Page 89 of Love on the Line

She glanced down at her shirt because it killed her to admit he’d been right.

“Uh huh. Nothing to say?” He tapped her on the nose. “To quote my favorite movie line, ‘You can’t handle the truth.’”

She smiled and then tugged her blouse out for a closer look. Ha. All the dog washing had removed the watermelon stain. The insanity of the day bubbled up in her mind, and she couldn’t stop the eruption of laughter. A deep, belly-gut release that took her breath away.

“What’s so funny?”

“M-my shirt. It’s clean. We saved it.” She held her stomach and doubled over with laughter.

Wyatt’s chest rumbled, and he shook his head. “This day stank.”

She swiped the corners of her eyes. “I can’t breathe. Quit it. No jokes.”

“Okay, no more jokes.” He grabbed her hands, met her gaze, and blurted out, “Marry me?”

“Stop it. I said no more kidding.” She tried to pull her hands back, but he held them steady.

“I’m not kidding. I’ve been trying to ask you all day.”

Her heart somersaulted, and the little breath she had left caught in her throat. He couldn’t be serious.

“What?”

“This is nothing like I’d planned, but what the hell?” He glanced at her soaked shirt. “You’re drenched. You’re beat. You rode in the back of my truck holding my skunked dog, and you’ve never looked more beautiful to me.”

She cocked her head as blood pounded in her ears. “But—”

“I’m messing this up and doing it all backwards, because there are some things I need to tell you.” He brought her hand to his chest. “I’m turning down the USC job.”

“But what would you do then?”

He squeezed her fingers. “I didn’t want to say anything until I was sure, but I’ve been talking to University of Maryland, and they offered me an offensive coordinator job.”

Her pulse picked up its pace. “When did you talk to them?”

“This week. They aren’t as big as USC, but that doesn’t matter. Maryland has a great program. I really connected with the head coach, and he’s excited about bringing me onboard.”

A spark of hope ignited in her chest. “What about the Ravens? I mean, you’ll heal up. Don’t they still want you?”

He shook his head. “I’m done playing. The sport is brutal, and I don’t want to be so messed up that I can’t throw a pass to my kid someday.”

A shockwave rocked her body. His kid? “Wait, are you saying—”

“Until you, I never thought about having a family.” He placed a hand on her cheek, and his eyes turned soft. “But then something changed.”

His gentle touch sent shivers down her neck. “What?”

He stared at her, his eyes full of emotion. “I fell in love.”

Anne’s heart rolled, and her stomach did a free fall. He loved her? She’d hoped he would one day, but she never expected to hear the words so soon. Especially after all they’d been through. Then again, overcoming adversity had bonded them. Anyone could get through good times. The true test was when the road got rocky.

“In that alley, when I got knocked out, my last thought was I might never see you again.” His thumb stroked her chin. “When I came to, and no one could tell me if you were okay, I panicked. I couldn’t imagine my life without you.”

She knew the feeling. That night had been the longest in her life, being sick with worry over him. But she had no idea it had affected him so much. “I felt the same way.”

Stunned by his revelations, her brain fought to keep up. The job, the desire for a family, and he loved her. The enormity of it all had her head spinning. “These are a lot of big, life-changing decisions that you’ve come to kind of fast. Are you sure about them?”

“I know we haven’t been dating long, but I’ve never been surer of anything in my life.” He slowly dropped to one knee, not breaking eye contact, and pulled out a ring box from his pocket.

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