Page 88 of Who's Playing You
I couldn’t help myself, so I tacked on, “Besides, you rock that cradle quite nicely.” I punctuated the joke by wiggling my eyebrows up and down suggestively. Mission accomplished because she let out a giggle and swatted my chest.
39
SCOTTIE ANDERSON
His confession and dropping the L-word on me clearly wasn’t something I expected because I let out a gasp before his little joke. “You don’t need to say it back,” he quickly tacked on. “And I know it’s all very fast. But… when you know, you just know. And I know. But you take your time… I’ll be here, ready, when you are.”
I felt crazy. I felt certifiably insane when the words slipped from between my lips, “I think I love you too…”
I’d barely finished saying the last word when Nicholas scooped me up into his embrace and hugged me like it meant forever.
Knowing him, it just might.
“You’ve made me the happiest man alive, honey!” He beamed down at me before kissing my forehead, the tip of my nose, my eyelids and then capturing my lips.
Once we broke apart, the reality of the situation came in waves and I felt like I was spiraling. I had planned on coming to his game tomorrow, but now I’d be facing his parents not only as his girlfriend but also as their daughter’s best friend. He’d also told me I’d be meeting one of his best friends, as in one of his childhood best friends - as in, one of the most important peoplein his life. The stakes had gotten so much higher and I was not so low-key starting to freak the fuck out.
“Aww, honey, come here,” he said as he gently laughed. “You’re overthinking all of this. It’s all going to be so amazing. You just wait and see. Stop stressing, sweetheart. Go back to how you were feeling when you told me you loved me back. Let’s just stay right there.”
I laughed. “You mean where I threw caution to the wind and felt absolutely crazy?”
His dimples popped, “Yeah, crazy about me!”
“Oh my gawd, you’re so cocky,” I said and laughed right back.
“Well…” he drawled.
“Oh great, what now?”
“My nickname is The Diva, so cockiness kind of comes with the territory,” and his dimples were still on full display. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to slap them or lick them.
“Ugh, does this mean I have to learn the how’s and why’s and all of the various things about football?”
He just laughed and said, “As long as you’re cheering for me while wearing my jersey, I don’t care how much or little you know, baby. You’ll know the most important thing and that is that you love the best player on the field.”
I just mumbled, “I’ll hold you to that.”
Nicholas had had to go to the stadium early this morning ahead of the game to do whatever he and the team need to do to prep for their game. He’d hired a car service to come pick me up and bring me to The Rage stadium, where I was met by a very nice gentleman by the name of Bob. Bob was an older gentleman who gave Santa vibes with his full beard and round belly.
Turns out, Bob was the head of security and he totally fit the Santa vibe because he was so kind and sweet. He handed me a lanyard with my name and VIP status printed right up front and center on it. “Right this way, miss. Nick wanted me to bring you here and then he asked me to tell you he’d be by to get you as soon as he could. So get comfortable. Grab a drink and snack, and he’ll be right quick - or so he said,” Bob chuckled.
I had thanked him after he brought me to a VIP suite. There were some other people mingling and mulling about, but I kept to myself and just looked over the stadium. All I could say was, “Wow!” It was massive and so impressive.
“She’s a beaut, ain't she,” I hadn’t noticed the older gentleman who’d saddled up next to me by the glass to look at the stadium that was rapidly filling up with fans. “She’s relatively new, still got that new stadium smell and all,” he said as he laughed with his entire body.
I looked at him and took him in, he was tall and quite thick around the middle. His hair was silver and his mustache was a matching silver.
“It’s really quite impressive,” I replied honestly.
“Don’t tell me this here is your first time, darlin’?” he questioned.
“Alright, I won’t tell you that then.” I joked back.
He laughed with his whole body again. “I like you. Got yerself a good sense of humor there. So tell me, which one belongs to you then?” he asked as we both looked down to the field where it appeared both teams were out there and warming up.
“Belongs to me?” I questioned, not quite understanding.
“You’re new here, so I’m assumin’ that you’re most likely a family member to one of my new guys. But you kinda got that there look about ya, whada the kids call it these days? WAGs, right? You look like you could foot that bill,” he said as he laughed good naturedly.
