Campus Player

I jump to my feet and take the ring from its plush satin bed before carefully slipping it on her finger.

She stares at her left hand in wonder. “It’s gorgeous!”

“I’m glad you like it. Sydney helped pick it out.”

“What!” she laughs. “She knew about this and didn’t tell me!”

I give a little shrug. “I swore her to secrecy.”

Demi throws herself into my arms. “I can’t believe this is happening.” Tears of joy streak down her face. “I’m so happy that we’re finally going to be together.”

“Me, too. If you hadn’t retired, I would have. The separation was killing me.”

“Really?” She grins. “You would have done that?”

Is she kidding?

Damn straight I would have.

“Yup.” I smack another kiss against her lips. “You’re the most important thing in my life. You always have been, and you always will be.”

“I don’t know how we made it through the last two years, but I’m glad we did.”

“So...” I waggle my brows, “any interest in celebrating our engaged state by christening our new condo?”

“You really think there’s time for that?” She throws a cautious look toward the entryway. “Won’t Cindy be back any minute?”

“Nope, she’s gone. I bought the place last week. Straight up cash, homey. It’s ours.”

Her eyes widen to the point of falling out of her head. “What!”

“Yup.”

“I can’t believe you did that! What if I had hated it?”

“Then I would have sold it. But I was pretty sure that you’d fall in love with it like I did. The moment Cindy showed me the condo, I knew it was the perfect place for us to start our future together.”

She shakes her head. “I can’t believe you had this all planned out.”

I can only grin before telling her the rest. She’s probably had enough surprises for one day. “We’ve got enough time to make this place ours, and then we’re meeting Sydney, Brayden, your dad, and a few of the guys from the team to celebrate our engagement.”

For about the dozenth time in the last ten minutes, her mouth drops open and a wave of shock washes over her. “Are you serious?”

I smack another kiss against her parted lips. She’s adorable when she’s thrown off-kilter, and this has definitely done the trick. There haven’t been many times when I’ve been able to keep anything from her. Demi is way too smart for that. And apparently, I’m bad at keeping secrets. Especially from her. “Yup. I planned a little celebratory party so you can show off that giant rock on your finger.”

Her gaze falls to the ring before her features soften. She holds out her hand to admire the massive sapphire surrounded by diamonds. “It really is spectacular.” Her gaze flicks to me. “And you did an amazing job picking it out.”

“I want you to be happy.”

She places her palms against my chest before sliding them toward my shoulders and wrapping them around my neck. “You make me happy. I can’t imagine my life without you in it.”

Unable to resist the lure of her mouth, I dive in for another kiss. “Guess it’s a good thing you’ll never have to worry about that.”

With a sigh, her lips part, and my tongue sweeps inside to tangle with hers.

After a couple of heated moments, she pulls away enough to ask, “Aren’t we going to christen the place?”

She squeaks in surprise when my palms settle on her ass, and I hoist her into my arms. Thirty steps later, I’m setting her on the marble island. Her hands go to my shirt, untucking it from the khakis before yanking it over my head and tossing it to the hardwoods. It doesn’t take long before we’re both naked. As I sink inside her tight heat, I’m hit with the realization that as much as this condo will be our new home, it’s this right here, buried deep inside the warmth of her body, is where I belong.

As long as Demi and I are together, it doesn’t matter where we are or what city we live in.

My home is with her.

It will always be with her.

The End