Page 124 of Bad Teammate
That was when I realized how badly I wanted to make my intentions clear to her. Not just to her, but to the whole world. I wanted everyone to know that I was completely serious about her. That I wanted to dedicatethe rest of my lifeto her.
I wanted to propose to her.
Which brings us to yesterday—which just so happened to be Katerina’s birthday. I took her out to dinner and we went to the symphony afterward, too.
Unbeknownst to her, I’d flown in her best friend, Alina, and all her other closest friends from Russia for a surprise party at our penthouse. All our other friends were there, too—Emma, Austen, the rest of the WAGs, and the whole Devils gang.
The moment we walked into the darkened condo, Katerina was thanking me for giving her thebest birthday ever.She turned on the lights and everyone yelled, “SURPRISE!”
She jumped up and down, hugging all her Russian friends. She was so happy, she cried. She had no idea how I’d arranged to have everyone there.
And the best part was still yet to come!
After everyone had gotten nice and toasty, I grabbed the party’s attention. I thanked everyone for coming, especially those who had come from as far away as Russia, to celebrate Kat’s birthday. Then I told them we had a very special treat—Katerina was going to play piano for us all.
The crowd wentoooohwith excitement. Even her closest friends hadn’t heard her play in years—in fact, most people there had never heard her play in person.
Katerina, on the other hand, shot me a glare. Quickly, she attached herself to my side and started quietly protesting in my ear. “Derek! Why’d you tell them that? I don’t want to do that … I can’t!”
“But you said you wanted to start playing again. And you’ve been playingsobeautifully lately.”
“Yes, but I play foryou!” she said. “I’m not ready to play for so many people yet.”
Truth was, I didn’t actually expect her to play, nor did I need her to. I only needed to get her butt on that bench and the rest would work itself out—hopefully.
With a whole party full of people pleading and cajoling her to play, she finally relented and took her spot at the piano bench with a little sigh of disbelief.
I stood next to her, and everyone surrounded us at the piano. She might have been a little tiffed at me, but I couldn’t help but grin, knowing what was coming.
Katerina lifted the fallboard uncertainly. She gasped a split-second later when she spotted the giant diamond, sparkling on the piano keys. Quickly (but carefully), she shut the fallboard, casting her eyes towards me.
“Derek …,” she said with a mesmerized drawl. “Why is there an enormous diamond ring at Middle C?”
With my eyes locked on hers, I took her hand in mine. “Because I know we haven’t been together for long. But I also know I can’t wait a second longer to spend the rest of my life with you.”
Slowly, I dropped to one knee.
She began to squeal. “Derek!”
“Katerina, will you marry me?”
She jumped off the bench and flew right into my arms, tackling me to the ground as she screamed, “Yes! Yes, I will! Yes, yes, yes!”
With Katerina on top of me, one of the boys passed me the ring. I slid the engagement ring onto her finger and the whole party broke into cheers and applause.
***
Back in the dressing room, Dane still had me in a hug. “Congratulations, big guy. I’m so happy for you,” he said.
“Thanks, D.”
“And Iespeciallyloved how Katerina went from looking like she was about to kill you—when she thought you were the biggest assholeeverfor making her play the piano—to jumping all over you once she saw that freakin’ ginormous rock. Classy proposalanda troll move, all wrapped in one. That gets an A+ from me any day of the week.”
I chuckled. “Yeah, I knew you’d appreciate it.”
(I suppose this is where I should point out that after Katerina had shown everyone her diamond and we all had a round of champagne, she took her seat at the piano, unannounced, and began to play. Everyone stopped talking and hurried around the piano to watch. Later on, I told her she didn’t have to do that—but she told me that she actually really wanted to play and it finally felt like the right time.)
The rest of my teammates—Parisi, Mikey, Matchbox, the twins Brayden and Jaden, new guy Jack Cameron—surrounded me, offering hugs and congratulations.
