Authors: Emerson Rose
Fair Play (40 page)
Epilogue
Five years later
Disney World with three kids under ten is a really stupid idea, but when you win the America Bowl, you go to Disney. I have led the Redkings to two America Bowl wins since my beautiful wife helped me walk back onto the field four years ago after the birth of our daughter Raven.
I couldn’t have done it without her; she was instrumental in my recovery. I was optimistic in thinking I could make it back in four months; it took me more like seven, but still much sooner than the eighteen months Dr. Moto predicted.
I did however stand at the altar when we got married. I refused to use crutches or sit in a fucking wheelchair when I vowed to love and protect her all the days of my life.
Now I’m vowing never to go to Disney in ninety-degree humid weather for all the days of the rest of my life.
“Daddy! Go with me on Splash Mountain again, please,” Harper says, dropping her head back dramatically.
“See if Mommy wants to go, my stomach can’t take that drop again. We’ve been on that thing four times today, can’t we do something else?”
I sound like one of my kids whining about going on that ride, but we’ve been here since they opened this morning and it’s four o’clock. The baby needs a nap, Ame needs a good strong drink, and Raven’s little legs are worn out.
Harper is still going strong though, and I hate to disappoint my little girl.
“I’ll go with her, you guys go ahead and go back to the hotel. We can feed her and bring her back after the light parade,” Brea says.
“Yes! Please, Daddy, let me stay with Brea and Roman, please, please, please.”
“No need to beg, Princess, you go ahead and have fun with the childless wonders.”
“Oh shut up, old man, you’re just jealous you can’t keep up,” Roman says, high-fiving Brea.
“You just wait, you’ll have kids that will sap every ounce of energy from your body someday.”
“Nope, no way. I like my freedom,” he says.
“Me too,” Brea says, winking at Roman.
Ame walks up sweaty and tired, toting Sebastian in a side sling but gorgeous as ever.
“We going?”
“Yes, Harper’s staying with these bozos,” I say, hitching my thumb over my shoulder at the fiery redhead and the muscle-bound linebacker.
“Oh great, thanks guys,” she says, and turns without another thought to find an air-conditioned bus. I’m a mere step behind her waving at Harper, who is skipping away with our friends.
“Where the hell does all that energy go when you grow up anyway?”
Ame looks down at the bundle on her hip and then to Raven struggling along next to me without a word.
“Adulting is hard,” she says, pointing at the next bus.
“Daddy, up,” Raven says with her hands in the air.
“Yeah, daddy up,” Ame repeats, some sass returning to her weary voice.
I lift Raven up and steal a kiss from her and then Mrs. Silver.
“Daddy’s already up for you, Mama,” I whisper in her ear.
She groans. “Please tell me we have a babysitter tonight.”
“We have a babysitter tonight, all night. My mom offered to take them in her room.”
“Oh thank the Lord. I need a bath, a massage, dinner, a drink, and a silver snake.”
“That sounds like a perfect night, especially the snake part.”
“I knew you’d like that. I’m beat, but this has been really fun you know, hot and sweaty and exhausting … sort of like sex.”
“I never thought about it like that.” I sit Raven in the seat next to me on the blessedly cool bus and hold out my hands palms up. “Sex, Disney World, sex, Disney …”
“You better stop weighing those options and pick sex or you’ll be sleeping alone tonight, buddy.”
“Sex.” I lift my right hand high with enthusiasm. It was never really a contest.
She giggles, and we settle into our seats watching out the window as the bright colors of Disney World go by.
It’s crazy that the thing that could have ended my career was the thing that brought me back. My injury led me back to Amethyst, and she took my hand and led me back to life.
THE END.
Page ahead to enjoy your second Bonus book – Fair Catch. This is book two in Emerson’s football romance series.
EMERSON ROSE
COPYRIGHT 2016
Prism Heart Press
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without written permission from the publisher or author. If you are reading this book and you have not purchased it or received an advanced copy directly from the author, this book has been pirated.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or, if an actual place, are used fictitiously and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
DEDICATION
This one is for my mom.
If you were alive today I think you would get a kick out of reading my stories.
Love you.
Miss you.
DESCRIPTION
ANGEL
I'm a disappointment--to my family.
They wanted me to follow in their footsteps,
A career in medicine, curing the sick.
But, I took my own path, a hard and competitive path,
Where my passion lies.
Graceful, elegant, poised,
Ballet is my life, my dream,
My everything.
But when I meet him,
Plie, Passé, and Releve
Are quickly shadowed by the man
Who intercepts my heart.
Suddenly, I'm thinking about touchdowns,
and scoring.
There's so much more to River Kelley
Than all his fans realize.
He's strong, but sensitive.
Powerful, but delicate.
Determined, but giving.
Now, I'm questioning everything.
My dreams.
My future.
My heart.
RIVER
She may be a saint,
But she's no angel in bed,
And it feels like she's been sent from Heaven.
She's the answer to my every prayer,
The woman who could dance into my fantasies,
And make all of my dreams come true.
But when my family jeopardizes our future,
I have to let her go,
Let her achieve her goals.
Let her fly,
Like the angel she is.
If only, I could find a way to have both...
Chapter One
Angel
My tight muscles begin to loosen in Marcus’s capable hands.
“How does that feel?” he asks, pushing against my leg.
"It hurts a little, but I don't want you to stop."
“I want to take this slow, Angel. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“I don’t have time for slow.” I take a deep breath, hold it, and slowly blow it out as he backs away from me. His kind, warm brown eyes plead with me to let him go easy, but I can't. I want this. I have to have it.
"Okay, I'll work you over, but you have to promise me something."
“Anything,” I say as he raises my leg again, leaning into me.
I see a glimmer of hope flash across his face. Maybe I should be more careful about offering
anything
.
“Let me take you to dinner.”
Marcus winks, and one side of his mouth lifts in a sexy smirk that would melt the panties off most women.
Not me.
“Are you supposed to be fraternizing with your clients?” I ask.
“Probably not, but I can’t help myself.”
I roll my head to the right and see us in a mirror across the room of the physical therapy room. We are a sight to see, two attractive people in what could be construed as a compromising position in any other environment. My leg is nearly horizontal to my torso. Marcus has one hand on the back of my thigh and the other cradling the arch of my foot, testing the limits of my hamstrings.
How to let him down easy? I could say I have a boyfriend, but I'm pretty sure he knows I don't. I could say I'm a lesbian, but I think he's too smart for that one. Maybe I should tell him I'm too busy. That's not a lie, but it's an ego buster, and Marcus is sweet. I turn to face him again.
"Thank you, really, Marcus. I appreciate the invitation-slash-bribe." He's smiling. Whew. This is going well.
“My audition is next week, and Miss Valentina has me on a strict schedule that consists of hours of practice and zero fun.” I wag my finger back and forth, emphasizing my lack of a social life.
“You should take a break and let me feed you.” He looks at me through my legs when he sits back on his heels with his chin down and eyebrows high.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t.”
“You should tell Miss Valentina to lighten up.”
“Ha, no way. You have not met Miss Valentina. She's scary and demanding. Telling her to lighten up would be like telling Miley Cyrus to keep her tongue in her mouth. It's just not going to happen."
“Hmm, intense, huh?”
“To say the least.”
“Well, I guess you’re going to have to have her do your physical therapy then,” he says, laying my leg down on the floor.
"You work for MBS. You're supposed to heal my mind, body and soul. You took an oath or something, didn’t you?”
He chuckles, and I sigh with relief. I'm glad he's not upset, or at least, he doesn't appear to be. Rejecting men will never get any easier, especially when they are as nice as Marcus. My career is my top priority, though, along with making my parents proud. I'm not letting a man derail me now. I've come too far.
My mother put me in dance when I was two and a half, the second I was out of diapers, and she regrets it every day. My father is a gifted neurosurgeon, and he had his heart set on both of his daughters being physicians, but he was only granted half of that wish. My older sister, Heaven, has been a pediatrician for three years now, and he couldn't be more proud of her. Dancing, on the other hand, is not an acceptable career, in his book, but I'm going to make him change his mind, no matter what it takes.
“I have so many dirty responses to that question, it’s insane. I’ll be a gentleman and keep them to myself.”
He stands and offers me his hand to help me up. I take it and let him tug me to my feet, even though I don’t need the help.
I've been coming to MBS since I twisted my ankle and pulled a hamstring two weeks ago. It's expensive, but MBS is a famous healing center for athletes with injuries. Their nurses also travel and, God willing, I will be touring with the San Francisco Ballet Company after my audition next week.
"Thank you," I say and curtsey deeply, with a flourish.
"Don't mention it. I'll see you tomorrow at two, right?"
“Yep, if Miss Valentina doesn’t cripple me in practice today.”
"You want me to come and slay your dragon? I'm a great knight in shining armor." He puffs out his chest, and I can't help but laugh.
"That's the perfect name for her, but I'm fine, thanks. She's tough, but I can take it."
“Okay, but if you need me, you still have my card, don’t you?”
He has given me his card twice. I didn't think anything of it the first time. He's a physical therapist building his customer base. But the second time, I was certain he was interested in stretching more than just my muscles.
“Yes, got it in my wallet—both of them.”
He grins, and I turn to leave. It's time to go and be tortured, and I can't wait.