But we’ve got a job to do and I’m on the field for another extra point which I make and then a kickoff. No funny business this time, I need to land the ball deep in the zone without kicking it into the end zone. And I need the gods to line up so our team makes a quick tackle. Pittsburgh needs a touchdown to win and everyone knows Hail Mary passes have won plenty of games.
I’m screaming my head off, challenging our team to do their jobs, and I’m totally unconcerned with what anyone thinks. I’ve been silent on this team way too long. I place the kick perfectly and we take Pittsburgh down on the fifteen.
We hold them to twenty yards and win the game.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Aiden
The only reason I’m standing upright is adrenaline. Everything will hurt when it drops, but right now I’m riding the winning high that hasn’t stopped since the final game whistle blew. The mood on our midnight flight out of Pittsburgh is much different than our arrival.
Winning cures all evil.
We’re on a private chartered plane. I’ve decided if the entire team knows Jordan and I are a couple there’s no reason to hide it any longer. I grab her hand and pull her to the back with me.
“What are you doing?” she hisses.
“Having you sit by me. Come on.” I sit down and move over, tugging her down beside me. I don’t stop there and once she’s seated, I pull her into my arms and kiss her sweet pouty lips.
“Aiden,” she whispers into my mouth.
“They don’t care,” he says and deepens the kiss.
“Hey, lovebirds,” Lane hollers so everyone hears. “Apparently your romantic spin on the sideline is a trending topic on social media. Twitter and Facebook are going crazy.”
Aiden laughs. “Next thing you know she’ll be cheating on you with me.”
Jordan gasps and I smile smugly with a shrug. “They’ll spin it whatever way attracts the most attention. The truth won’t matter to the rag mags. Our non-couple days are numbered.”
“You did the spin thing on the sideline on purpose.”
I shake my head. “Actually, I didn’t but only because I didn’t think of it.” I give her my best poor is me look. “Are you really angry?”
She snuggles into my side. “No, I’m still high from the game but fading fast. It’s been a long day.”
I kiss her hair and re-adjust our positions so we’re comfortable. We let the cheers and shouts soothe us until the plane quiets down and the lights go out. No way would anyone stop a winning celebration no matter how tired we all are. I manage to nap on and off before we touch down in Albuquerque.
After we land, I try to stand up, but my knee locks up and I grimace.
“It’s your knee, isn’t it?” Jordan asks.
I keep a tight hold on the back of the seat to stabilize myself. “My knee, my ribs, my hip…take your pick,” I breathe heavily.
Jordan’s warm palm rubs my chin. “Buck up, buttercup. We have some fans at the airport and you don’t want them to see you looking like a crybaby.”
Yeah, Jordan fits right in with the guys. I inhale deeply, plaster a smile on my face, and give her a quick kiss on the nose. “Lead the way. I promise not to embarrass you.”
The crowd isn’t large, maybe a hundred diehard fans, but at two o’clock in the morning, it’s amazing. Most are here for Jordan’s signature but I get a few stragglers and I’m asked to sign two of my number fifteen jerseys along with several number nines. The love these fans have for Jordan is off the charts. She’s amazing to watch as she hands out autographs and smiles. The entire team signs the cloth banner someone brought and I heard it will be auctioned for charity.
Our bus drops us back at the stadium and I head in to see a trainer and get some pain meds so I can get some decent sleep. Jordan stays with me because she promised to sleep at my place and enjoy a lazy day with me on victory Monday. I haven’t had many victory days off and I plan to enjoy this one. A table opens up in the training room and I slide on it with only a towel wrapped around my hips. The team doctor walks over and examines my knee. After an injection in my ass for pain, I receive a nice bag of ice for the knee. I’m accustomed to this pain and it’s no worse than usual after a tough game. On a scale of one to ten, I tell the doctor I’m a five. I run through my list of injuries and he writes it all down. A masseuse steps in and he and a trainer begin working on me. I can’t help my loud groans when they hit the spots that need the most attention. Before leaving, I schedule an appointment for much later in the afternoon.
With the injection and ice, my knee feels better, though I know it’s deceiving and the best medicine is to stay off of it. Jordan and I wearily make our way to my apartment and fall into bed.
Jordan’s hair sliding across my face wakes me hours later. I stretch and take inventory of my injuries. The shot in my ass is still working and will give me twenty-four hours of relief. Hopefully with ibuprofen and physical therapy, this will keep me off the injured list. I turn on my side and look at the woman lying beside me.
Her hair covers half her face and a pillow covers the other half. She’s a pillow hog of the first order. I carefully pull her hair aside so I can see her mouth. Those lips, even without lipstick, drive me wild. She bats my hand away and groans.
“It’s too early,” she whines.
“You stay in bed and I’ll see what Carma prepared for us.”
Jordan moves the pillow away and peeks at me through eyes still covered by hair. “I don’t think there is a Carma,” she says sleepily. “You made her up.”
“Hmm.” I move the hair aside. “You wouldn’t say that if you ever tasted my cooking.”
Her hand sneaks out of the covers and she runs it across the bare flesh of my hip. “How are you feeling?”
I lift her wandering hand and kiss her knuckles. “As good as new,” I lie.
“Then I want orgasms for breakfast,” she says huskily.
“It’s afternoon all ready.”
She wiggles her fingers from mine, slides her hand over my thigh, and wraps her warm fingers around my thickening cock. “You sure do complain a lot for a man who’s about to get laid.”
“Me?” I pull the sheet aside and view her beautiful body. “No way. One orgasm coming up.” I slide closer so our bodies are touching.
I’m surprised when she half sits and peers down at me. “Lay back, big guy, and let me do the work.” She lifts her leg over my hip, grabs a condom from the bedside drawer, and slides it on. She adjusts herself on the tip of my cock before sinking down over me. I take her breasts in my hands and watch her lips. She licks them as she watches me because she knows it drives me crazy. Her hands come down on my upper arms and she increases her speed as we keep our eyes locked. Her expression goes dreamy and her fingernails dig in as she draws closer to her promised orgasm.
This is what I want every day for the rest of my life.
“You with me, big guy?” she moans.
I thrust upward and move my hands to her hips and take over the rhythm. Her pussy squeezes me with her release. Two thrusts later, I’m there with her.
We shower and after that we head to the kitchen. Since Jordan has been spending more time here, Carma prepares larger meals. Today’s turkey potpie casserole comes with a salad too. We watch sports TV while the casserole heats.
“Rumors abound after yesterday’s embrace on the sidelines. Maybe Lane Grisham is being replaced with star quarterback Aiden Patrickson?”
My impromptu twirl is played again and again while the discussion continues.
Jordan slaps my thigh. “You knew that would happen.”
“Knew what?”
“That they would accuse me of dumping Lane.”
I can’t help my smile. “You weren’t with Lane.”
“But they thought I was and it took the pressure off us.”
I move her so she’s sitting on my lap. “I like the pressure of us.” I can see the worry in her eyes and I know there will be things said about our
relationship that aren’t true. Mostly bad things. We’re public figures and have no choice, but that doesn’t make it easier.
Jordan cups my face in her palms. “Where are we going with this, Aiden?”
I know what she’s asking. This is about our relationship…our future. It’s time that I let her know exactly how I feel. “I want you in my life. I want to wake up with you each morning. I want to plan our future.”
She leans in and places the sweetest kiss on my lips. “I love you, Aiden Patrickson.”
Love. It’s what I feel. It runs through my veins and fills my soul and my woman loves me too. “I love you, Jordan Givens.”
The kitchen timer goes off and we laugh. Over our meal we make a game plan to handle the media. The team’s experts will have their say, but Jordan and I have a few items they won’t be so keen on.
We’re taking our relationship completely public and Jordan is moving in with me.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Jordan
Happily ever after depends on many factors in the lives of professional football players. A winning season is one of those factors. I wish I could report the Pronghorns won the Super Bowl but I can’t. We did make it to the first round of the playoffs, where we lost to Killian’s team. The Scorpions took out their revenge on the season-opening loss to us. They stomped us. It wasn’t a nice way to end the season but after the mental defeat wore off, we accepted our winning record for the year determined to make the following year even better. When you’re winning, the fans love you and for the first time we took our team to the playoffs, so we rode high on public support.
Coaches, players, and fans took my relationship with Aiden like champs. Poor Lane, no matter how many times we denied it, he remained the jilted other man. He didn’t mind and he told me it did wonders for him with the ladies.
I moved in with Aiden and we navigated the waters of living together. Between public appearances, endorsements, staying in shape, charity events, and off-season practice we’re always busy.
A few weeks into off-season, Aiden became unusually quiet and I knew something was bothering him. Contract negotiations are always hell and Aiden’s contract is on the board now that he’s a free agent. Of course he wants more money and he’s earned it with this year’s stats. I never doubted the Pronghorns would come around and meet his demands. The waiting is hell, though.
On a rare shopping day with Candice and Steph, the three of us end up at a sports bar for lunch so we can catch up on family gossip, mostly about Steph’s new man, and see a few sports highlights.
The new man in question is an attorney and Steph blushes whenever Candice brings him up. “She gets those mushy ‘I want you’ eyes like my brother does with you,” she tells me to tease Steph.
“I do not,” Steph says on a strangled laugh.
The three of us are laughing when Aiden’s picture flashes across the screen and my not-so-favorite sportscaster cuts in. Mike Goodwyn is in rare form.
“The Pronghorns’ favorite little kicker won’t be happy that her boyfriend is moving to Arizona and taking the recently retired Killian MacGregor’s spot as starting quarterback.”
I literally gasp when he says it. Candice’s hand comes down on mine. “It’s not true. No way would my brother leave you.”
I dig my out phone, which has been on silent, from my pocket and see that I’ve missed several calls and texts from Aiden. I read one of the texts asking me to call him. The last text asks me to meet him back at the apartment.
My heart is beating a hundred miles an hour because I absolutely know what Mike Goodwyn said is true. It’s also the reason Aiden has been moody lately and the ass didn’t tell me. I’m caught between anger, shock, and profound sadness.
Candice and Steph want to come with me to face their brother, but I tell them no. I walk through the front door of our apartment ready for a fight. The look on Aiden’s face stops me.
He’s only wearing a pair of brown board shorts. My eyes wander down his body from his head to the tips of his bare feet and then travel back up. It’s his expression that makes my heart go cold. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t say anything. Someone leaked it to the press this morning and as soon as I heard, I tried calling you.”
All the fight goes out of me. Aiden is miserable. “You’re going,” I say because there would be no worry about any of this if he weren’t.
His eyes gut me. “I wanted to talk to you about it first.”
He spreads his arms and I walk into them knowing he just answered my question. The man I love is moving to another state to play for another team. He doesn’t need to tell me all the reasons. Money, a front line that kicks ass, and the chance to win that coveted Super Bowl ring. I get it.
I’m also dying inside.
∞∞∞
Aiden
When my agent called two weeks ago with a possible offer from the Scorpions, I couldn’t believe it. He told me about a signing bonus bigger than my current yearly income and I almost dropped the phone. I’m sure every player who faces the option of moving to a new team feels like I do. The Pronghorns are my extended family. They’re part of me and I’m part of them. The difference between me and those other players is they don’t have a woman they love staying behind because she’s a Pronghorn.
The secrecy of the negotiations has made my life hell for two weeks. My mom and Ty upended their lives once to follow me and I know without asking that they won’t do it again. Candice is too involved in her travel and school teams to readily make the move even if they could convince her. They’ve made a life here. So had I.
I love Jordan with my entire being.
She understands dreams, though. When mine comes true, a huge part of me will stay behind with her. I hold her in my arms and try to find the words to explain why I’m taking the offer. Money and fame seem like poor excuses.
“I’m sorry,” I say again because I. Am. So. Damn. Sorry.
Her tears wet my shirt and my heart breaks a little more. I’ve seen Jordan in almost every situation, including physical pain, and she never cries. It makes her sadness much more real. “Don’t say anything right now, just hold me,” she whispers.
Eventually, we make our way to the couch. “Do your parents know?” she asks softly.
“I called Mom and left her a message after I tried to call you. She hasn’t called back. She had something planned today with Ty and I’m not sure when they’re expected home.” I rub Jordan’s arm and smooth her hair off her face. “It killed me not to tell you about this. I argued until I was blue in the face.” She shrugs slightly and I try to think of something more to say that will make this right. It’s a lost cause because I knew this would be impossible.
Jordan takes a deep shuddering breath. I’m worried she’ll begin crying again but she squirms around and straddles my lap. Her swollen, watery eyes will haunt me forever. She cups my face and brings her lips almost to mine. “I love you and I want you happy. You’ll be playing for the best team in the league and your career will take off. You’re so good and the Pronghorns only hold you back.” She kisses me with those amazing pouty lips that attracted me the first time we met.
I place my forehead against hers. “I love you. We can make this work.” It’s a plea. She hasn’t had time to think about the ins and outs of us living in two states much less playing for different teams. We’ll prove love conquers all.
Her lips tremble with a brave smile. “Tell me about the deal.”
It’s such a relief to spill the details. As much as I try, I can’t hold back my excitement. Jordan listens to everything I say before resting her head against my chest and squeezing me around the waist.
“You’ll be an awesome Scorpion and better than Killian MacGregor ever was.”
It helps to laugh. “Not by a long shot, but after I get my feet wet, the record books better watch out.” I hug her back tightly even more aware of what a gem she is.
“When do you leave?” she asks.
“I’m
expected in Phoenix on Monday to look through the contract and see if there are any last minute changes that need to be made before I sign.”
“Two days,” she whispers.
“We have so many things we need to discuss. Rick Dove is working overtime and issuing a press release tomorrow. I originally planned to sit down with you tomorrow.”
“I don’t want to waste our time. Make love to me, please.” She leans back and wiggles her lipstick out of her back pocket. I smile as she liberally smears it across her lips before she leans in and kisses me.
I don’t care if I can’t walk to get on the airplane Monday morning. As long as Jordan can’t walk either, I’ll be a happy man.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Jordan
I’ll stay in Aiden’s apartment for the foreseeable future. It’s sad that I really don’t want to. He talks about a long distance relationship like it won’t change anything. I know it will. His life and dreams will intertwine with the Scorpions in no time. They’ll become his everything. Football is no place for love. I’m learning that the hard way.
Dreams.
I think of them a lot during the two days we have before Aiden’s move is set in stone. We make love, talk, I cry, and Aiden holds me. I’m doing everything I can to be strong and make this easier on him. It’s anything but easy.
He loves me. More than anyone, I understand what it means to have your dreams within your grasp. I left my father behind for my dreams. Aiden will leave me.
I drive him to the airport on Monday morning.
“This will work out,” he tells me before walking away.
I drive back to the apartment holding back tears. I cleared everything from my schedule so I could rest in bed for the day and cry my eyes out with no one around. What wasn’t in my plans was Candice waiting in the lobby. She runs up and hugs me when I enter the front doors of the building. “My brother’s a jerk. He can’t do this,” she wails.
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