Chapter 52: Chapter 52

Exhaustion seeps into my bones as we finally make it back to the hotel room after a night filled with celebrating our Super Bowl win. Winning the last game of my career is a surreal feeling, but what made it feel even better was having Emma by my side throughout all of tonight.

When they handed me the trophy, I couldn’t look at anyone but her. The smile on her face as she watched me give a speech will be burned in my mind forever. She seemed so happy and proud to watch me succeed, to experience it with me, and I’ll forever be grateful that I got to share the moment with her. It made tonight all the better because I had the woman I love with me.

I look at Emma as she sits down at the end of the king-sized bed and begins to unzip one of her knee-high boots. I stand in the doorway for a moment, taking it in that she’s really here.

She looks up at me with a sleepy smile. “What are you looking at, Rhodes?”

I fold my arms across my chest and lean against the doorframe. “You,” I answer simply, still in awe that she’s mine.

She shakes her head, pulling off one boot and then the other. Her eyes stay locked on mine as she reaches behind her and unzips the little black skirt she was wearing. My body heats and I forget all about how tired I am just at the sight of her pulling the skirt down her thighs.

“Why don’t you come sit? I don’t know how you’re still functioning after playing a game like that and celebrating for hours after.” She pats the spot next to her on the bed.

I probably should feel more tired than I do at the moment, but seeing her undress in front of me, just being alone with her for the first time in months, gives me a second wind. We went straight from the stadium to the after-parties. We stayed out so late that the Miami sun will start to rise at any moment.

I close the distance and sit down next to her, appreciating the view of her in nothing but my jersey. “You look sexy as hell in my jersey, rebel.”

She bites her lip, her fingers twisting in the fabric of the jersey as she lifts it slightly, showing the black pair of lace panties she’s wearing. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

I lean in and wrap my fingers around the base of her neck, pulling her in for a kiss. I don’t know how many kisses I’ve stolen over the course of the night, but I can’t help myself. All I want to do is make up for lost time with her. It’s the reason I kiss her again, pulling her into my lap until she’s straddling me.

Emma doesn’t protest. She kisses me back with the same hungry passion. Her hips rock against me slightly as the kiss deepens. We kiss like that for I don’t know how long, the two of us getting lost in each other. Part of me wants to strip her of every article of clothing she wears so I can bury myself inside her and get as close to her as possible.

The other part of me wants to savor this. We have the rest of our lives for one another. I can take my time. Right now, I’d rather get inside that beautiful mind of hers and find out what the past six months have looked like for her.

I’m the one to pull away. Because I can’t help it, I feather kisses along her jaw and neck. I missed the beat of her pulse against my lips, and I have plans to kiss every single inch of her body now that I have her back.

“Tell me,” I begin, continuing to press my lips to her skin.

The most breathtaking giggle escapes her as I nip at the tender spot behind her ear. “Tell you what?”

“Everything,” I mutter. “I want to know how you’ve been, what you’ve been doing, and anything else you want to tell me.”

Emma smiles. Her fingers absentmindedly trace circles on the back of my neck. “A lot has happened since I last saw you.”

“Tell me all of it.”

“What if I wanted to know about you?” she teases.

“All I did was focus on football. Now, tell me about you.”

Emma rolls her eyes playfully. “When I first moved back in with Aunt V, things were hard. I missed you and was constantly questioning whether I’d made the right decision. Deep down, I knew I had. I knew if I didn’t work on finding myself, eventually, I’d self-sabotage our relationship because I think it’s hard to fully love someone before you love yourself. I could’ve gotten lost in you and lost myself even more, and while that might’ve worked for a short period of time, I wanted the forever kind of love with you, Preston. And I wanted the forever kind of love with myself. I needed to be alone for once in my life and be okay with that. So, I started working on embracing who I was. I hired a whole management team and decided I wanted to take social media seriously.”

I keep her body pinned to mine as she recounts what her life has been like in the months we’ve been apart. I hang on every word, loving how confident she sounds. “I continued to keep it real with my followers. Like really real. Sometimes I was so honest and raw I questioned if I was doing the right thing, but it turns out when you tell your insecurities to millions of people on the internet, that a lot of them feel the same way too. I didn’t feel so isolated. I accepted I wasn’t the only one still trying to figure out what my passion was or who used dark humor to deflect how I felt about my life. After that, day by day, and little by little, I realized I was accepting myself for everything I was.”

“I’m so proud of you,” I tell her honestly. I loved her before, but I’m so happy she chose the path she did. While I missed her every second of every day, I love her even more for not rushing into things.

Emma smiles, her fingertips brushing over my jaw as she holds my face between her hands. “I’m proud of me too.”

“So, what’s next for you, Emma Turner? Besides being my girlfriend, of course.”

She raises her eyebrows. “You haven’t asked me to be your girlfriend.”

My hands drift down her back until they’re cupping her asscheeks. I pull her tighter to me, loving having our bodies flush against one another. “I was so excited to get you back that I’m already messing this up.” I laugh, leaning in for one small kiss before continuing. I tilt my head back, wanting to be able to look into her eyes before asking the next question.

“Em, my love, my everything, will you be my girlfriend?”

She smiles, her entire face lighting up with her loud squeal. “Duh!” she rushes out excitedly, leaning in to kiss me. “Emma Turner, Preston Rhodes’ girlfriend. Damn, that’s hot.”

I laugh, shaking my head at her. “Emma Turner, the most incredible woman to ever exist and the only one to ever hold my heart. Damn…that’s hot.”

We both laugh at my impression of her. “That’s hot” definitely sounds a lot better coming from her mouth than it does mine.

“So there’s one more thing I have to tell you,” Emma begins before pulling her bottom lip between her teeth.

“And what’s that, rebel?”

“I don’t want this to overshadow your big day of winning the Super Bowl and retiring and all the things, so I can wait to tell you, but⁠—”

I press my fingers to her lips. “We celebrate all of our wins together. One will never overshadow the other. Now, tell me what has you excited because I can see it written all over your face, and I want to celebrate it with you.”

“Well…” Her body rocks up and down as she can barely contain her giddiness with whatever she wants to tell me. My heart already bursts with excitement for her, knowing how happy it’s clearly making her, and she hasn’t even told me what it is yet. “Your girlfriend will now be the host of a little podcast called Quarter-life Crisis, and there’s already a bidding war between streaming platforms to be the one the podcast is exclusive to.”

I stand up, my hands supporting her weight as I turn in excitement. “That’s incredible.” I keep her body pressed to mine, my mind reeling with amazement at her. I’m so taken aback by her and all that she’s been able to accomplish in the months that we’ve been apart that for a moment, I can’t even find words.

Emma gives me a wide grin, her eyes misting over with unshed tears. “I still can’t fully wrap my head around people wanting to listen to me ramble even more about getting my shit together, but it’s real. I’m already hoping my sports guy will be the first guest.”

A lightness fills my chest at her words. “I’d be honored, rebel.”

“I love you,” she whispers, her features softening as her eyes track my face.

“I love you too,” I respond, looking forward to a lifetime of “I love yous” with her.

“Thank you for being patient with me. For giving me the time I needed.”

“You don’t have to thank me for that. I’m happy you did because now I know that no matter what life throws at us, we’ll handle it together.”

She nods. “Together. Forever.” The smile falls from her face as she licks her lips when her gaze falls to my own.

“Forever,” I repeat. She wraps her thighs around my middle, and my fingertips inch underneath the fabric of her panties.

I sit down, my hands exploring her body. She does the same, her hands drifting underneath my shirt. When she lifts it up, I let her pull it off me. She throws it behind her, her lips kissing my throat until a small gasp leaves her.

My eyes find hers, catching her staring at the chain around my neck. More importantly, what’s on the chain.

“Is that?” she asks, her voice quiet as she reaches out to grab the chain.

I nod. “It’s been my lucky charm throughout the season. I wouldn’t play a game without it.”

Emma’s bottom lip trembles as her eyes meet mine. “You kept the penny I found last summer?”

“I did.” The moment she returned home, I found a jeweler that’d make the penny into a necklace charm for me. It allowed me to feel like she was still with me, even when she wasn’t. All this time, she and her penny were my lucky charm; she just didn’t know it. “I was never superstitious until this year and this penny. The chain broke in the middle of one of our games. We went into overtime, and I played like shit while I frantically waited for a team of trainers to put it back together. Finally, they did, and we pulled off a win, but I was nervous.”

Emma looks at me in disbelief. “I thought you’d probably lost it the day I found it.”

“Nope. I’ve kept it with me every day since. And it’s not going anywhere now. It’s my lucky charm. So are you.”

“Hey, Preston?” Emma asks, rocking her hips up and down with a wide smile.

“Yes?”

She leans closer until our lips almost brush. “I know you’re probably exhausted, but I need you. Right now.”

Her words are all I need to hear. I turn and set her gently on top of the bed. I thought I could wait until we got some sleep to have her, but I can’t. And I fucking love that she can’t either. “I need you too,” I comment, pulling her panties down her thighs and appreciating the view of her truly in nothing but my jersey.

“Then come get me, boyfriend.”

I smile at the way she says boyfriend. God, I’ll never get tired of hearing it.

“Whatever you want, girlfriend.”

Emma laughs, but it gets cut off the moment I pull her to the edge of the bed and bury my face between her thighs..

Emma Turner. My fake girlfriend turned real one.

My life falls perfectly into place as I prepare to make love to the woman who owns my heart. Nothing for us was easy. We started out as something that was only supposed to be temporary. She’s taught me everything I know about love and the sacrifices you make for a love like ours. But no matter what, through it all, we were able to find our forever between the bright lights and summer nights.