by Kaci Rose
“I ordered pizza for the guys, it’s past lunchtime.”
“Thank you, Clint.”
He nods and leans against the counter.
“This was your grandma’s house?”
“Yeah, grew up here. It was too hard to come back until Gina and Denver came with me over Christmas break. Having them here it felt like home again.”
“When did you put the alarm system in?” he asks.
“January of this year. Mr. Burns next door oversaw it. They are good friends of the family. His son is in high school and does all the landscaping here. I talked to him about making sure the drive and all is shoveled if it snows, so Gina doesn’t have to do it. They will also keep an eye on her.”
“Good.”
“You going to ask her out or not?” I get right to the point.
“Don’t beat around the bush, do you?”
“Nope. I’m not her daughter, but the first time I met her Denver was rescuing me from a bad blind date and he took me home to his moms and she made fried chicken. She treated me like I was family ever since. I’m protective of her and have no plans of going anywhere.”
“Been looking to expand the offices a bit. Was looking at Knoxville, but I think Nashville has potential.”
Just then Denver walks in and wraps his arms around me, ignoring Clint.
“Nashville does have potential. It’s the state capital, they have a good airport, country music, good food, all things Johnny Cash.” I smile.
He smiles too. “And now Gina.” He nods. “Denver, can I talk to you?”
I laugh and head out to help Gina unpack.
Later that night, lying in bed with Denver, he sighs. “Clint asked my permission to date my mom.”
“Did you give it to him?” I ask.
“Yeah. They have a date next week.”
“Good. I like him.”
“A little too much,” he grumbles.
“You know my comment wasn’t because of his looks, it was because I saw his face when he looked at your mom, it’s the same one you give me. I knew then.”
He leans up on his elbow and looks down at me.
“What look do I give you?”
“Like I’m your whole world. How much you love me is written all over your face in that one look.”
“Because you are my whole world, sweet girl, my everything, always.” He mummers before his lips land on mine.
Epilogue
Avery
2 years later
The crowd goes wild as Denver completes another touchdown. As always, he looks back toward my seat, places his hand over his heart then kisses his hand and points to me. He does this at every game now, home or away.
The sports guys on ESPN love it, and it’s made girls everywhere go crazy for him. Neither of us like that last part, but he does it for me, and that’s all that matters.
It’s been an eventful two years since the day we moved Gina into my house in Nashville. Clint opened up a Nashville office and they started dating. He treats her like gold and just asked her to marry him over Christmas this year. He took her to a cabin in Gatlinburg for a weekend. She said yes and has been smiling much more.
I look over at them now. The three of us haven’t missed a game of Denver’s since he was drafted first round to the Tennessee Titans. Clint insisted on making sure we had seats for every game. He wanted to rent out VIP box at every stadium, but Gina and I put our foot down, unless the weather is really bad. Like when they played the Green Bay Packers in Wisconsin in December.
It’s a good thing I can write anywhere. When Denver found out I wanted to write books, he insisted I do it, he wanted me to be happy. So, I wrote a romance novel based on our story, called Just One Kiss. It sold like crazy and made the best seller’s list. Then I let leak that it was based on our story and it went crazy again.
I couldn’t get another book out fast enough, but book two just released last week and it’s based on Gina and Clint’s story. They loved that I wanted to write it and I’ve donated the proceeds to the charity Denver and I started.
His first year on the team he has earned his nickname the Lighting Bolt and fans have gone crazy over it. There are T-shirts and everything. When the name gained popularity, we partnered with the team and made some Lightning Bolt merchandise, and all the proceeds go to help single moms with everything from food and bills to helping put them and their kids through college.
Our last year of school we took a leap of faith and Denver moved in with me and Kelsey over the summer. We hadn’t spent a night apart, so it just made sense. It worked out really well because Gina visited more and cooked for us a lot.
Kelsey and I are still best friends. She lives here in Nashville and has been dating one of Denver’s teammates for the last year. It seems to be pretty serious. She was pissed when on graduation day I gave her back the money she had been paying in rent.
I told her she needed to use it for a place to stay when she got a job and I wasn’t taking no for answer. She agreed, but for the last year every time we meet for our weekly lunch date, she insists on paying.
As the NFL draft got closer Denver got more and more nervous. Finally I had to sit down with him and explain that it was a good thing that so many teams were talking about him and I had every intention of going wherever he did, and his mom could stay in my house.
When he realized we wouldn’t be apart no matter where he ended up, he calmed down. When he was drafted to the Titans, he fell to his knees and almost cried. When he was asked about his reaction in an interview later, I will never forget his response.
“My mom was a single mom and busted her butt to raise me, sometimes working two jobs just so I could play football. In that moment, knowing I could flip the tables and finally take care of her was everything I had ever dreamed of.”
Another interviewer asked what the first thing he bought with his signing bonus was.
“I bought my mom her own place, a new car, and took her and my girl shopping. I spoiled them both.”
Not too long after that, some rumors started to fly that I was with Denver for his money and had leeched on to him for his climb to fame. He was pissed, and while I said to just ignore it, he made it known that I had my own money and no reason to want his. He was pissed about the media attack on me and made it clear to any news outlet who went after me or his mom that he would refuse interviews and would file charges against.
The fans went crazy with how protective he is. When Gina moved into her new place, Clint grumbled that he wanted her to move in with him. She said his penthouse was too big and if he wanted them to live together, he could move in with her and live more simply or deal with it.
Clint had them moved into her place the next day. He has also helped her with her interior design business. He does real estate and conveniently started in the housing market when he moved to Nashville, so he’s hired her to stage all his homes for sale and decorate his rentals. Rentals he rents out to single moms at a hugely reduced rate.
He works with the women’s shelters and he won’t admit it, but I know there is one mom who is eighteen, her parents kicked her out because she is pregnant, and he made her a deal. She could live there rent free as long as she graduated high school and got a college degree. I also know he is paying for the degree even though he won’t admit it. Clint is a big ole softy he just doesn’t let anyone who isn’t close to him see it.
Things with Denver and I have been amazing. He moved into Grandma’s house with me and we made it a home. Gina did a great job decorating it, Denver added a killer outside kitchen and seating area complete with an outdoor TV. He’s trying to convince me to allow him to add a pool, but we settled for a hot tub for now. He did insist on a few more security features such as a fence all around the property, including a front gate.
I agreed so long as we could still do all the Christmas lights. The house is set back far enough that we can still put the lights up and be seen but have our privacy from people on the street.
Denver has gained popularity in the NFL real quick. He’s scored more touchdowns than anyone this year and is the reason the Titans are playing in the Super Bowl today.
Denver and Clint banded together and insisted we share a VIP suite with some other families from the team for safety reasons, so we agreed. He also agreed with Clint on getting us each a security detail while at the stadium today. They are both overprotective. My mom and dad are also with us today. They already consider Denver their son and have made it to many of his games especially the away games because it meant they would be traveling.
They are now in the last sixty seconds of the game and I turn to Mom, Dad, Clint, and Gina.
“I can’t stay here!” I get Rob’s attention, my bodyguard, as I call him and head down to get as close as I can to the Titan’s side of the field. Titans are up by seven points, but Dallas has the ball. All they have to do it stop them from scoring, but if I know my Denver, that won’t be enough.
It happens so fast I don’t see it. One minute Dallas is supposed to have the ball and the next Denver is pulling away from the crowd running toward the end zone faster than I’ve ever seen him run. I know he has the ball without having to see it, but I know the moment the crowd does, and the Tennessee fans go crazy. Thirty yards, twenty yards… I don’t realize I’m holding my breath. Ten yards… touchdown! I’m yelling right along with the crowd.
Denver grabs his chest then points to the VIP box where he thinks I am and whips off his helmet as the team rushes him. He just won the Super Bowl for his team. Even if the kicker botches the field goal, which I know he won’t, they’ve won.
Denver runs over for some water and I know the moment he sees me because he changes course and pulls me over the fence and onto the field.
“We did it, baby.” He kisses me, but I pull back.
“Denver, you did it.”
“No, this was us, everything that happens on that field is us, because you support me, you haven’t missed a game, you deal with my crazy schedule and love me through it all, so we did it.”
He kisses me again and I don’t realize we are moving until he sets me down and I see we are at the fifty-yard line. He tucks some hair behind my ear and smiles at me.
“I knew freshman year you were it for me. One kiss is all it took. That second kiss? I knew we’d be here one day, no matter how long it took.” He smiles, and his coach walks up and takes his helmet and shakes his hand. He walks back off without a word and it’s then I realize how many eyes are on us. His whole team is lined up watching on the sideline.
“Eyes on me, sweet girl,” he says. I look back at him and when my eyes meet his, he drops to one knee and it’s then I realize what’s happening.
“I dreamed of this day, winning the Super Bowl, since I started playing football. Since freshman year I dreamed you’d be at my side when I did. When the day it was announced we’d be here, I knew that win or lose, I’d be right here after the game. I love you, Avery Jessa Hayes, with my whole heart. Your support is the reason I’m here today; I know I couldn’t have done this without you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you by my side. I want to wake up at 3 a.m. and find you writing because an idea came to you, I want to know you are always in the stands, I want to convince you to let me put a pool in our back yard, I want to have kids and watch them grow up in that house like you did. But most of all? I want to go to sleep every night with you in my arms and wake up the same way. Will you do me the honor and be my wife?”
A hush falls over the crowd, but I don’t see any of them, all I see is my future down on one knee offering me the life I always dreamed of.
“Yes!”
His team roars, as does the crowd. Denver slips the ring on my hand as his team circles around us cheering. It’s a day we won’t ever forget.
Later that night at the hotel suite Denver got us, we are taking a bath together, my back to his chest just soaking everything in.
“What kind of wedding have you always dreamed of, sweet girl?” Denver asks me has he runs his hand up and down my sides and kisses my neck.
“I think we should do something small, just family a few close friends but a destination wedding.”
“Is that what you always dreamed of?”
“As a kid, I thought I’d marry a prince and have a big Princess Diana wedding. I’m not quite into that anymore. But I think we should get married soon before I start to show…” I have to bite my lip. His hands stop and he sucks in a breath.
“Avery?”
“You’re going to be a daddy. I found out this morning just after you left.”
His hands smooth over my stomach and his face is in my neck. A few tears run down my shoulder.
“God, I love you Avery, so damn much. I didn’t think there was anything better than you agreeing to be my wife today, but you managed to find it. I promise to spend the rest of my life taking care of both of you.”
“And we will spend our lives taking care of you too.”
Want More Kaci Rose?
Make sure to check out Accidental Sugar Daddy!
An accidental meeting. An unconventional offer. An undeniable attraction...
Ellie wasn’t looking for a Sugar Daddy. The second she realized she had accidentally stumbled into a mixer of Sugar Babies looking for daddies, she started for the door. Then the sizzling hot guy at the bar caught her eye. What started as a simple dinner date turned into an offer too tempting to resist. Join him at work events and social gatherings for one month—no sex involved—and make enough money to ease the burdens she faced as a single mom. Surely, she can resist her attraction to him for one month...
As far as Owen was concerned, Ellie was a complete mystery. She agreed to his offer yet hated for him to spend any money on her. It didn’t add up... until he discovered she was a mother. He wasn’t looking for an insta-family, yet the more time he spends with Ellie and her kids, the more he wants them in his life.
Can what started as a business arrangement shift into more? Or will their unconventional start ruin a chance for a beautiful forever?
This is a VERY Steamy, Billionaire, Sugar Daddy Romance. No Cliffhangers.
As always there is a satisfying Happy Ever After.
If you love steamy romances with insta love, hot love scenes, and billionaires, then this one is for you.
This is steamier then any book I have written to date. You have been warned.
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Rock Springs Texas Series
The Cowboy and His Runaway – Blaze and Riley
The Cowboy and His Best Friend – Sage and Colt
The Cowboy and His Obsession – Megan and Hunter
The Cowboy and His Sweetheart – Jason and Ella
The Cowboy and His Secret – Mac and Sarah
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The Cowboy and His Mistletoe Kiss – Lilly and Mike
The Cowboy and His Valentine – Maggie and Nick
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