I was every bit the wild man, I grunted in response.

Grunted.

Ari’s hands fell from my face. She took a step back, probably second-guessing her decision to leave Brazil early. “Are you mad at me? I just wanted it to be a surprise—”

With a low growl, I hooked my finger in the front of her jersey—my jersey—and tugged her to my body, lowering my mouth over hers. She released a startled breath. Then her pink lips were parting in invitation.

The bracelet in my hand brought me back to reality, and after another deep kiss, I reluctantly pulled back to scan the ballpark. There were still people milling about almost everywhere I looked, but this was the right moment. I felt it.

“Ari—”

“Congratulations!” she panted with a grin. “Sorry, I meant to say that first, but I got so tongue-tied when I saw you that I just blurted the first random thing that came into my head.”

God, I’d missed her.

“Crap. Now that I think about it, I was actually supposed to lead with I love you, and then—wait, what are you doing?”

I was respecting the hell out of her.

“Be gentle with me, slugger,” I said as I took her left wrist in my hands and lowered to my knees.

My girl had never wanted pretty words or a smooth-talking knight. She’d wanted the ability to stand on her own two feet, the freedom to make her own choices. She didn’t need my money and had done just fine living off her music royalties for the past couple of years.

So, in the end, I ditched the speech and kept it simple. Not because I forgot the words, but because when I looked into her eyes, I realized I didn’t need them.

There was only one thing I hadn’t offered yet.

“Ariana, you are the bravest woman I’ve ever met. With each day that passes, I find myself more in love with you. You already have my heart, my love, and my life. I kneel before you now to ask, will you do me the honor of taking my last name?”

Ari’s mouth opened and closed, her eyes flooding with tears as she nodded shakily. “Yes, Killian Reed. I will take your last name and be your wife.”

“I know it’s not a ring, but—”

“Hush, it’s perfect.”

My fingers were still trembling as I knotted the bracelet around her wrist, before moving back to my feet. Ignoring the cameras flashing all around us, I lifted her into my arms and took her mouth in a fierce and frantic kiss.

She instinctively wrapped her legs around my waist, her fingers threading through my sweat-dampened hair, fighting to pull me closer.

“I love you,” Ari gasped, raining kisses across my face. “And I cannot wait to be your wife. I’m going to make you so happy.”

“You already do, girl.” I had to adjust my grip on her. My baseball pants, while unrestrictive, weren’t exactly hiding the fact that I was painfully hard. “What do you say we skip the after-party, so I can properly demonstrate just how happy you make me?”

“Yes, because I have—”

“Guys! Oh, my God!” Bailey bellowed as he shoved his face between ours, instantly ridding me of my erection. “Now, as your best man, I’ve got some great ideas for the bachelor party.”

I opened my mouth, prepared to disagree when Georgia chimed in from across the barrier.

“Oh, I didn’t know we got to pick our role! I’ll obviously be filling in as the flower girl, then.”

“Georgia, you old so-and-so,” Bailey teased, clapping my shoulder roughly as he stalked over to her. “Finally decided to take me up on that date?”

After lowering Ari to the field, we walked over to hug my parents and inexplicably watch my teammate woo a woman who was fifty years his senior.

“You’re going to want to see this,” Ari said, wearing the smile of someone who was up to no good.

---