Chapter Twenty-Three
Daniel
When I finally caught her, we were both out of breath and laughing. I clutched at a stitch in my side as I stared at Alexa. She was something else and she knew it. Dancing around on the tips of her toes catching her breath, waiting for me to get mine back, just so she could take off again. This was the type of woman my friends had been telling me to find for years. They told me I was too serious and needed someone to loosen me up.
Alexa was starting to bring out a side of me, I thought I’d left in high school. A piece I thought I had left when I’d thrown out my knee and destroyed my shoulder. Two injuries had cemented the fact I would never make it as a pro football player. I kept in shape, though, and loved to throw the ball around with my buddies on the weekend. It would never be the same as playing in front of all those screaming fans on Friday night under the lights.
Being down to the wire and knowing it was up to you to get the ball moving down the field and bring home victory. I had lost the feeling my senior year, in the state championship when I’d been taken out by the opposing team.
The guy was huge. 250 pounds of muscle and he was fast. I never knew what hit me as I was reaching, searching, looking for a place to throw the ball. I knew no one was open and I would have to ditch it. All I felt as I released the ball, was a terrible pain in my right arm as I hit the ground, my knee twisted behind me, my shoulder throbbing in pain. It was then I realized I couldn’t move my arm.
I knew the other guy hadn't meant to hurt me, just stop me from passing the ball, but nonetheless, my dreams had ended when I got crushed.
When I woke up in the hospital two days later, my knee immobilized, my shoulder in a Spica cast, I knew it would be a long road before I could move properly again. My shoulder was trashed, and I went thru with all the physical therapy they required, but I never threw the same again. I went to college for business management, got a master's and went on to work for Dad. I refused to look back on a career that might have been.
But Alexa made me feel all those things again. Like I could hear the roar of the crowd, the cheer of the pep squad. Like I had never lost it at all. And that was a feeling, I realized, I would give anything to keep. I would let go of the world, give up all my wealth, just to feel like that one more time. And with Alexa in my arms? I didn’t have to let go of the earth to feel it again.
She was my second chance, my lost career, the fated throw that cost it all. She was bringing everything back to order for me again, and I loved it. She was the one for me. The one I would love forever. She was my soulmate. I knew it. All those other women I had been with in the past paled in comparison. And I was okay with this. I knew I couldn’t tell her my feelings yet. I might scare her back off into the snowstorm if she didn’t feel the same about me.
I needed to give her some time and to try to figure her out some more. Figure out if this was just a fling for her or if she felt something real for me. Maybe this snow storm was the fates bringing us together. I wasn’t an overly religious man, but if this was a sign, I might just change my mind.
Alexa looked back at me as I studied her, probably trying to figure out what I was thinking. If I was thinking about her, or if I was trying to end things with her after this was over.
“What are you thinking about Daniel?” Alexa finally broke the silence as she walked over to put her plate in the sink. I beat her to it though, scraping the dishes and loading the dishwasher.
“I was just thinking how beautiful you are, and how your brother would've killed me if anything had happened to you yesterday.” I walked back around the bar and took her in my arms, placing a kiss on her head. Stepping back, I looked over her again, reassuring myself she was fine. Sighing I shook my head, let her go and headed toward the garage to get the shovel. I was going to try and shovel off the patio to get my mind off things.
I needed fresh air. To get out of the house and think. I had come close to slipping and telling her just how I felt, consequences be damned. She was mine, whether she knew it or not. I couldn’t let this one go. Wouldn’t let this one go. Not with everything we were enduring together. She couldn’t even know how much she was helping me move on from Natalie’s betrayal. Was I helping her in the same way though? I really hoped I was.
Right now, though? I just needed to get out and expel some energy.