He scratches his head.

His teammates say things to him and he still stands there.

The clock is ticking. Maybe he doesn’t want what I want after all.

Then he starts to run toward me. He jogs in my direction, and my heart is in my throat. I have tears running down my face, and I don’t care.

When he gets to the wall, he stares up at me. There’s no way he can come up this high, so I drop the board with the check boxes and the pen on the ground in front of him. He grins up at me and lays the board on the grass. He takes the pen and starts to check a box. Then he stops and looks up. Then he moves like he’s finally going to do it. Then he stops and looks up. I’m going to kick his ass if he keeps messing with me. Then he checks the yes box and holds the board up for the whole stadium to see.

The buzzer goes off and he has to run with his teammates back onto the field to play the last two minutes of the half. When that’s over, just before he goes into the tunnel, he turns back and flashes me the I love you sign, along with a big smile. My heart settles.

I can’t wipe the grin from my face as I go back to my seat and sit down. Marta lays a hand on my back. “I knew you could do it,” she says.

“I’m glad you did, because I wasn’t sure.”

For the rest of the game, I accept congratulations from complete strangers. It’s chaotic and wonderful and at the center of it all, there is a sense of peace. Of wellbeing. A feeling like I am where I should be.

Sam

I step out of the locker room and run into one of my teammates. My hair is damp from my shower and I don’t care. I just want to see her. I can’t imagine how tough that was for her to make a public declaration like that. She has more balls than I gave her credit for.

“Dude,” my teammate says. “Watch where you’re going.” But he’s grinning. “You still got your head in the clouds.”

I grin. “Yeah.”

Then I turn the corner and I see her standing there. She’s leaning against the wall, her hip hitched against the concrete. Her coat is slung over her crossed arms, and she smiles shyly at me when she sees me. I hold up the check-yes-or-no sign, because I saved it. I’m going to keep it forever. Her cheeks go rosy. She ducks her head like she’s suddenly shy.

I’m grinning like a damn fool, and I don’t care.

I jog over to her and stop just before I can touch her.

“Hi,” she says.

“What’s up?” I reply, but I can’t smother my grin.

“I don’t know.” She rolls a rock with the toe of her shoe.

“I’m glad you’re here,” I tell her. I push a lock of hair behind her ear.

“Are you?” Her voice is so quiet that I can barely hear her.

I nod.

Then I grab her. I can’t help it. I grab her and pull her against me. I need to feel her, to touch her, to smell her. I kiss her, because I really need to taste her. I hear the tiny little noises she makes when she’s excited, and she growls against my lips.

The coach barks out, “Knock it off, Reed!”

I lift my head, but I imagine I have stars flying around my head like Sylvester the cat after he gets hit with a rolling pin.

“But she’s Mrs. Reed, coach!” I call back.

“Congratulations,” he says drolly. But he’s smiling too. “Now get a room.”

My phone dings in my pocket. I pull it out and laugh. It’s a text from Paul.

I show her the phone and she blushes. Use a condom, it says.

“Hope you have a whole box,” she whispers.

My eyebrows are probably near my hairline at that remark. I grab her hand and take her to the exit, where we catch a cab back to the hotel. “When do you leave?” I ask.

“In the morning,” she says sadly.

“Me too.” I pull her legs across my lap because I just can’t stop touching her.

“How’s your leg?” she asks.

I nod. “Better.”

I nuzzle my nose into her neck and she giggles. She touches my eye, which is still a little purple from her father’s fist. “Sorry about that,” she says.

I shake my head. “Don’t be. When we have a kid, I’m going to be the same way.”

“So…” she says slowly.

“So…you want to make cupcakes with me, huh?” I grin.

“Yep. I want to adopt one, too.”

I nod and pull her closer. “Okay.”

We get to the hotel room finally. She doesn’t wait. She starts stripping off her clothes. She’s not bashful at all. Not a bit. When she’s naked, she struts over to me. “So…you want to start on those cupcakes tonight?”

I pick her up and toss her onto the bed. “Hell yeah.”

She’s so beautiful, all spread out on my bed. Her breasts are heavy and they hang to the side a little. She spreads her thighs while I watch and dips her finger into her pussy, then brings it up and swirls it around her clit.

I fall onto the bed between her thighs and replace her hand with my lips. She threads her fingers into my hair, and the little noises she’s making nearly undo me. I arch my hips against the bed, trying to soothe my aching dick. I haven’t so much as even thought about coming since the last time I saw her, and my balls are aching to sink inside her. And immediately disgrace myself.

I part her folds with my fingers and suck her clit into my mouth, lapping at it with insistence while I suckle her tender flesh. She cries out, and I slide two fingers inside her. Almost immediately, she squeezes around my fingers and comes. Her hands in my hair hold me against her pussy, and I make my lips more tender as she comes down from her orgasm.