Page 128 of Wild Hit
Amid the commotion and glee all around him, somehow my presence is a magnet that has him turning his head clear toward me. I take a step forward that is too timid, too heavy, like my legs are caught in quick sand. Miguel starts making his way between his teammates.
Thomason, who was a fantastic closer for this game, gets the attention of the players around. “Guys, guys. Watch out! It’s time for romance!”
I crack a laugh. Gosh, I love these silly geese. Or silly gators, considering they’re all wearing Lucky’s socks.
If anything, Miguel’s smile grows positively more beautiful as his teammates start clearing a path for him. Finally my legs start cooperating, there’s no cell in my body that can wait any longer.
I’m not the athlete here, but I run—harder than I ever have, my thighs burning and the balls of my feet digging into the green. Miguel blinks in surprise and now he’s the one in quicksand, because he can’t seem to move.
I launch myself at him with all my might, in a feat I probably wouldn’t be able to repeat if I wanted to. My arms wrap around his neck and my legs around his waist. In my haste, his cap gets knocked off and I’m finally kissing him. A whimper escapes from my throat, a recognition that I’d denied this moment to both of us for far too long.
Miguel takes a deep breath even as I devour his mouth, those massive and hot hands splaying across my butt so I don’t fall. Or maybe just because. I squeeze him even harder, delving deeper into his delicious mouth with my tongue, trying to make up for lost time in a single kiss. I release one hand to press it against his jaw, loving the way it works so hard to savor me as well.
A myriad of voices bounce all around us and dazed, I pull back just a little, enough to find nearly the whole team jumping around us.
“Ack!”
Of course, I should’ve expected to be doused with a cold drink. My muscles tighten and I squeeze harder onto Miguel—All-Star, single dad, my fake husband, my real love.
He laughs into my neck, chasing away the cold with his breath.
“I don’t want to get divorced!” I all but shout over his head. In case he didn’t hear me, I lean back again, still hanging off him and knowing he won’t ever let me fall. “I don’t want to lose you. I don’t want to screw up our chance just because I’m always afraid. I like you way,waytoo much—more than I dare to say right now—and I also like who I have become since I’ve met you. I want to learn what being a family is like with Marty and you, and I don’t care what anyone says but—I want to stay with you.”
I’m holding his face, kind of squishing it. There’s a touch of gold in his eyes under the blaring stadium lights, and they search all over my face.Pleasecontinues to repeat in my mind, never have I wanted anything more than I want a lifetime with him.
“Hey Audrey?” Miguel asks softly.
“Yes?” I bite my lip and it catches his attention for a solid moment.
He swallows hard and forces himself to meet my eyes once more. “I also have something to say.”
“What’s that?” My lower lip trembles. I have to use the rest of my willpower to not trap it between my teeth again.
This joyful man gets a glint in his eyes, and next thing he’s squeezing my cheeks a bit harder. Not the ones on my face.
“Turns out I have to disappoint you?—”
“What?” I screech.
“—Because I can’t just be your friend. I want to be that and more. Your lover, your rock, your refuge.”
“You do?” I ask with a thread of voice.
And finally, this friggin’ man breaks into a grin. “Yeah, we might’ve gotten fake married, but I really fell in love with you.”
The fireworks explode in my chest, and laughing, I lean down to claim his lips as mine. Forever.
CHAPTER 48
MIGUEL
After the ceremony and the trophies, and pictures that are going to be etched in the eternity of sports, the real party begins in the clubhouse.
Here is where we get showered with beverages of higher alcoholic degrees—and that includes Lucky. It might not have been a good idea to send him off to the hospital smelling like a bar, but he laughed even harder than anyone else as he was being carted into the back of a private ambulance.
The WAGs have joined in, and it’s great to see every couple in jubilation together and all. But all I want is a moment alone with Audrey.
I don’t know what she is—my girlfriend or wife or something different—but in a deeper language, the kind that one can only feel in the gut, I know she’s my soul. With her I’m complete.
