“What’s happening?” I asked Kyle.
He only shrugged at me, but he was smiling.
“Kina and Kyle Peterson, please come down to the field,” Jacob said, his voice booming over the loudspeakers.
“What is this?” I asked.
Kyle shrugged. “I don’t know, but I guess we better get going. The world is watching.”
I swallowed hard and followed Kyle through the corridors that eventually led us to the tunnel that opened onto the field. When Jacob saw me, he grinned. I thought being in front of all these people would be intimidating, but the lights were so bright, I hardly saw them. I could only hear their roar when we walked out onto the field.
“First,” Jacob said. “I want to award Kyle with this team jersey.”
He held up a team jersey with his name and number on it and the crowd went wild. Kyle clapped Jacob on the back and accepted the jersey, pulling it on. He turned around and pointed at the number and the crowd went wild.
“Why did you keep this secret from me?” I asked Jacob.
He grinned at me. “You’ll see, babe.”
He pressed the mic to his lips again and music started playing over the sound system. For a moment, I thought he was going to start singing, but then he dropped to one knee.
“Oh, my God,” I said, clapping my hands to my mouth. The crowds roared.
“Kina Peterson, love of my life,” Jacob said into the mic. “Will you marry me?” He held out a velvet box.
The whole world was watching. The stadium was full and cameras all over the world were trained on my face. This was the most elaborate proposal I had ever heard of. And I knew exactly what to say.
I grabbed the mic from Jacob. “Yes!”
The crowd exploded, and it was like thunder. Jacob took the ring out of the box and slid it onto my finger. The diamond was so big, it was almost overkill. Almost, but not quite. I was laughing and crying at the same time, and Jacob got to his feet to pull me against him. He spun me around, dipped me, and kissed me.
When he planted me back on my feet, I was giddy with happiness, dizzy with the dip. Kyle looked at me, grinning from ear to ear.
“You knew about this,” I said.
Kyle laughed and nodded. “And I’m more than happy to have gained a brother,” he said.
He gave Jacob a man hug, the two men clapping each other on the backs.
“My sweetheart, I have to get back to winning this game,” Jacob said, pulling me against him again. “But I will see you afterward, and we will seal the deal.”
He winked at me.
When we left the field, the crowd was still going mad. I made my way to our seats, feeling like I was walking on air.
Brian and Sadie, and Hanson and Lacey, came over to congratulate us. Liam was with them, babbling up a storm.
“I can tell you’re so happy,” Lacey said, as she hugged me.
“Yes!” I told her. “I never knew falling in love could be so great.”
“See?” she asked. “I told you so. You should listen to your best friend more often.”
“Yes, I really should,” I agreed.
The Sharks won. The score was ridiculous, they were so far ahead. They could have called the game halfway through; it was pointless for the Stallions to even try to catch up.
“I’m going home,” Kyle said. “I have work in the morning, and I’m tired.”
I nodded and hugged my brother.
“Congratulations, sis,” Kyle said. “I’m so happy for you. Jacob’s a great guy.”
I smiled and thanked him. Jacob really was the best guy.
I made my way down to the locker room where the boys were getting showered and dressed after their game. I waited outside. One by one, the men came out. They all congratulated me, hugging me, kissing me on the cheek. It felt like we were one big family.
When Jacob didn’t show, I knocked on the locker room door and opened it.
“There you are,” I said and stepped in. Jacob was the only one left. I reached for the door and locked it.
Jacob grinned at me, noticing what I’d did.
“I was looking for you,” I said.
I walked to him and kissed him. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close for a deep kiss. He was freshly showered and smelled like soap and clean clothes. I felt his erection against my hip. I reached between our bodies and stroked him, rubbing my hand up and down his shaft.
Jacob made a growling noise at the back of his throat. And pulled my shirt up roughly, pulling down the cup of my bra and exposing my breast. He took my nipple into his mouth and sucked on it, grazing me lightly with his teeth. I gasped and tipped my head back.
While he sucked on me, his fingers pushed into my pants, and he started working them over my hips. He was getting me naked, and I liked it. Jacob had to step back to finish the job. My pants were on my knees, and I pulled his down in front, pulling out his dick.
I ran my hand up and down it a few times, jacking him off. He groaned, his pupils dilated.
When he reached between my legs, we could both tell how wet I was. Lust overtook him, and Jacob guided me backward until my back hit the wall. I kicked off my shoes while he put on a condom.
My pants pulled off my leg as I lifted it and Jacob wrapped his hand around my thigh. He pinned me against the wall with his body, his cock against my pussy. I helped him to my entrance with my hand, and he pushed into me.
I cried out when he did.
Jacob didn’t start slow, easing me into it. Instead, he pounded into me right away. He fucked me hard, and it was quick and dirty. I loved it when it was like this. Later, he would take me home, and we would make love, but for now, he wanted to fuck me, and I wanted him to claim every inch of me.
I gasped and moaned as he fucked me. He looked me in the eye as he pounded into me, and my orgasm started to grow. I tried to keep it down, but it was hard not to moan and cry out as he penetrated me. The tiles in the locker room and showers didn’t help, either. The sounds of our sex echoed through the large space.
It didn’t matter now, though. If someone heard us, found us out, all that would prove was that we loved each other very much and celebrated our engagement in style. This wasn’t a scandal at all.
I stopped thinking when pleasure washed through my body. An orgasm followed, clenching all my muscles, and I cried out, grabbing Jacob’s shirt in my fists, holding onto him. Jacob orgasmed, too. He emptied himself inside me as I came undone against his body. We orgasmed together, and the connection we made every time we did this was more intense than ever. And it would only get more so.
When I finally calmed down and the orgasm subsided, Jacob pulled out with a grunt. He let my leg down, and I pulled up my pants, fixing what he’d messed up. He fixed his pants, too.
He kissed me, holding my chin with his thumb and his forefinger.
“Let’s go home, baby,” he said. “I want to finish what I started.”
I nodded. Jacob picked up his bag and held out his hand. I ducked under his arm and put my arm around his body. I unlocked the door with my free hand and together, arm in arm we headed out into the bright light that was our future.
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Don’t Stop Believing: Bonus Novella
Copyright 2017 by Eva Luxe and Juliana Conners; All Rights Reserved.
Chapter 1 – Hanson & Lacey
“Are you sure nothing’s wrong?” Hanson asked Lacey for the third time.
Lacey was snappy and irritated. If Hanson didn’t know better, he would have thought she was pregnant again. She had been moody when she’d been pregnant with Liam, too. But he
knew for a fact she wasn’t pregnant right now. They had been trying for another baby, but so far, no luck.
Something was wrong, though.
Lacey rolled her eyes. “Why do you keep asking?” Her tone was just this side of pissed off. “I told you, I’m fine.”
Hanson wondered if it would be wise to push it, but he’d never been able to leave her alone– not at first when she’d been appointed as his PR manager and she’d been the one woman he shouldn’t have slept with, and not now that she was his wife.
“I don’t know, Lace. You’re distant. You’re sitting right next to me, but I can’t reach you. What’s going on?”
One thing that Hanson had always loved about Lacey, and that he had come to love even more during their marriage, even though it also came with its drawbacks, was that she was a handful even on a good day. Spunky, assertive, intimidating. She was the kind of woman some men ran away from and a troublemaker like Hanson was drawn to.
Back in the day, he used to look for a challenge, and he’d fucking worked his way through so many women to find it. Now that he had it, he didn’t feel the need to party and flirt his way through his career. He had more than enough to keep him busy at home.
When she was in this kind of mood, though, the term “handful” wasn’t a compliment. Lacey could be as difficult as she was interesting, and that always kept Hanson on his toes.
“Lace?” she asked him.
Hanson shrugged. He never called her by her name unless something was wrong. She hated it from a lover and especially from her husband. Lacey always said they were past that after everything they’d been through together. Usually it was “love,” “baby,” “babe,” but not “Lacey.”
“I’m talking to you, aren’t I?” she asked. “We’re having conversations. We’re discussing things. I’m sharing my life with you like I always do. So I’m really not sure why you’re so upset?”
He wasn’t the one upset. Lacey was irritated. It was clear as day to him. She didn’t want to face him, everything she did was a little too exaggerated, and the more he asked and she refused to admit it, the worse it became.
Hanson sighed. “This is exactly what I mean,” he said. “You’re so snappy. You only get like this when something’s up. We’ve been married for a while now, baby. I know you, and I know what you look like when you’re not okay. And if you tell me you are when I know you aren’t, I’m going to think I’m the problem.”
Lacey rolled her eyes again. She was irritated. He was right. But since he knew her as well as he kept claiming, he knew to leave her alone. Of course, that meant he would have to back off, and his personality was just as strong as hers. He didn’t want to back off.
“Maybe, if you stop hounding me about it, I wouldn’t be irritated in the first place,” she said. “I’m not going to calm down if you keep asking me the same question repeatedly.”
Hanson kept quiet. He knew from experience that pushing Lacey was a bad idea. She was sassy and independent. The kind of woman that was with him because she wanted to be, not because she needed a man in her life.
Usually, it made him feel good. Their relationship was built on mutual affection, and they were equals. Only sometimes, he felt that she didn’t need him, that she could manage life and everything it threw at her by herself, and it bothered him. Sometimes, a man wanted to be needed.
They sat in silence for a while, staring at a television he was sure neither of them were really paying attention to. When Hanson opened his mouth to say something, Lacey glared at him, her eyes so light they were almost scary. Her features were striking, with her porcelain skin, her bright eyes, and that dark hair to frame it all. She was beautiful in her anger.
“Don’t,” she said.
“You don’t even know what I was going to say,” he countered.
Hanson’s problem was that even though he knew it was a bad idea to push her, he still wanted to. It was like her being irritated was an invitation for him to look for trouble. As good as they were when everything was fine, they were just as explosive when nothing was right.
“I can tell you it was either about me being distant again, or it was about a baby,” she said. “You never stop talking about it.”
Hanson blinked at his wife, confused. It was such a sudden topic change, he was reeling. She could see that, too. She was even more irritated, as if she knew that she’d said something she hadn’t intended to.
“I didn’t realize that was something you didn’t like,” Hanson said.
Lacey sighed. She lifted her hand to her dark hair, touching it carefully to see if it was still in place. Everything about her was perfect, as always, but at the same time, nothing felt right.
“I don’t mind talking about it, but you never stop,” she said. “What if I don’t even want another baby?”
Hanson’s stomach dropped, and his blood boiled. He was angry and disappointed, all at the same time. “I assumed that was something you would speak to me about, considering we’ve been trying for another baby for the past month.”
Lacey closed her eyes and shook her head. “I can’t do this,” she said.
What was it she couldn’t do? The conversation? Her mood? Their relationship?
“Where the hell is this coming from?” Hanson asked. “I thought we were on the same page about this.”
“Maybe you assumed,” she snapped. “Wasn’t that what you said just now?”
She was making it worse than it needed to be. Hanson knew that, and he thought she knew that, too. But she was angry, and he was rising to the occasion, and neither of them were known to stay calm when things became sticky.
They always had roof-raising fights, the kinds that the neighbors would have heard if they hadn’t lived in a mansion with a huge garden all around it. There were certain things about an apartment with paper thin walls that neither of them missed. Their fights always ended up in long, loud make up sessions, full of hot sex, and they were always glad the neighbors couldn’t hear that, either.
“Maybe, considering that we were trying, I didn’t think I had to ask about it,” Hanson said. “Maybe I thought my wife would talk to me about it if there was an issue.”
Lacey groaned. Hanson was quiet now, his face pained. This was ridiculous. When he got like this, when he wasn’t raising his voice and making his point even louder than she was making hers, he was just about ready to give up.
He would never give in– it was against the grain for him. But he would give up trying to fight with her about it. It was a dangerous place for him to be in. He was going to accept it, turn around, and walk away from this conversation. Maybe for good, but at least for now.
“Maybe we just need to talk it out some more,” Lacey said.
He could tell she was trying to smooth it over, but it was too late. To stop shouting now was futile. The damage had somehow been done.
“I thought we covered everything there is to talk about,” he said in a soft voice. “Having another baby is important to me. Liam is a perfect age for us to have another one.”
It was true Liam was old enough. He was two. He would probably be a great big brother.
But although Lacey loved Liam with all her heart, she found adjusting to being a new mother difficult. There was, of course, the fact that she had fallen pregnant unexpectedly, and she hadn’t even thought she’d wanted children.
She’d instantly known she wanted Hanson’s baby but perhaps she’d felt guilt for not thinking she had wanted any to begin with. Or perhaps she just suffered a bit of the baby blues without rhyme or reason. She couldn’t really pinpoint the source of her hesitancy to have another baby, and searching for explanations made her feel tired sometimes. She just wanted to enjoy life with her happy family instead of over complicating it.
“Sometimes I think I’m happy with just one child, Hanson,” Lacey said.
She was trying, now, being nice. She should have been nicer earlier, but she’d been too upset to see how much this would bother him.
>
“Hanson?” he mimicked her response earlier, and she shook her head.
She was getting angry again. Her fuse was about as short as Hanson’s, and they knew which buttons to push with each other.
“If you’re going to be childish about this, maybe this is why I didn’t tell you.”
Hanson frowned. “You’re blowing this out of proportion now,” he said. “Don’t make this about us, about our relationship, and about how open we should be with each other. That’s not fair.”
“Fair? You want to talk about fair? What’s unfair is pushing me to have another child when I’m not sure I’m ready.”
Hanson’s face fell, and she knew she’d said the wrong thing. That had hurt him deeply. But what else had she thought it would do? She took a deep breath.
“All I’m saying is that for now, at least, I’m often happy with one child. We can put all our attention and focus on Liam and spoil him. It’s enough for me. Why isn’t that enough for you?”
Hanson shook his head. “If you don’t get it by now, I doubt you ever will,” he said and got up.
He wasn’t angry. Rage or an outburst, she could handle. There would still be something to react to and talk about. This quiet anger, the withdrawal, was what killed her. It was impossible to find him when he was like this.
Ironic, considering that it was what he’d been worried about with her to start off with. She felt like such a hypocrite.
“Where are you going?” Lacey asked.
“Out. To think. I can’t do this.” They were the same words she’d used. Somehow, hearing them wasn’t as great as saying them. A big fat hypocrite, is what I am, Lacey thought.
“Don’t wait up,” he said, and the words hit her like physical punches.
“You’re staying somewhere else?” she asked. “Isn’t that taking things too far?”
“I’m not saying that,” he said. “But is it too far to tell me only now that the life I thought we were trying for is a life you may not want? Maybe now you’ll realize how important it is to me that you talk to me, and that we’re on the same page about this. Not telling me that you don’t want another child, that you’re not happy, when all this time I thought you were, is just another form of lying, Lacey.”
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