Chapter Twenty-Eight
Troy
Five months later
“I once read that pro athletes aren’t meant to have sex before a big game. Is that true?”
Eden looked at me with wide eyes from the walk-in closet entrance at our new penthouse apartment, and I groaned as I took in what she was wearing.
Or rather, what she wasn’t wearing.
“Don’t play innocent with me,” I said, my eyes sliding over the sexy black lingerie and heels she was wearing. “You know it’s not true. You’re just trying to make me think about sex when I’m meant to be thinking about the championship game this afternoon.”
After a challenging season, my team were lucky enough to have made it to the finals again this year, and the big game was today. I wasn’t too nervous about it—after dealing with all the screaming Stud fans who’d been throwing themselves at Eden and me for the last few months, it would take a lot more than a championship football game to scare me.
Eden had been dead-on in her prediction about the finale episode she’d suggested all those months ago. TV viewers had loved it, and Glenn and the network executives had been thrilled with the response. Now a new season with the revamped image of a ‘real reality show’ was being planned, with Eden’s help in her new role as senior producer.
I couldn’t be more proud of her; she was doing amazingly well, and she loved her new job.
Candice had received the same promotion as well (as well as several dates with Tay Drake, from what I’d heard), and she and Eden had become closer than ever before, along with Anya, who’d been offered a great position as the show’s new host after the old host Fabian’s decision to quit and focus on his family. I was glad that Eden could trust other people so willingly after Blair’s betrayal, and I always jokingly referred to her, Candice and Anya as the Three Musketeers of Television, seeing as the three of them were so close and worked together all the time.
Eden kept the sweet, innocent expression on her face and took a step closer to the bed, where I was sitting. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m not trying to make you think about anything. If you mean this outfit, it’s just something old I threw on before I go to work today.”
I arched my eyebrows. “Oh, so those designer heels and expensive-looking bra and panties are just something old, huh?” I said, standing up and striding over to her. “In that case, you won’t mind if I do this.”
As I spoke that last part, I reached down and tore the panties right off her, and she gasped. “Hey! They were expensive!”
“Your fault for teasing me,” I said with a wink as I reached around and unclasped her bra at the back. Seconds later, her breasts were in my hands, and she looked up at me with lust-filled eyes as I squeezed them and tweaked her nipples. My mouth moved down to hers, and my cock ached to fill the perfect slit between her legs as our lips clashed.
With one quick movement, I scooped her up in my arms and threw her over my shoulder, and she gasped as I carried her back over to the bed and threw her down. Her high heels fell off and clattered to the floor as I did so, and I grabbed one of the cushions from the bed and slid it under her ass to lift her body up a little, granting me easier access to her pussy.
A war began between my mind and body; my brain was telling me to savor every moment of this, and my cock was demanding I push inside her right away. Eden raised her head and flashed an inviting smile down at me as I waited between her legs, and the decision was immediately out of my hands. I had to be inside her now. Her thighs parted, and I gripped her hips before reaching down with one hand to guide my cock to her slick entrance. It seemed to get harder and harder the closer it got to those pink folds, and I ran it up and down between them, making her cry out with heady desire before I plunged inside her.
Another cry escaped her plump red lips as I buried myself deep within her tight pussy. I pulled out and thrust back in, a little slower this time, giving her body time to get used to me, but she dig her fingernails into my ass and demanded I give it to her hard, just the way she liked it. This wasn’t the tender, soft lovemaking of sappy romance novels; this was primal, animalistic sex.
And it was fucking great.
I balanced on one elbow as I slammed my hips forward again and again, and my cock slid into her slick tightness like a glove every single time. Each thrust drew moans and sighs of pleasure from Eden’s lips which called for me to pound her even harder and faster, and her ankles crossed behind my ass, making her even tighter.
“Yes! Right there…oh, fuck…”
She reached a hand down to try and rub her swollen clit, but before she reached it, my own fingers closed over it, rubbing in fast circles. Her screams came in short, sharp bursts just seconds later as her muscles squeezed around my cock, and I kept thrusting hard as she came, loving the way her whole face turned pink with pleasure as she reached her climax.
She squirmed for a moment longer as the waves of pleasure continued to crash over her, and she was so wet that I almost slipped out of her. I buried myself deep inside her again, and my pace went higher this time as Eden bucked against me with expert timing. Our bodies had always worked so well together, and now that we’d been together almost every day for the last six months, it was even better. We both knew exactly what the other wanted without either of us saying a word, and we both knew exactly what would make the other explode like crazy.
When I was about to reach the precipice of my own orgasm, I groaned and pulled out before leaning back, giving Eden the chance to ride me. She held herself steady by keeping her hands on my abdomen as she worked me with her hips, moving in little circles, and her knees dug into the muscles of my thighs as she rode me like a cowgirl. Her breasts bounced up and down with each movement she made, and I watched, totally mesmerized by her as I tried to stop myself from coming yet.
Another orgasm hit Eden a moment later, and as she writhed and gushed on me, I groaned and finally let myself go, fiery pleasure draining out of me and into her. As Eden rolled off me, I dropped onto my back and lay there next to her, trying to catch my breath.
“Now your mind will be all clear for the game this afternoon,” Eden said breathlessly, propping herself up on one elbow and staring down at me.
“Doubt it. I’ll either have no energy and drop like a fly within the first few minutes, or I’ll be picturing you in that black lingerie again and accidentally pass the ball to the other team five times.”
Eden giggled, and I smiled back and drew her in close for a tight hug. “Think we’ll win today?” I asked.
“Nah, I hear the QB on your team is a bit of an idiot,” she replied, sticking her tongue out. I grabbed a pillow and jokingly brandished it at her, and she squealed. “I’m sorry, I was kidding! Of course I think you guys will win! And even if you don’t, that’s not what matters. What matters is that you all tried.”
I cocked my head to the side. “All right. I’ll accept your apology if you give the idiot QB a big kiss before he has to leave.”
She leaned over and planted her sweet lips on mine, and I closed my eyes and savored her taste for as long as I could before the clock on the wall chimed out the time.
“All right, Little Miss Senior Producer, it’s already nine A.M,” I said. “I’ve gotta head down to the stadium, and you better head to work.”
“You don’t want to have breakfast with me first?” Eden asked. “With afternoon games, you usually don’t need to head down there till about ten or eleven.”
“Uh…this is different because it’s the championship,” I replied. “Lots of stuff to go over before it starts, so I’ll just eat when I get there. But I’ll see you there later for the game, right?”
She gave me a suspicious look for a second, and I feigned innocence, hoping she wouldn’t question my lie. She finally smiled, nodded and hopped off the bed, and I breathed a quiet sigh of relief, glad that I was safe for now.
I didn’t like lying to Eden, but in this case it was necessary. I had something big planned for after the championship—regardless of whether we won or lost—and my team was helping to plan it. I didn’t want her getting wind of it, so I had to play it cool and act like nothing was going on other than the fact that today was a big game day.
Truthfully, though, something huge was going on.
While Eden had been visiting her parents about a month ago, I’d gone down there with her. They seemed glad that I’d sorted my shit out and grown into a man who was good enough for their daughter, and after dinner on our second night there, I pulled them aside and asked for their blessing. I told them how I didn’t think I could’ve become the man I was today without her influence, because she had changed the path I was originally on by showing me that I could be a good person. I didn’t have to booze it up and stay in trouble all the time like my parents had; I could be good, I could be tender, and I could love.
They were thrilled, and Eden’s mother had immediately started offering me advice for engagement rings. However, I already had an idea in mind for that. While Eden was showering the next morning, I went back to the park with the hollowed out tree where I’d left the ring for her all those years ago, praying that it was still there. I figured it should be—not many people would go and stick their hands in deep little holes in the side of a tree—and it was. It was right where I’d left it almost eight years ago, only the box was now dusty and covered with crunched up dead leaves.
Now that I had the ring, all I needed was the perfect proposal, and that’s what my teammates and I had been planning for weeks now.
Today was the day.
***
“Shit…we’re screwed.”
I heard my teammate curse near me, and I gave him a brief look before turning my attention back to what was happening in our final game for the season. Our defensive lineup was currently on the field, so I was standing on the sidelines with the others who were off at the moment. We’d played really well so far, and our team was up by two points with only seconds to spare—the score was currently 22-20—but that didn’t necessarily mean we were going to win. An incomplete pass on the third down had forced a field goal attempt for the other team, and their kicker was a guy named Todd Durban. That posed a problem, because he was one of the best kickers out of all the NFL teams at this point. Maybe even the best. He’d made nearly one-hundred percent of his field goals and extra points in the past, and he was about to kick a 38-yard field goal. That was child’s play to him, and there were only forty seconds left on the clock, so if he got it and we didn’t manage to score in the remaining few seconds afterwards, then we’d lose the championship.
I wasn’t holding out any hopes, because Durban had such a stellar record—a perfect record, in fact—but that was okay. We’d all played our best, and it was great that we’d come this far in the season, regardless of whether we won or lost today. Besides, I was going to walk off this field a winner today anyway, because Eden was going to be my fiancée in under an hour.
I watched Durban line up to make the kick, and the crowd went quiet with excited anticipation as his foot connected with the ball. It sailed through the air, and time seemed to slow down as it went. Thirty-nine seconds left on the clock….thirty-eight….thirty-seven…thirty-six…
And then time seemed to stop altogether.
“Holy shit, he missed!”
Our team’s fans began to scream with joy as they realized what had happened. Durban had shockingly missed his goal. With just thirty-five seconds left on the clock, our offensive lineup had to go back on the field. As we headed back on, I searched for Eden in the crowd, and I spotted her smiling and cheering as she watched us take our places. I grinned; she’d never been a sports fan when she was younger, but now she was at every game she could possibly get to when her job wasn’t too busy, cheering for us from the crowd.
The last seconds of the game went perfectly. I threw a pass to our wide receiver, who charged down the field and scored the touchdown we needed to guarantee our victory beyond a shadow of doubt, and as the clock ran out, the crowd went wild around us, screaming and whooping their joy at the top of their lungs. Blue and white confetti began to rain down on us all as we celebrated on the field—our team, coaches, team owners and support staff—and I soaked up the attention with a grin, waving and nodding at everyone around me.
This was our third championship since I’d started playing for the team, which was simply unbelievable, and absolutely fantastic. However, no amount of trophies could put the same smile on my face that Eden could—only she was capable of igniting that real fire in my heart.
She was running out onto the field right now, looking for me, and she looked emotional already; she was clearly overjoyed about my team’s win. As soon as she found me, she jumped on me for a tight hug, and I squeezed her while I gave the signal to one of my teammates, Kayden. Kayden was the fastest guy on our team, and he nodded and ran full pelt through the crowds and up to the room where the stadium lighting and Jumbotrons were controlled from.
The big screen behind Eden was currently playing footage of this very field with all the celebrations and confetti-showering, but within a few minutes of Kayden running off the field, the screen went black for a second before being replaced with a picture of Eden and me along with some text which read, ‘Eden, will you marry me?’
“Look behind you,” I murmured into her ear, finally breaking away from what had been the longest hug ever.
“Why?” she asked, jerking her head around. “Oh…oh!”
She saw the screen and turned back to me, her jaw practically on the floor, and I dropped to one knee and held out the ring. One of the team coaches had been holding it for me during the game, and he’d slid it to me as soon as he saw Eden racing towards me a few moments ago.
“Eden, will you spend the rest of your life with me?” I asked, looking up at her.
Her eyes were already shining with tears of joy after seeing my team win, and my question sent her over the edge into full-on bawling. “Oh my god,” she choked out through sobs. “Oh my god!”
“Is it really that horrifying to think about marrying me?” I said with a grin.
She laughed through her tears at my ridiculous crack. “No! I mean, yes,” she replied. “I mean, no it’s not horrifying. And yes, I will marry you!”
Despite the chaotic celebrations going on around us, it felt like Eden and I were the only ones on the field. I didn’t even know what was going on with the trophy or anything else, and the world somehow seemed quiet despite all the screams and cheers. Maybe it seemed quiet because I was finally completely and utterly content with life. I had everything I’d ever wanted or needed, and most importantly, the only woman I’d ever loved had just agreed to marry me.
I was officially the happiest man in the world.