“I don’t know if I’ve processed it yet…”
I heard the sound of Cole’s voice despite the fact that he was still passed out in front of me.
“I struggled a long time. Spent most of my career in the minors…”
I turned around, looking at the TV playing in the kitchen.
It was Cole’s post-game press conference. I’d seen bits and pieces of it last night, but not this particular part.
Standing alone in the kitchen, I watched as he wore a World Series Champion cap low over his eyes, which shimmered with pure joy as he grinned through every question.
“Honestly, besides my teammates, it’s been three people. My mom, Heidi, my brother Adam, and my agent, AJ. Truthfully, I was ready to hang it up a few seasons ago. It was just bad break after bad break. But those three… they’re the reason I’m here. That’s my family. I couldn’t have done it without them.”
I stared, feeling my lower lip wobble.
“Seriously?” I said, turning to Cole, as if he weren’t completely passed out. “Little shit,” I whispered, breaking into a huge grin because the jerk hadn’t even told me he’d said all that. Then again, of course he hadn’t. In so many ways, he was still the same Cole I’d met in Pawtucket a year-and-a-half ago. A slightly difficult asshole who was generally somewhere between stoic and surly. But since getting him to the Empires and setting him up with the right training and medical team, he’d started opening up to me. And then slowly, to Adam.
And since then, things just kept getting better.
Since the start of this season, we’d pretty much all been inseparable. It was like all these worlds had collided to make this big, beautiful, crazy, happy family. It just fell together beautifully.
And every day, Adam told me, “It wouldn’t have happened without you.”
“Where are you?” I whispered as I typed out the same words and texted them to Adam.
He replied quickly.
ADAM: Went for a walk. Meet me outside
Finding my shoes, I quickly slipped outside, going down the elevator and smiling once I got to the lobby, because I could see Adam’s eyes already on me as he waited for me on the sidewalk.
God, I’m a lucky woman, I thought as I looked him up and down. He’d clearly gone back to our apartment to shower and change, because he, Cole and Knox had been absolute maniacs last night. They’d drank like crazy, wrestled, hugged it out and basically passed out looking like they’d take a few days to get up.
But Adam looked sharper than ever this morning in his white button-down and jeans, his eyes more alive and vibrant than I’d ever seen them as he watched me cross the sidewalk to give him a good morning kiss.
“How do you wake up looking like this?” he asked me, making me look down at the simple white sundress I had on. It was actually the same one I’d worn a year-and-a-half ago, when I went to surprise him at his very temporary apartment in Stamford.
“It helps that I didn’t drink much last night,” I said, smiling as I felt our hands find each other and interlock as we started walking naturally toward the water down the block.
“Did you know your brother gave us a shoutout during his post-game presser last night?” I asked.
“Yeah. I got about two hundred texts about it,” Adam laughed, reminding me of the fact that most of the people in his life didn’t realize he had a brother until recently.
“I wasn’t expecting that. I was so surprised when I saw it just now,” I said, compelling Adam to give me a funny look. “What?” I asked.
He shook his head. “You still don’t realize, do you?”
I bit my lip, already feeling a rush of warmth in my cheeks. “What?” I said as we slowed to a stop in front of the river. A smile spread my lips as Adam pulled me close, his blue eyes lit so beautifully under the glow of the morning sun.
“You’re responsible for all the happiness in my life,” he said, pushing my hair behind my ear, his gaze moving all over my face before it returned with a glint of a smile to my eyes. “You make everything come together and feel right in a way I could’ve never dreamed of, and every day I wake up, I’m so fucking grateful to be holding you. Every morning, I feel it stronger than the last. I don’t know what I did to deserve you, AJ. I just know that I want to spend the rest of my life protecting you and making you proud. Making you as happy as you make me every second I’m with you.”
He’d already stolen my breath several times over, but then he took a step back, savoring the look of shock I already had on my face before he reached into his back pocket and produced a little velvet box.
“Oh my God,” I breathed when he opened it and damn near blinded me with the beautiful, absolutely breathtaking diamond inside.
“Marry me, AJ.”
All the air left my lungs and I felt tears burst in my eyes as I looked down at the ring then up at this beautiful man who looked at me like I was his whole world.