Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Quote
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Other Books by Rebecca Brooke
About the Author
Copyright © 2014 by Rebecca Brooke
Cover Design by Regina Wamba of Mae I Design
Editing by Ryn Hughes of Delphi Rose
Formatting by Kassi Bland Cooper of Kassi’s Kandids Formatting
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used factiously, and any resemblance to any actual person, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owner.
All rights reserved.
To Josh and Danielle, don’t let life pass you by.
Andrew
THE FIRST TIME I ASKED Emily out, over a year ago, I did it simply because of her looks. Almost every guy on the team was trying to get her to go out with them and, damn, were they pissed when I finally got to take her out on a date. That night was a wake-up call for me. I wasn’t a manwhore like other guys on campus were, but that didn’t mean I was looking to fall in love either. For me, college was a time to hang out with my frat brothers and my teammates. A time to drink and party, and not worry about girls. Not that I was immune, there were just so many other things I wanted to get out of college, and screwing a different girl every night wasn’t one of them.
Then I had that date with Emily and there was something so different about her. She wasn’t shy or overly girly, and she had no problem telling it how it was. It was a date unlike any other, and I knew I had to see more of her.
At first it wasn’t about love. We had fun together and that’s what I’d come to college for. But over time that connection developed into something else entirely. It took me a while to figure it out . . . and even longer to tell her. For a while there, things got a little rough. I was so freaked out by my feelings that I acted like an ass a lot of the time. Eventually, a friend of mine, Josh, set me straight and I decided to tell Emily how I felt. Turned out, she loved me as much as I loved her. It was time to take our relationship to the next level. Everything about her called to me and I wanted to make her mine.
Emily was my life.
My forever.
Andrew
THE CLOCK ON THE WALL seemed to be moving backward. That, or time was standing still, much to my dismay. All I needed was for Emily to finish class and get to the park before I went insane. I didn’t know why I was so nervous. it wasn’t like she was going to say no. It was just that I wanted everything to be perfect—a moment we would both remember for the rest of our lives. I’d told Emily that we needed to run a few errands before we went to meet our friends, so hopefully she was still clueless as to where we were going.
“Hey,” she said, getting into the car and leaning over the console to give me a kiss. “So where do we need to go?”
“Just one place,” I said, backing out of the parking space.
“You’re being all kinds of shady. What’s up with that?”
Leave it to Emily to cut right to the chase. If I hadn’t been so nervous I probably would have rolled my eyes at her. Then again, that wasn’t always the best idea. “I want to take you somewhere. Can you calm down and go with it, for once?”
“All right, but this better be good.”
At least she had no idea what was going on. “It will be,” I said, staring straight out of the front window, afraid that if I looked her in the eye I’d give myself away. She had the uncanny ability to see right through me—every thought, every feeling. That was what had made it so hard for us a few months ago. She’d recognized that I was in love with her even when I wasn’t ready to admit it to myself. Thankfully, I got my head out of my ass and told her how I felt.
Emily leaned over and turned up the radio, but when the sound of an acoustic guitar filled the air she grumbled and switched the station. Music was something we disagreed on. While I didn’t mind her music, she hated mine. Country just wasn’t her thing.
“Will we be back in time for Lauren’s game?” she asked after we’d driven for a few more minutes.
“Yes, I promise.”
Emily’s friend, Lauren, started dating one of my teammates about a month ago. Josh used to sleep with anything that walked, but when he met Lauren a few months back, it was like he changed overnight. Lauren was the star pitcher for the softball team, and tonight was the first home game of the season. I knew Emily wouldn’t want to miss it, plus we had plans to meet everyone for dinner afterward. When planning all of this, I had thought about waiting until the weekend, but I wasn’t sure I could wait that long without giving it away.
“What are we doing at the park?” Emily asked when we pulled into the lot. “I thought you had errands to run?”
I shut the car off and turned to face her. “No, I thought I could surprise you with a picnic.”
“Really?” Her eyes opened wide, a smile stretching across her face. There wasn’t a part of Emily that I didn’t love, but that, right there, was my favorite. It was a part of her most people never got to see. Most of the time she showed everyone her tough side, yet there was so much more beneath that, and every day I thanked my lucky stars that I was the one who got to see that part of her.
Leaning over the console, I pressed my lips to hers. “Yep. I’ve got everything in the trunk.”
The park was beautiful this time of year and it seemed like we had the whole place to ourselves. We laid the blanket under a tree, unpacking the take out I’d picked up. It wasn’t that I couldn’t cook, but I was too freaking nervous to concentrate. I figured it would be easier to stop by our favorite sandwich shop, especially since Emily ordered the same thing every time. No guess work involved.
Once we finished eating and we were lying on the blanket, Emily curled up against my side. I tried to settle my nerves. I knew if I wasn’t careful my hands would start to shake, and she’d pick up on that immediately and know something was up.
“Thank you for planning this. I needed to relax after this week.”
“You were making yourself crazy.”
She sighed. “I know, but with midterms and everything else going on, I felt like I was being pulled in a thousand different directions.”
I ran my hand up and down her back, stopping to twirl my fingers in her hair every once in a while.
“Well, now that midterms are over you can take a break.”
“For a little bit anyway. Before you know it, finals will be here and we’ll be heading into our senior year.”
“There’s still weeks before we get anywhere close to finals.” Emily wasn’t a good test taker. Every time m
idterms and finals came around, she would go days without sleeping, sometimes without eating, just to get in all the study time possible. No matter how well she knew the information, she was always afraid that once the test was set in front of her, she’d forget it all. With all of the math and science courses I had, tests were kind of my specialty, but no matter how many times I showed her different study techniques, nothing helped calm her nerves. It made me worry to see her so freaked out. Thankfully, being a history major required more research projects than actual tests, but there was always one that left her a mess for days.
“I don’t think I’ll ever stop worrying about it. Test taking just isn’t my thing. At least next year I’ll only have to worry about writing my thesis.”
“Yeah, I think I’d rather take a test than write a paper that long. Besides, you only have one set of finals left this year.
“Yeah, I don’t even want to think about that right now.”
Her body shuddered. Reaching down, I tilted her chin up until her eyes were focused on mine. “Well then, it’s a good thing we don’t have to worry about that then.”
She took a deep, calming breath. “Yeah. What I would like to do is sleep for a week straight.
A large yawn slipped past her lips. I knew she was exhausted. I also knew that there was no way that she’d admit it if it meant missing the game. I decided to not even bring it up. With Emily, sometimes it was better to leave well alone.
She sat up and looked at me with a mischievous smile. Who the hell knew what was going through her mind, I was just happy to see that she was able to clear her head.
Just as quickly as she sat up, she was on her feet, taking steps backward, away from me. Smiling sweetly, she turned and walked toward the swings. Emily climbed on the swing and using her legs, pushed herself as high as she could go. So she was taking my advice to the extreme. Not that I really cared, seeing the beautiful smile on her face and hearing the laughter pealing from her lips was more than worth it.
Glancing at my phone, I saw there wasn’t much time before we’d have to leave and head on over to Lauren’s game. Time was up. No more chickening out. It was now or never.
Taking a deep breath, I stood up and reached into my pocket to pull out the box. My hands were shaking, and even with the cool spring day I could feel the sweat starting to bead on my brow.
The short walk to the swing seemed to take forever. With an almost childlike giddiness, she continued to swing back and forth. Steering clear of the path of her feet, I stepped in front of her and slowly lowered myself to one knee. Catching sight of me, Emily dropped her feet and dragged them across the ground, causing her to stop almost immediately, her eyes widening as she stared, not moving a muscle.
Opening the ring box, I held it out to her. “From the moment I met you, nothing has ever been the same. A date where I was only looking for a little fun turned into so much more. You’ve had me on this roller coaster of life with you, and I’ve learned I never want to get off. The only thing I want to do is spend the rest of my life waking up to you. So, Emily Halliday, will you marry me?”
She sat frozen in her seat for a moment that seemed to stretch on forever. My mouth was dry as I waited to hear her answer. In a flash, she was out of the swing and jumping on top of me.
“Yes!” she screamed, wrapping her arms around my neck. Her lips pressed to mine and it felt as if a fire raced straight through my body. Pulling her closer, I continued to devour her until her mouth opened and my tongue was able to caress hers. The kiss continued, drawing each other closer. Caressing hands, roaming fingers, my body was straining toward hers. I wanted her and I wanted her now. Damn game! There was no way we could miss it. Slowly I pulled out of the kiss, knowing we couldn’t take it any further right now, and I needed my body to calm down.
“I love you so much, Em.” Taking her left hand in mine, I pulled the ring out of the box and slipped it on her finger.
“It’s perfect! How did you know it would fit?”
“Angie helped me find one of your rings to size it up against.” Angie Powers was Emily’s best friend. They were roommates for a few years, right up until Angie moved in with her fiancée, Caleb, last summer. Caleb and I had known each other since freshman year. We met during that first summer when we all came early for practice. Caleb and I both played offensive positions. He was a wide receiver, while I was a running back. He was hard to get to know at first, always keeping to himself, but ever since he met Angie all of that began to change.
When I picked out the ring, all I could think about was wanting to wake up next to Emily for the rest of my life. Shit, she was the first woman I could remember—besides my mother and my sister—who I cared about more than myself. Everything I did was for, or because of Emily. Her blue eyes sparkled, like the diamond I’d just placed on her finger as she looked at me and smiled.
“I love you, Emily.”
Leaning in, she placed a soft kiss on my lips. “I love you too.”
There was a light breeze as we sat there in the grass, Emily eventually moved to sit on my lap. “How long have you been planning this?”
“A few months.” I chuckled thinking about all of the times I’d almost gotten up the nerve to ask her.
“Does anyone else know you did this today?”
“Josh and Angie knew I was going to ask, they just didn’t know when.”
“Can we wait and tell everyone at dinner tonight? I want to see their faces when we’re all together.”
Cupping the sides of her face with my hands, I pulled her face closer to mine. The feel of her sitting on my lap was more than I could take. “Anything you want, babe.” And once again, I covered her mouth with mine for another mind-numbing kiss.
In the back of my brain I knew at some point, even as exquisite as the taste of her lips was, the kiss would have to end, preferably before I ended up in extreme discomfort for the rest of the night. Pulling out of the kiss, I looked down at the gorgeous flush on her cheeks. “Baby, we have two choices, either we can keep this up and go back to my place so I can have my way with you, or we need to call it quits for now so we can make it to Lauren’s game. If it’s the latter I’ll need a moment because I’d rather not have a hard-on for the rest of the night. I’ll take advantage of you later.” I smirked at her.
Giving a quick shove to my shoulder, she rolled her eyes at me. “We are not missing the game so you can get some.”
She stood up and took a step toward the blanket. Before she had a chance to go any farther, I grabbed her hand and spun her around to face me. Wrapping my other arm around her waist, I brought her hips into direct contact with mine, knowing she could feel how hard I was for her. “You can bet your ass we’ll be doing that when we get home.”
She reached down and cupped my balls through the fabric of my jeans. “Sometimes I wonder if your brain is located here, instead of in your head.”
“Maybe it is, but it’s only for you.”
“It better be.” With a quick peck to my cheek, she stepped out of my reach and began to clean up our lunch. Only somewhat reluctantly did I help her. I really wanted to take her back to my place, but seeing her excited about telling everyone, I couldn’t deny her. Not that there was much I could deny her anyway. I’d have forever with her. We could celebrate in private later.
After putting everything back into the car, we made it to the game with time to spare. It was fun to watch Emily doing everything in her power to hide the ring on her finger.
“You know you could always put it in the box for now and put it back on when we get to the restaurant,” I whispered in her ear.
She turned to look at me and I knew that I’d definitely said the wrong thing. “I’m never taking this ring off. Ever.”
Even with the tone of her voice, I had to smile. To be honest, I didn’t want to see that ring come off of her finger either. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and tucked her into my chest. “I love the sound of that.”
“Glad you think
that now, because if you suggest something like that again I might need to kick your ass.”
Wrapping my arm around her, I pulled her closer still, and placed a brief kiss upon her temple. “I wouldn’t expect anything less.”
She smiled and we spent the rest of the game tucked into our own little world. I tried to pay attention, but my mind was elsewhere, imagining many days and nights where Emily and I would find ourselves, arms around each other, just enjoying the other’s company.
I wanted the game to be over. The sooner we got to the restaurant, the better. I couldn’t wait for everyone to know that Emily was going to be mine forever.
With Lauren striking out most of the batters, the game ended pretty quickly and we were finally on our way to Max’s. We managed to get a table in the back to ourselves, so hopefully we wouldn’t drive the other patrons crazy. The place had dark wooden paneled walls that matched the bar that took up most of one side of the room. Everyone quickly order drinks while we waited for Lauren and Josh to show up. By the time they arrived, my nerves had gotten the better of me. It wasn’t as bad as when I proposed, but I just wasn’t sure when would be the right time, at least, until the food came and the conversation seemed to take a natural break.
Standing up, I reached down and took Emily’s hand in mine, pulling her up to stand next to me. “Guys, I have . . . no, we have something to tell you.” This was beyond exciting, and I sucked in a deep breath, savoring the moment. “Emily—”
“We’re getting married!” Emily squealed, effectively cutting me off. I knew she couldn’t contain her excitement, flashing everyone the ring.
Cheers and clapping surrounded us as our friends came over to offer their congratulations. It felt amazing to have the support of our friends, especially when I knew a lot of people would think us too young to be thinking about marriage. Caleb had asked Angie to marry him only a few months ago, but that was different. With everything they’d gone through, Caleb and Angie already seemed older than us.
I knew I didn’t seem like the type of guy to settle down, but everything changed when I met Emily.
Healed Page 1