Page 74 of Zone Protection

“I’m glad you came,” I whisper.

He brushes his lips over my forehead. “I’m glad you came.”

“I should have made this plan days ago?—”

“All that matters is you’re here now.” He holds his mouth to my skin a beat longer than usual and then presses his forehead to mine. “I’m the luckiest motherfucker alive.”

“Hate to break this up, but Mama is going to lose it if we make her wait any longer to meet Emma.”

Archie releases me and sets me down. “Aiden, this is Emma. Emma, this is Aiden.”

“It’s so nice to meet you, Aiden. Archie talks about y’all all the time.”

“Nice to meet you too, Emma. The family is pretty anxious to meet you, so we’d better get back.”

“Ha! Anxious is an understatement. I think they’re more excited to meet you than they are about my win.” Archie looks down at me with an expression I can’t read.

“You okay?” I ask softly.

“I am now.” He glances at me. “You showing up tonight? That meant everything, Emma. You don’t even know.”

As we walk, Archie tells me bits about the game—how the second quarter nearly gave him a heart attack—and I laugh. But I don’t miss the way he rolls his shoulder. He took a few good hits earlier, one that had me gasping from the stands.

The walk is short, but he stops a few strides before his hotel’s entrance.

“Okay. Fair warning. My family. I know they’re a lot,” he says. “Loud. Physical. All up in your business.”

“Sounds like you.”

He smirks. “Exactly. They’ll love you. Just … be warned. My mom might cry. My brothers will flirt. And my dad’ll probably try to feed you.”

“Bring it on.”

Archie holds the door open for me. We walk into the building and take the elevator up to the seventh floor. As we exit the elevator, we see Liam Pitz coming out of a room.

“Griff! What up, man? Aiden, as always, excellent to see you.” He walks up to us and gives Aiden one of those bro hugs and pounds his back.

“Pitzy, good to see you too, man. Congrats on the win.”

“Thanks. It was a good game.” He turns toward me and Archie.

“Emma, this is Liam Pitz, my roommate and teammate.” As Archie says the words, I hear a falter in his voice but ignore it, just as Archie does as he slaps that big, beautiful smile on his face.

I hold out my free hand. “Hey, Liam. I’m Emma. It’s nice to meet you.”

“My guy!” Liam says, giving Archie a backslap before turning to me. “So, this istheEmma. Hi, I’m Liam.”

Liam’s grin is genuine as he looks at me and then to Archie. “Man, look at you. Championship ring and a beautiful girl. I’m happy for you.”

When Liam goes to hug Archie, I try to step away, but Archie squeezes my hand. Won’t let go. My heart tugs a little, and I’m not sure why.

“You heading out to party?” Archie asks him.

“Yeah, I just wanted to say goodbye to my parents beforethey leave in the morning. I assume you’re taking Emma to meet the family?”

“Yep, and we’d better get in there before they all pile into the hallway,” Aiden chimes in.

“Okay, y’all have fun. Emma, nice to meet you. Take care of my guy here.”

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