I opened the box and placed the giant ring in her hand.
“Are you sure?” she asked. “This is a big deal.”
“I don’t wear rings and I don’t want it to sit on a shelf getting dusty. If you want to, you can wear it on a chain, like a necklace.”
“I love it,” she gushed. “Thank you.”
I felt my heart rate slow back down to normal. I hope she wasn’t disappointed that it wasn’t an engagement ring. I needed more money for that. I knew I was going to ask her to marry me one day- I was certain of that.
She was the most incredible person I knew. She was smart, funny, and sexy as hell. I wanted to give her the world, and I knew she wanted the same for me. Every day with Alexa was an adventure. We were learning new things about each other every day and she was constantly surprising me. I never wanted it to end.
Epilogue
Alexa
When I graduated, I knew that I had no concrete plans. I knew that I wanted to have a career, and to be with Martin. What happened next exceeded all expectations. I don’t think I even imagined that life could have so many surprises.
The day after graduation, Martin and I packed our bags and flew to New York for the draft. The unexpected happened, and he was drafted in the first round.
He was drafted to the Denver Broncos with a ten million dollar a year contract. We moved in with his mom the next week while we looked for a house.
We found the perfect house with all of the specifications I asked for. It was bigger than I even asked for, but then again, his contract was bigger than we thought it would be.
He also paid off his mom’s mortgage so her paychecks could be spent on better things than bills. She was beyond thrilled to have her son and his girlfriend around.
Unfortunately, not everything was perfect. We had been talking for months about having me meet his dad. Martin hadn’t seen him in years, and thought this would be the perfect time to make amends. After putting it off and making excuses not to go, we finally picked a date when we would visit him. We found the halfway house he had been living in, and Martin even talked to him on the phone to set up a time to meet. Then the accident happened.
Just three days before we were supposed to meet, his dad got into a car accident. He had been drunk, and went the wrong way on the highway. He was speeding, lost control, and hit a semi truck.
The truck driver was okay, but the crash killed his dad. The first time I was in the man’s presence was at his funeral. It was a hard time for Martin, especially because his new team reminded him so much of his dad. It took some time, but he got through it, and even funded a wing of a rehab center in his name.
My mom finally came around to having Martin around more. They’re certainly not close, but she speaks cordially with them. He convinced me to spend a few weeks with her over the summer, and it wasn’t that bad. My dad and Martin are practically best friends, though.
I secretly think my dad wanted a son, but my mom wasn’t going to have any more children. My mom and I get along a lot better these days. Our relationship will still need time to heal, but we talk on the phone every couple of weeks.
The most unexpected thing happened soon after graduation. We moved to Colorado, and I felt sick all of the time. Martin thought I just had altitude sickness from being in the mountains. I didn’t think much of it, but after talking to Sasha, she convinced me to take a pregnancy test. I was pregnant!
We aren’t sure, but we think the condom broke on the night of graduation, when we were too drunk to notice. I blame Martin for that little oversight.
At the time, I was pretty upset. I didn’t think I wanted to have a child so soon. Martin was really great, though. After I went to the doctor to confirm the pregnancy, I told Martin that night, thinking he was going to be angry. In fact, he cried tears of joy.
I had never seen him cry before, so of course I turned into a blubbery mess. He had to run to the store to buy a pint of ice cream to get me to stop.
Since I decided to hold off on getting a job, I took classes to get my teaching license. Now I’ll be able to work whenever I’m ready. I followed Martin around to a lot of his games until I was too pregnant to fly.
Because of my bloated belly, I couldn’t try out to be a cheerleader. I was a little disappointed, but the excitement of the baby made up for it.
We had our daughter, Nikki, at the beginning of the off-season. It was perfect timing, because I couldn’t have imagined giving birth without Martin by my side. He was so great and attentive.
I won’t lie, I was pretty annoyed when I was having contractions and all of the nurses were fawning over him. He gets recognized all the time. For the most part, I’ve gotten used to his fame.
Our daughter is absolutely perfect in every way. I could spend all day looking at her little face. I was so worried that I wouldn’t know what to do with a baby, but between the books I read, Martin’s mom, and motherly instinct, it was a breeze. I mean, it was really hard at first, but I had a ton of help. Luckily Martin was around most of the day, so he spent his time talking to our daughter about football. Martin’s mom moved in with us for a few months and was an absolute angel.
My parents visited as much as possible, and I think having a granddaughter softened my mom a bit. She hates the idea of being old enough to be a grandma, but adores shopping for cute—and crazy expensive—outfits for Nikki. Nikki is just as happy wearing Burberry as she is in a football jersey. I’ve already promised her that when she’s old enough to make her own decisions, I’ll let her participate in any activity she chooses. Martin also agreed that we weren’t going to force her to play sports, no matter how much we wanted her to.
After I found out I was pregnant with Nikki, both Martin and my parents wanted us to get married. Martin got a ring, but I refused to get married, just because there was a baby involved. I wanted both of us to be sure we were ready for the next step.
He kept asking me, once a month at first, and then would check in on a weekly basis. I kept telling him no because I wanted to make sure everything was right. In retrospect, this seemed a little mean of me, but I think it made us really decide what we wanted in a marriage.
In the fall, Martin was asked to come back to Princeton to be recognized as a former athlete, now in the pros. Of course, I went with him, and we brought Nikki along. I wanted her to see where mommy and daddy met. Little did I know, our parents were also in attendance.
At halftime, the announcer gave a short speech about Martin’s college career as our little family walked out on the field to wave to the crowd. All of a sudden, the cheerleaders came out and brought him a little box.
He got down on one knee and proposed to me with our parents, our daughter, and my old squad surrounding us. I couldn’t say no if I wanted to, since there were thousands of cheering fans around.
I knew right then that the moment was perfect. This man constantly surprised me and I wanted to be with him for the rest of my life. We’re planning our perfect wedding for next summer in the mountains, near Aspen. I expected my mom to have a venue already booked, but I think she learned her lesson about making plans for me. I wasn’t really someone whose life followed a plan.
Being the girlfriend of a professional athlete was not what I expected. I thought it was going to be crazy parties every weekend and a hectic schedule. In reality, we stay in and watch movies and play with our daughter.
Martin travels for away games every now and again, but he’s really not gone a lot. He’s a great father and always has enough time for his little girl.
I know it wasn’t a conventional first few years out of college, especially from someone as career-focused as me. While my friends were backpacking through Europe or going to loud concerts, I was at home reading stories about puppies and kitties.
Martin’s mom babysat for us a lot, and we went to our fair share of celebrity-filled bashes, but we always wanted to come home early to kiss Nikki goodnight.
I wouldn’t have traded the way thin
gs turned out for anything, though. We got just about everything we ever wanted in life, just all at once. It wasn’t always easy, but it was worth it.
If someone had told me as a youth where my life would have taken me, I would have laughed. For that matter, if someone told me my life would be like this before my last year of college, I wouldn’t have believed it. I learned a while back that there’s no point in trying to control where things are headed.
If I would have stuck to the plan, I would be miserable in the Hamptons, gossiping with other housewives. Now, I’m soon to be married to a professional football player and the love of my life. Our daughter is everything I ever wanted, and we have everything we could possibly want or need at our fingertips.
If I knew anything for certain, it was that rigid plans only led to pain and disappointment. I decided to live my life open and willing to make the best of whatever opportunities popped up.
It was working pretty well for me so far.
If you liked this, keep reading the rest of the Pass To Win series!
Book 2-Line of Scrimmage: A Secret Baby Sports Romance
Book 3-Between The Tackles: A Bad Boy Sports Romance
Book 4-Fourth and Goal: A Bad Boy Sports Romance
Book 5-Game Winning Catch: A Secret Baby Sports Romance
Between The Tackles: A Bad Boy Sports Romance
Copyright © 2016 by Roxy Sinclaire
All rights reserved.
Cover design © 2016 by Resplendent Media
Edited by Teresa Banschbach
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locations is purely coincidental. The characters are all productions of the authors’ imagination.
Please note that this work is intended only for adults over the age of 18 and all characters represented as 18 or over.
April
“Oh! I wish I didn’t have to work today! This seems so unfair,” I thought to myself.
It was extremely unfair. What student wants to work during a school game?
That’s what I was thinking while working during the final game. It was one of the biggest games in college football. I drummed my nails onto the counter as I awaited customers. I didn’t see the point of currently working since no one was going to want refreshments with the most exciting game of the year going on. I didn’t expect anyone to visit the stand with all of the action going on. The biggest game of the season was taking place and here I was waiting for my shift to be over. The entire school was watching the game from the stands. They could feel the rush and see the players live. If you weren’t there, you were nobody. I even saw the dean and the mayor of the city making their way to the field for the game. Almost everyone was there. Everyone that is, except me.
I wished I could watch the game, but I couldn’t. Thanks to my boss, I didn’t have much of a choice. I had to work today. I knew she didn’t like me. She had never liked me and it wasn’t because I had to work during the game, but because she had a habit of giving me dirty looks, talking badly to me and giving me horrible shifts. She gave me the early morning and graveyard shifts which made it very hard to schedule and attend juggle when I also had to take the many intensive courses for my program. I knew I shouldn’t complain. I needed this job. It was the only way that I could afford to go to school. Not even the scholarships I had applied for and gotten would be enough to support me through school. Although I had worked hard and always got great grades in class, I still wouldn’t have been able to get into Michigan State without a job. Tuition was quite high and the law program isn’t exactly a cheap program here.
As I filled up the popcorn machine and checked the soda machine, I sighed. Sometimes I wish I had all the money I needed. Then I could have more time to study and read. Life would be easier and I wouldn’t have to work AND go to school. I could also have a social life and truly experience university life for what it was.
Then I snapped myself out of it. I needed to return to reality. Instead of constantly complaining, I had to put on a smiling face and pray that someone would buy something from the stand, so it wouldn’t feel like a waste of time being here. To make matters worse, I didn’t have any company either because today, I was the only one working at the stand. My boss said that Jenna was supposed to be working with me, but that she dropped out at the last minute. When I talked to Jenna, however, she told me that she didn’t know anything about that shift at all. I was beginning to wonder if I had done something to upset my boss that would warrant this treatment. I wanted to find another job, but this was the only one that I had found which seemed available and paid enough to cover the necessary costs. I knew that one day all this effort would pay off in the long run, but at that moment, it seemed to be so far away. Fortunately, there was a radio nearby and I could hear the game. We were doing pretty well. We were in the lead and there was no way that the other team was going to catch up with us. Momentum really seemed to be picking up as the running back, Nick Barrett was running towards the opposite end of the field. Images of Nick immediately popped into my head. He was the most attractive, wealthy and talented running back at the university. Every girl on campus wanted him and swooned when he walked by and men were quite jealous of him. He seemed to have it all, especially amazing statistics. What I wouldn’t give for him to even notice me! I had such a crush on him, but I tried to be realistic. There was no way someone like him would ever talk to me.
I decided to pay attention to the game. The defense was trying to tackle him but he kept on running. It almost seemed like he wasn’t going to make it. The defensive line from the opposition wasn’t going down without a fight. They kept trying to take him down, but he was quicker than they thought! He kept running and running as fast as he could. He was getting closer to the end-zone. According to the announcer, you could feel the suspense and tension in the air. He crossed the goal line into the end zone and…TOUCHDOWN!
We won! We won! I was so excited that I forgot I was working.
“Yes!” I exclaimed as I jumped up and down. I was so happy that we won. I could hear the cheering all the way over here and I was proud that I was attending the school of the winning team.
Now that the game was over, I felt a pang of wistfulness. I really wished I could have seen the game. It also would have been nice to see Nick Barrett actually make that dash. He was an excellent player and looked really hot in his uniform. To see him play at his best would have been an amazing thing to watch. It would have been amazing to see him in full form.
Most people didn't know that I kept up with sports, but then again, not a lot of people at school knew me. To most people on campus, I only seemed like a nerd whose nose was always buried in a book. But for those who truly knew me, they knew better. They knew I was a huge fan of baseball, basketball, tennis, soccer and football. I also did some sports in high school, but decided not to continue with them as I had other priorities, such as school and work. I have always been into sports, thanks to my dad. We were very close and it was a way for both of us to have quality daddy-daughter time. My mother died a few months after giving birth to me, so I don’t know that much about her. But I was thankful that I had my dad who was loving and supportive. We didn’t always have a lot, but we always had enough and we had each other. I thought I was pretty much blessed just to have that.
I could still hear the crowd going wild. Suddenly, I saw some customers coming to the stand. They seemed to be a couple, who were madly in love as they kept giggling and talking to each other in low voices. I took their orders and checked on the machine. I scooped out some popcorn into the bags and poured out their drinks into the cups. I handed them their orders and watched them walk away. Sometimes, I wished I had time to date people. But I couldn’t. I didn
’t even have time for my friends.
I began to drift off. It had been a while since I went out with anyone. My last date wasn’t so bad. We were getting along just fine. He was a perfect gentleman, but something was missing and even now, I still don’t know what it was. I just wished I could be that close to someone again. Sometimes with all the papers and exams, it would be nice to have some company.
I saw that everyone was clearing out from the field and some were leaving the stadium. Some people were now coming to the stand to get something to drink and eat. I delivered all of their orders and wished I could just leave now. The game was over and the stadium was almost empty.
My boss finally came from the game and scornfully looked at me.
“You can go now,” she then brushed me off.
“I’m supposed to get paid today.”
She looked at me as though I had said something shocking to her. My pay was long overdue. I was supposed to have been paid last week, but since things were stressful, I didn’t remind her.
“No, you are not.”
I was getting upset. I can’t believe she would do this to me.
“Actually, you are right. I was supposed to be paid last week.”
She snuffed, “I don’t think that’s true.”
I showed her the pay slips from last week. She looked at them and realized I was telling the truth, but she tried to play it off as though it was just a simple mistake.
“Oh, well I guess I didn’t see it. I will have to pay you later in the week.”
I couldn’t believe that she would say that. I would have to wait a few more days when I should have been paid already?! What was wrong with this woman? I wanted to get upset. I wanted to say so many things to her. She was being out of line by holding up my pay. But I held my composure. I really needed this job.
Dirty Indiscretions: A Dark Mafia Romance Page 28