Page 61 of Catching Kyle (Football Heartthrobs #1)

Kyle Weaver

I shake my head, trying to focus myself on this next half of the game.

Coaches are pissed about my little performance, but there’s nothing they can do.

And like I care. This is my last NFO game ever, and now I can retire with a gorgeous boyfriend in my arms—one that I can publicly say is mine.

I just have this last game to get through, and I’m gonna give it my all—not for my daddy or anyone else, but for me.

I pat Ezekiel on the shoulder. “Thanks again, man,” I say. “For everything.”

He gives me a hug, our shoulder pads and helmets clanging together. “Any time, man. It’s a pleasure. And it was awesome to watch.”

I blush. “I wasn’t cheesy, was I?”

“Oh, you were, but it was perfect,” he says, grinning.

But we don’t get time to joke for long. It’s time. We all rush back out onto the field.

“Bring out that beast,” Ezekiel says. “Steal the ball. We’re gonna need it this half.”

He goes to the sidelines as I get in position with my fellow defensive players. And then, before I know it, we kick the ball, and the game begins.

* * *

We get into position. There’s only thirty seconds left on the clock.

We managed to score a touchdown, bringing the score to 12 – 14, but we missed our extra point.

The Vanguard’s have possession of the ball, and it’s their second down.

If they really pushed it, they could score another touchdown and lock in their win.

Unless I intercept the ball.

But I don’t know if I can. I’m exhausted due to both the game and the anxiety from my plan to confess my love to Michael catching up to me. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t regret it in the slightest. But I could definitely use a hot shower, burger, and nap in that order right now.

The center snaps the ball. I try to break through the line, but their center sees me coming and keeps me in place.

The quarterback hands the ball to their running back, and he runs out to the side in what looks like the wide open.

No. He’s gonna score. But just before he breaks away, one of my guys tackles him to the ground. Thank God.

We quickly get into our next positions. This is their first down, and they’re less than twenty yards away from the goal line. This game is all but over.

Hunched down, waiting for them to snap the ball, I spot their quarterback signing something out to their wide receiver. This is the same thing they did last year. They’re trying to juke us out.

They snap the ball, and the quarterback rushes back. He cocks his arm back to throw out to the left. Having seen this before, I dart out to the other side of the field. Where I know the ball will be.

And I’m right.

The quarterback throws it to the wide receiver just a few yards from me. Likely anticipating me, the quarterback threw it high. So that means I’m gonna have to jump high to grab it.

As the ball’s coming down, I rush to where I see it’s going to land.

And then I jump.

My arms stretched high, the ball falls into my arms.

And I land on my two feet .

The crowd roars, but I don’t take time to congratulate myself.

I run like hell.

The crowd’s roars intensify, now just as loud as they were when I kissed Michael.

When I kissed Michael. My official boyfriend.

I’m running. I manage to stiff arm a guy coming toward me, and I turn my body just out of reach from another. Fifty yards away from the goal line. Then forty.

I see flashes of the Vanguards’ red uniform to my right. But I don’t focus on them. If I do, I’ll slow down. I need to stay fast. Thirty yards now.

I remember that I was exactly here a year ago. So much has changed. But the biggest difference now is that if someone asks me if I’m gay, I can gladly tell them the truth: yes. And I’m in love with a man named Michael Cunningham.

Someone reaches out and nearly grasps my clothing. But they just barely miss. I speed up, and then somehow, miraculously, I pass the goal line.

I go deaf at the sound of the cheering. I don’t realize what’s happened until all the Tigers are throwing themselves into me, grabbing my shoulder pads and cheering me on.

We did it. We fucking did it.

I won us the Championship Game.

And for the first time, I did it for me.

The next moments blur together. Our team celebrates. We thank the Vanguards for the game. I’m interviewed, but I don’t remember what I say. Because now that the game’s over, there’s only one person I want to see.

In the locker rooms, I don’t even shower. I’m too eager to see him. I just change into some nice clothes and grab my phone. Since I forgot where his suite is, I text Michael to meet me in a specific part of the stadium. He says he’ll meet me there.

When I see him, he rushes to me, security all around us. He wraps his arms around me, and I press my lips so hard into him I swear I see stars.

“You did it,” he says, grabbing both sides of my head.

“I did,” I say, still unable to believe it .

We kiss again, and this time everyone around us cheers. And I feel no shame at all.

That night at the after party, some reporters are there, including Robyn, the woman from ESB who first interviewed me about my father.

“How does it feel to be out and with the man you love?” she asks, putting the microphone in front of me. The camera is rolling to my right, and I know this moment is just as important as when I confessed my love in the stadium. Michael is standing by, watching. He gives me an encouraging thumbs up.

I smile at him and look back at Robyn. “I couldn’t be happier,” I say. “I’m finally being true to myself.”

“Do you have any words for your fans out there?”

I pause for a moment, then turn to the camera. “Be yourself,” I say. “No matter what other people say. I’ve found that it’s really the best way to live life.”

I glance over at Michael and gesture for him to join me. He comes over and I wrap my arm around him. I pull his head to mine and kiss him on the lips, then look back at the camera. “And then you might get as lucky as me,” I say. “Because now I have the man of my dreams.”

I kiss him one more time, then raise my fist in the air. People cheer around me, my chest burns hot. Not from shame or embarrassment or anxiety like it always has. But from joy.

I thank Robyn for all she’s done for me and give her a tight hug. Then I find Jessica.

“Thanks again,” I say to her. “You didn’t have to do this.”

She pats me on the arm. “It was fun,” she says. “I hope I find something like what you and Michael have.”

I hug her and kiss her on the top of her head. “I think you will.”

When the night’s over, I take Michael home. To my home. Because we’re fucking together now.

We’ve hardly made it past the laundry room before we’re all over each other.

“Careful,” I say, pulling away. “I stink.”

“Oh, Kyle Weaver,” Michael says. “This is a dream come true. Fucking a football player fresh after he wins the Championship Game? ”

I smile and kiss him. “I missed you so much.”

“I missed you too,” he says. He rests his head against my chest while we stand in the kitchen, and I wrap my arms around him.

“Was that enough?” I ask.

He pulls away and gives me a quizzical look.

“Was that whole demonstration enough to show you that I love you?” I ask.

His face relaxes into a calm smile, and I can’t stop myself from kissing him again. When I pull away to look in his eyes, I swear I can see his face sparkling with joy.

“I don’t think you could have done it better,” he says.

“Good,” I say. “Because that was my last resort.”

He digs his face into my chest and kisses it. “Well now you have me,” he says, looking back up at me. “And now it’s my turn to show you how much I love you.”

My stomach jumps. “Please,” I say. “I’ve been craving the shit out of you.”

We can’t get to my room fast enough, and thankfully he mentions he’s clean sexually so we can get right to it. Michael manages to slip his clothes off in less than three seconds, which is honestly fucking impressive. I’m struggling to get my shirt off because of the sweat.

“Here,” Michael says. He helps me take it off, but before I know it, he’s got his face buried in my arm pit. I use my other arm to nuzzle him in there.

“God,” he says, coming up for air. “You are such a fucking man.”

I grab him and kiss him, turned on by my own musk on his face. “I’m your fucking man.”

And that turns him into a fucking animal.

He gets off my pants and pushes me onto the bed.

He goes down on me, and I swear I’ve been transported to heaven.

I don’t want to objectify Michael—he’s so much more than that.

But the nice thing about dating a pornstar is he there is not one thing he can’t do well in the bedroom.

And with the passion he brings to everything he does?

I’m gonna have to build up my tolerance now that we’re officially together.

Because it takes some effort not to cum quick .

He releases his hold just before I’m about to release and comes up to kiss me. He collapses into the crook of my arm and wraps himself around me, and I know that I couldn’t pull him off me if I tried.

Outside, snow is falling again, and Michael and I lounge here for a minute. Just soaking in the other’s presence. He takes in a deep whiff of my armpit, and his ecstatic moan afterwards gets me rock hard again.

“So this is the life we’re getting,” he says. “This forever?”

I grab and pull him onto me so now he’s straddling me. I grab some lube from my nightstand and apply it to myself. Then, grabbing him by the hips, I gently guide him back onto my dick and don’t stop until I’m balls deep, his moans and gasps a symphony to my ears.

I grin up at him as he struggles to stay composed. “And there isn’t nothing now that’s gonna get in between us,” I say, slowly beginning to thrust. “I promise you that.”

And as we fuck that night, I don’t feel any lingering anxiety or dread. Just joy and hope knowing that, while we may struggle like all couples do, he and I are both committed to each other. No matter what.

“I love you so much,” I tell him as I hold him close, my dick still inside him after I’ve given him my third load.

“I love you too,” he says, clutching my arms. And as he falls asleep in my arms, I know that I’m the luckiest man in the whole world. Choosing integrity wasn’t easy, but with this as the outcome? It was worth all the pain. And I’d do it again for Michael in a heartbeat.