Page 153 of Their Greatest Strength

He releases a heavy breath and folds me into his chest. “Thank God.”

“As if you thought I’d say no.”

“Hey, a man can’t ever be too confident.”

“Coming from you.”

“Don’t start a war that you’re not prepared to finish, baby,” he warns lightly, dropping a hand to grab my ass.

“It never works properly in a vehicle, Jamie.”

A smirk is so obvious in his voice he might as well be staring down at me with one right now. “What never works?”

“You’re too big for car sex, and you know it.”

“This sounds like the perfect chance to test that theory. We have yet to try in the back seat, isn’t that right, wife?”

With an exaggerated sigh, I bite back a smile and ask, “What do I get if I’m right?”

“Anything.”

“Then yeah, I think I could entertain you for a bit, husband.”

45

JAMIE

Jaxon leans overand pats my shoulder once we’ve taken our seats at the table. Both in encouragement and acceptance.

We lost terribly tonight. Our first loss in five games, but I genuinely don’t care. It’s hard to feel bad about losing when I’ve got every person who’s ever mattered to me smiling up in the stands as we got destroyed.

Coach is a grumpy ass about it, and I had to focus a bit too hard on not racing out of the locker room when he started laying into us. All I wanted to do was get out here, knowing who was waiting.

Tonight’s media coverage is special. For the first time in my history on the Pythons and in football in general, I have my family in the room.

“We can go ahead with questions whenever you’re ready,” Sadie announces, nodding at the group of reporters sitting in front of the stage.

Similar to the first time I answered questions after announcing my proposal, Graham’s invited a mix of different people who, during normal circumstances, wouldn’t be here. Non-sports sites and social media accounts don’t usually care about a win or a loss, but they do love a dramatic life update.

Anything to gain a few followers or subscribers.

I narrow my eyes on the same guy fromSports Weeklywho’s responsible for Blakely’s viral video and brace my elbows on the table.

He’s not the first to ask a question tonight, though. It’s a woman instead, and she smiles kindly before speaking.

“Tough loss tonight after going on your second four-game win streak of the season. Neither of you look too devastated. Is there a reason for that?”

I chuckle while Jax leans into his microphone. “Any loss hurts. We’ll have a rough few days at practice after this if Coach has anything to do with it, I’m sure.”

“Of course. As is expected. Jamie, can you walk us through what went wrong out there?”

“Sometimes you make the right plays, but the other team makes them better. We’ll regroup, fix what needs fixing, and come back stronger. That’s all there is to it.” Mouth quirking into a smile, I glance to the wall where my beautiful wife stands twirling her wedding ring nervously. “But hey, tonight’s not all bad. I’ve got my family here with me.”

Nate beams from his place at Blakely’s side. He doesn’t seem anxious at all being surrounded by the media, even when they all turn to stare at the pair of them. Shoulders squaring up, he waves at me.

The next question comes from a guy near the back of the room. “Jamie, speaking of that, it’s not every day we see family in the media room after a game. What’s it like having your wife here tonight? And how are you two handling the circulating talks of relationships and sports?”

“I love having her here. I’d keep her with me every second of every day if I could. As far as everything else, I think Blakely can answer better than I can. What do you think, Bandit?” I ask, handing things over to her the way we’d agreed to earlier.

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