Most Valuable Playboy

Sierra brings her hand to her heart and gasps. “That is so sweet. I love it when the quarterback falls in love with the hometown girl and stays with her.”

“That’s exactly what I hope is happening in my life.” I glimpse a commotion on the sidelines. I don’t even try to rein in a smile as a sweaty, dirty Jones, still in his uniform, escorts Violet onto the field. That was his job. To go to security in her section, and then bring her to me.

Violet has never looked prettier as she race-walks to me in her jeans and a Renegades sweatshirt. She’s smiling, and she looks as if she’s crying, too.

She picks up the pace, but I won’t let her run to me. I need to run to her.

“Thank you, Sierra. I need to see my girl.”

And I go running to Violet, scooping her up and wrapping her in my arms. I gaze into her eyes and tell her face-to-face what I told the whole world. “I love you so much.”

“Shut up,” she says, but she’s grinning.

“You want me to stop talking?”

“Never, but you’re crazy,” she says, sniffling as she cups my cheeks. “You’re so crazy, and I’m so in love with you, and you better have meant every word.”

I laugh, and happiness floods every corner of my body. “Every. Single. Word.” I press my sweaty forehead to hers then pull back. “I am so ridiculously in love with you they’re going to need a new word for it. I want you to pick out pink polka-dot towels with me, and sing Miley Cyrus, and beat me in Madden, and I want you to be mine. I want you all the time, baby. When I said since high school, I meant it.”

Tears stream from her eyes. She purses her lips then says in a soft, broken voice, “When I said since second grade, I meant it.”

I blink, and now I might be officially stunned. “You did?”

She nods. “I’ve had a crush on you forever, Cooper.” It hits me—that’s why she said she was worried I’d hurt her, because she’s been holding on to this feeling for so many years. “And I never thought this would happen. I never thought you’d feel the same.”

“Why wouldn’t I? You’re amazing.”

“I think when you’ve been in love with someone your whole life, it’s just hard to imagine you’d be so lucky that he’d love you back.”

“Get used to it. You’re getting lucky with me, and you’re getting lucky on a regular basis. And this love? It’s only growing stronger. I love you in every single way,” I say, planting kisses all over her gorgeous face, kissing away her tears.

“It’s the same for me. I’ve been crazy about you forever, but since the auction, it’s gone into the stratosphere. I’ve loved getting to know you more, even when it was pretend. Because it was never pretend for me.”

“You want to get to know me more tonight? There are some parts that you don’t know well enough, as far as I’m concerned.”

She laughs and presses a kiss to my lips. “I want to get to know all of you so very well.”

“How would you feel about coming over tonight? And spending Christmas with me? And going out with me on dates, and putting up with me when we lose, and putting up with me when we win, and letting me do whatever I can to help you with your business so I can support you, too, as you dream, create, love, and listen?”

Her bottom lip quivers as she nods. “I would say you really ought to take me out of here very soon because there’s a good chance I’m going to do indecent things to you on the field.”

“You better do indecent things to me,” I say, and then I kiss her under the lights of the stadium, and judging from the bright pops and flashes, this picture will be splashed all over social media in about thirty seconds.

And it’s all real.

It’s the most real thing I’ve ever felt, and I make sure she knows that as I kiss her like crazy in front of fifty thousand fans.

36

Tonight, I don’t need ice for my shoulder. I don’t need a beer to smooth over the moment. I don’t even bother with music. Once we’re back at my house, I take her to my bedroom, prepared to strip her naked.

She gets in the first word, though. “Unzip your pants.”

I wiggle my eyebrows. “I can do that,” I say, obliging her request.

She pushes on my stomach, indicating I need to get my ass on the bed.

I sit on the edge of the mattress, she drops down to her knees, wraps her hand around my dick, and sucks.

“Holy fuck.”

Instantly, my hands find their way into her soft hair, and I groan as she goes for it. There’s no playing around here. Violet doesn’t tease or toy. She takes me deep as she licks my cock, and I grip her head harder.

“That’s so good, baby. Have I told you how much I like blow jobs?”

She shakes her head, since her mouth is full. Quite full.

“I’m not going to tell you, then. I’m going to show you by letting you do that to me as much as you want.”

I can feel her try to laugh against my dick. Then all laughter ceases, and I give in.

Heat pools in my groin as she licks and sucks. For a couple minutes, I let myself get lost in the feel—and the view. The woman I adore is on her knees, sucking me off as if it’s all she’s ever wanted. She makes me feel like a rock star, like a goddamn king as she introduces me to the joys of her mouth. But it’s too good, and the last thing I want is to come before she does.

I stop her, gently tugging her face up. “I’m going to be blunt. I want to spend a ridiculous amount of my life with my dick in your mouth, but right now, I need you naked and under me.”

“Have it your way.” She crosses her hands over each other and tugs off her sweatshirt. Soon she’s wearing nothing, and I get into the same outfit as well. She scoots back on the bed, and I climb over her.

“Hey, gorgeous,” I say, and then before she can protest—not that she would—I bring my face between her legs and kiss her sweetness.

Instantly, she arches up into me. “Why can you do this to me and I can’t to you? Are you going to have all these crazy rules again?”

I laugh lightly. “No crazy rules. Except this one—you come first and, ideally, more than once before I do.”

Really, how can she protest that? She doesn’t, because I make it worth her while. I lick and kiss and suck until she’s rocking against my mouth and coming on my lips.

When her moans subside, I’m above her, my chest pressed to hers. “Hi.”

She blinks open her eyes and smiles woozily. “Hi.”

I kiss her neck, her throat, her ear, then meet her lips, whispering a kiss over them.

She says my name again, and this time, her voice grows more serious. “Cooper.”

“What is it?” I ask as I reach for a condom from my wallet. I snagged some from the hotel last night.

“I’m on the pill. And I’m clean. Are you?”

“I am.”

“Not that we have to go without. But I want you to know. Just in case.”

I smile. “Just in case I want to feel you bare?”

She smiles, too. “Yes, but you don’t have to.”

I know what she’s getting at. There’s a code among pro athletes. Wrap it till you’re married. We’re warned of groupies who try to land pro-ball baby-daddies in all sorts of crazy ways. Violet’s not a groupie. She’s not some nutty chick trying to trap me. And this isn’t about the wear-a-glove code. It’s about trust and respect. It’s about who I’m giving my heart to.