Author: Jaci Burton

And then he got down on one knee.

Oh. My. God.

Her legs were shaking.

“Marry me, Elizabeth.”

The chorus of awws and cheers was deafening.

But she only saw Gavin, only focused on Gavin. She saw the truth in his eyes. She saw the love.

This time, she believed.

She burst into tears and threw herself into his arms.

And then he kissed her. And oh, what a kiss. Her heart swelled with so much love she couldn’t believe it was real. Her fantasy, what she’d always wanted. The man she’d always wanted.

The cheers and clapping of the fans told her it was real.

He broke the kiss and swiped the tears from her cheeks. “Sorry, we’ll have to wait ’til later to continue this.”

She laughed. “Go win the game.”

“So does this mean you said yes?”

She took the mic from his hand. “I said yes.”

More cheers, and Gavin climbed back down to the dugout.

The rest of the game was a blur. The Rivers won. Even more shocking was seeing Kathleen and Jimmy Riley, Jenna, and Mick and Tara after the game. They had just been a few rows over. Gavin had told them his plans, and after he’d gone back to the dugout, they’d surprised her. She flew into Kathleen’s arms for a hug.

Even Mick hugged her and welcomed his new sister into the family.

“What if I’d said no?” she asked Kathleen.

Kathleen gave her that all knowing look. “You weren’t going to say no. You love my son, and I had every confidence he wasn’t going to screw this up.”

She looked to Mick. “So, you think we can put up with each other?”

“Hey, if I can put up with Jenna, I can put up with you.”

Jenna elbowed him in the ribs. “Jerk.”

Tara was thrilled for her. “We’ve come a long way, haven’t we?”

Elizabeth hugged her. “You’re the most forgiving of all, and I’m so grateful. I need family and sisters.” She hooked her arms with both Tara and Jenna. “I’m going to have sisters now. I’ve always wanted them.”

Jenna gave her a wry grin. “Be careful what you wish for.”

Elizabeth laughed.

After she said good-bye to the Riley family, she and Shawnelle and Haley headed down to the team locker room to wait for their guys.

Shawnelle told her Dedrick really did want to change agents, but it could wait. They’d been in on Gavin’s proposal, and it was Dedrick who came up with the idea to use his interest in changing agents to get Elizabeth there tonight.

“You are such a sneaky bitch,” she said.

Shawnelle just waggled her brows. “All in the name of love. And speaking of love . . .”

The door opened and Gavin walked out. The rest of the world ceased to exist as she walked into his arms and was greeted with a kiss that rocked her world.

“Uh-huh. I think we’ll leave these two alone, Haley. I’m going to go find my man.”

“Me, too,” Haley said.

“Talk to you tomorrow, girl,” Shawnelle said.

Elizabeth waved them off, her lips and her mind and her heart focused only on Gavin.

TWENTY-FIVE

SOMEHOW, GAVIN HAD GOTTEN IT RIGHT. HE’D MANAGED not to strike out when he’d gone up to bat in the most important game of his life.

Now he stood outside the locker room with his lips locked with the woman he loved.

He’d won the girl.

Elizabeth slid her fingers into his hair and curled her body against his. God, it felt like it had been months since he’d touched her, since he’d breathed in the sweet honeyed scent of her, since he’d been inside her.

They stood in a hallway outside the locker room in a baseball stadium, and he was getting a hard-on.

Not good. Not good at all.

He broke the kiss and stared into her eyes, still not believing that he’d been forgiven for all he’d fucked up, that she’d said yes. He still felt like he had so much to make up for.

Time. He needed lots of time.

“We have to get out of here. I need to get you alone.”

Her lips lifted. “That’s a very good idea.”

“Follow me home?”

She nodded. “Try not to break any speed limits, but hurry.”

HE STAYED AT OR JUST ABOVE THE SPEED LIMIT THE entire way to his house, glancing in his rearview mirror every few seconds to make sure Elizabeth was right behind him. He kept expecting her to ditch him, that maybe he’d dreamed everything that had happened today.

They pulled into the driveway together and got out of their cars, and he linked his fingers with hers as they strolled up to the front door. He held it open for her, his heart pounding the entire time.

“Your hand is sweaty,” Elizabeth said after they stepped inside and he closed the door.

“I’m nervous.”

She arched a brow. “Why?”

“I keep waiting for you to bolt. I keep thinking this isn’t real.”

She turned to him, wrapped her arms around his neck. “I’m not leaving you, Gavin. Not now, not ever.”

He laid his hands on her hips. “I messed up bad. There were so many things I wanted to say to you today, to make you understand how sorry I am for what I said. But there isn’t a decent excuse for hurting you the way I did.”

She pressed a finger to his lips. “And sometimes you just have to let it go. We could rehash everything we’ve both said to each other during our relationship, the stupid things we’ve said and done, but what would be the point? Every step we’ve taken led us here, right?”

“Yes.”

“Do you love me, Gavin?”

“I do.”

“I love you, too. I’ve loved you for so many years, and I was afraid to tell you. I was afraid if I let you know how I felt about you, I’d lose you.”

“Why?”

She dropped her hands and stepped back. “I don’t know. The fact that I was your agent, that I’m a few years older than you, that you went through women as fast as you went through underwear.”

“Hey.”

She laughed. “It’s true, isn’t it?”

“I played the field a little.”

She cocked a brow. “A little? Gavin, you were all over women all the time. And that’s fine. It was good for your image and good PR. I played it up as much as possible.”

He stepped up to her, smoothed his hand over her hair. “And you loved me. Didn’t it hurt you?”

She shrugged. “A little. But I did my job. I did what was best for you.”

He inhaled, blew it out, took her hand, and led her to the sofa. She sat, and he kneeled in front of her. “I’m sorry I never knew, never picked up on it. What kind of man does that make me?”

“It makes me a very good agent who made sure you never knew.”

He didn’t smile. He lifted her hand. “I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you.”

“Not necessary. I have you now. It’s all that matters.”

“I really don’t deserve you.”

“Yes, Gavin, you do. As much as I deserve you. We belong together.”

He lifted up and brushed his lips against hers, feeling like the luckiest man alive. His heart swelled with so much love his chest felt like bursting.

This was what love felt like. This feeling of joy, of knowing you’d never be alone again, never feel like something was missing from your life; the feeling that you now had someone to protect, to keep safe from harm.

He got it now; he understood where his brother was coming from.

He’d die to protect Elizabeth.

He pulled a box out of his pocket. “This part I didn’t want to do at the stadium. I wanted it just to be the two of us.”

ELIZABETH STARED AT THE BLACK VELVET BOX.

She hadn’t expected this. She raised her hand to her heart, then looked at Gavin.

“Oh.”

He opened the box and inside was a princess-cut diamond in a platinum setting. And wow. The diamond was huge, the band covered in tiny sparkling diamonds, too.

It was perfect. Gorgeous and everything she could have dreamed of.

“Oh, Gavin. It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

He held her hand. “Elizabeth Darnell, I love you. I don’t care how old you are or how old I am. I want you to be my wife. I want to have babies with you if you want them, too. I want you to continue to love your career as much as I love mine. I want us to love and respect each other forever. Will you marry me?”

This time she didn’t try to fight the tears. She let them flow down her cheeks and nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, Gavin. I love you, too. And I’d be honored to marry you.”

He slid the ring on her finger and pulled her off the sofa and into his arms. On her knees, she met his lips with equal passion. Her carefully coiffed updo was gone in an instant as he pulled the pins from her hair and shook it out, his hands diving into the strands as he fell onto his back on the floor and pulled her on top of him.

God, it felt good to feel his body against hers again. She’d missed his touch, the way his hands glided over her back and to her hips, the way he dug his fingers into her as if he couldn’t seem to get enough of her.

She’d missed his passion, his almost desperate need for her, because she always needed him. Would it always be like this between them? She hoped so.

She lifted, stared down at him, smoothed his hair away from his brow, and listened to his heavy breathing, felt his heartbeat jamming away against her chest.

He tilted his head and smiled up at her. “What?”

“I was just wondering if it would always be like this between us. This hunger we seem to have for each other.”

He cupped her face and brought it down to meet his. “Hell, yes.”

He kissed her with such deep longing that she had no doubt he was right. Her heart melted, and so did her panties as he lifted against her, his erection driving against her sex. She planted her hands on his chest and surged against him, the need so powerful to have him inside her she quaked with it.

He broke the kiss, and she was breathless, especially when she saw the passion in his eyes. She sat up and began to unbutton her blouse, her fingers shaking. Gavin watched her undo each button, and try as she might to be slow and sexy, all she could do was fumble it.

Maybe him lifting and teasing her with his hard cock had something to do with it.

“You’re distracting me.”

He cocked a brow. “Hurry up.”

“Trying.”

She let her blouse slip from her shoulders. His hands were on her breasts in an instant, his thumbs sliding over the swells, then her nipples. The silk of her bra was no defense, and her nipples hardened as he swept his fingers over her bra.

He sat up and undid the clasp, and she shrugged the bra off. He pulled her forward and caught one aching bud between his lips, suckling her and driving her mad with his tongue, teeth and lips while using his hand to roll the other nipple between his fingers. She tangled her fingers in his hair and tried to hold on through the myriad of sensations shooting pleasure sparks straight to her core.

This wasn’t happening fast enough. She pulled away and scooted down his thighs, reaching for the button of his jeans. He leaned back on his palms and let her unzip him, her knuckles brushing his erection, causing him to jerk against her in response.

Yes, he was as primed as she was. And she wanted him in so many ways, all at once. She pulled his jeans and shoes off and got them out of the way, then dragged his boxers down, too.

His cock sprang up, hot and hard and delicious. She circled it with her hands, loving the soft, steely feel of it, the way the skin moved around the erect muscle, the engorged head just begging for a taste. She bent over the shaft and put her lips over the wide purple crest and swept her tongue over it, loving the way Gavin thrust against her mouth and groaned, then grabbed a handful of her hair as if he couldn’t control his reaction.