Laney
SAM DRAGS ME down a thunderous tunnel toward the football field. He all but kidnapped me from the comfy skybox I was happily watching the game from just minutes ago.
“Sam, what are you doing? I’m missing the last two minutes!” I tug on my arm, but his grip is like iron.
“Spoiler alert.” His deep voice booms and echoes against the concrete walls. “They win.”
Kam is currently playing in the NFC championship. Actually, playing isn’t the correct word. Crushing the championship is more like it. New York is winning by thirty-six points. At least they were when I was so rudely plucked away from my VIP seat in the sky.
Just as we make our way to the opening of the tunnel, Sam flashes two badges at the security guard, and the behemoth man dressed in all black nods us on.
“Here.” He slips the all-access badge around my neck as I’m blinded by stadium lights. The game is over, and just like Sam said, New York is the new conference champs. It’s so loud and busy on the field I can barely keep my bearings as he drags me across the vibrant green turf. Confetti is raining from the heavens, massive men in padding are celebrating all around us, and the media has swarmed onto the fifty-yard line. It’s not unusual for the family members of the winning team to join the players on the field after a big win, but I’m left wondering why Sam only grabbed me. As we get closer to the mob, Sam strong-arms his way through the bodies. Being an ex-defenseman himself, he knows how to break through a line. It’s no secret Sam the Man and I have had our differences in the past, but we have come to a mutual understanding that we both share a special person and have his best interest at heart. Even though I question him sometimes, I’ve learned there’s a method to his madness, and only good things have arisen for Kam from his strategy.
Speaking of the devil, once Sam and I break through the final layer of people and emerge into a little opening, we find Kam thriving in his natural habitat—the spotlight. He’s in the middle of an interview, but when he sees me tucked protectively under Sam’s muscular arm, he breaks out into a dazzling smile. Even after all these years, my heart and panties melt when he looks at me like that. Like I’m the only person he sees even when the entire world is watching. My cheeks heat from a combination of the superman standing before me and the embarrassment of the media spectacle. I’m not one for the public eye. That’s my father’s and Kam’s arena. They’re born celebrities while I’m just a simple city girl who loves lattes and riding the subway.
Kam reaches for me, his eyes sparkling with victory as he wraps one sweaty, dirty arm around me. He tilts my chin up and kisses me smack dab in the middle of the interview, and for a split second I wish I could hide behind the curtain of my dark hair.
It’s not a chaste kiss either. It’s hot, and emotive and conveys way too much for the public to see.
“Hi, Lemon,” he voices in my ear so only I can hear.
Hi. I respond in my head ‘cause I’m at a loss. I’m like a damn deer in headlights. That kiss was way too expressive. There’s so much going on. There are too many people, and it’s way too loud.
I’m dizzy.
Sam knocks Kam on the shoulder and then hands him something, but I don’t catch what it is. Kam takes the object more than willingly and then looks down at me. His expression is mischievous. Those baby blues burning under the stadium lights. He starts to speak, but I can’t hear a thing he’s saying. I try to read his lips. I love you . . . chemistry . . . high school . . . I make out every fourth or fifth word. I start to shake. He takes my hands and then drops to one knee, my heart plummeting with him. One of the refs watching from the sidelines shoves his mic in Kam’s face and turns on the volume. His voice suddenly booms all around us.
“Laney Summers,” my name echoes. “I wouldn’t be the man I am today without you. Your love, your loyalty, and your support are my foundation. It makes me strive to be better. To make you proud. With you by my side, I’m invincible. And I want to walk hand in hand through this crazy life with you, and only you.” He pops open a little black box, and I involuntarily gasp. “Will you marry me, Lemon?”
I stare, stunned, at the huge square diamond winking back at me. Then I lift my eyes to Kam’s. And in that moment, there’s only us. No reporters or fans or groupies. None of the everyday chaos that being Kamdyn Ellis’s girlfriend brings.
You can strip it all away—his talent, his celebrity, his status—‘cause it’s the man underneath who I love. The man whose heart is as vast and deep as the ocean. Whose confidence could lead an army of giants and whose character will trailblaze through history. He’s a profound example of an American royal. And he’s asking me to be his. Forever.
“You gonna answer the man?” Sam nudges me, and I snap out of my stunned daze.
Oh. “Of course!” I exclaim. “Yes, I’ll marry you!” The happy tears fall, and I think my smile is going to actually crack my face. A roar rips through the stadium as Kam slips the ring on my finger then scoops me up into his arms. The people in our immediate circle clap and congratulate us, but all I can concentrate on is the hold Kam has on me and our image on the Jumbotron. Ellis is emblazoned across my shoulder blades. But I’m not wearing his professional jersey or even his college jersey. I’m wearing the navy-blue jersey from high school. The one that started it all. The one that told the entire student body, and the world, exactly whom I belonged to. Whom I’ve always belonged to, even when we were apart.
Him.