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CHAPTER NINETEEN

THANK GOODNESS THERE’S CRYSTAL

PENN

I’ve played in front of thousands of screaming fans, pressure so thick it’s crushing.

But standing in front of my teammates, telling them I got married?

Yeah, this might actually kill me. I’m most concerned about telling the Single Dad Players…

the name I’ve mercilessly made fun of and that literally does not fit any of us any longer.

They’re my best friends and I’ve avoided talking to them for the first time since we all got close because I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold it in, and I didn’t want anyone trying to talk me out of it.

Or the risk that I’d tell them what’s really going on.

I trust that they’d have my back and cover for us in any way when it comes to Sam—I just don’t want to put them in that position.

So, we’re going with the love route. And honestly? It’s not that far-fetched. They know more than anyone how far gone I am over Addy.

We have quite a spread, and at the right moment, we’ll wheel out a beautiful wedding cake.

Addy’s in a beautiful red dress that is knocking me sideways, and I’ve thrown a jacket over a black T-shirt and jeans so I match her a little better.

I think it catches everyone off guard that we’re dressed up for this impromptu party.

I look around at my teammates. Even Addy’s best friend, Goldie, and Cam fucking Whitman are here. I smile smugly at the bastard. I can admit again how fucking handsome he is now that Addy is married to me.

“All right, listen up,” I say, clapping my hands together.

I reach out and take Addy’s hand, and the room falls to a hush. I smile over at her and everything inside me settles.

“We have an announcement to make,” I say, still looking at Addy.

“As some of you know, I went to the Bahamas to celebrate with Bowie and Poppy…and I came home thinking about a girl named Addy. I met her and she turned my world upside down. I couldn’t forget her…

and I couldn’t stop wishing for another chance with her.

Here we are, months later, and I’ve been given that chance.

I intend to let her know how I feel about her for the rest of our lives.

” I lift up our hands, holding them up so her rings show, and hold up my other hand, ring finger out.

There’s an audible gasp across the room. “We got married.”

Dead silence.

Someone drops a plate and it clatters, which makes my lips twitch. Rhodes blinks. Elle puts her hand up to her mouth. Bowie looks like he’s seen a ghost, and Poppy clutches her basketball stomach.

Then the freak-out begins.

“ What? ” Henley shouts, rushing toward us. “Are you—HOW?”

“Oh my God,” Sadie and Tru say at the same time.

Weston puts his hand on his chest and then staggers over to me. He and Henley hug me, and then we’re surrounded, everyone talking at once.

“What were you thinking?”

“Congratulations!”

“Were you drugged?”

That pulls me out of it and I turn to look around for whoever said it. “No, I was not drugged. Relax. I got married. And I’m happy about it.”

Weston throws his head back and laughs. “My God,” he gasps, wiping his eyes. “Adeline, you got the king of commitment issues to settle down. This is historic.”

“It is shocking,” Henley says. “I need a drink.”

“I’m in shock, that’s what this is,” Rhodes says.

Bowie shakes his head, but he’s smiling. The dude has softened so much since meeting Poppy. “I just…have so many questions.”

Sam squeezes through and his head pops up between me and the guys. “Isn’t it the best news?”

“I mean, yeah. It’s phenomenal,” Rhodes says. “But you went from not even dating to married? I am shook. So happy, but shooketh.”

I rub the back of my neck. “I guess I just hadn’t met the right person before.”

Weston laughs again. “And you’ve gone soft, just like that. Happens to the best of us.”

“I’m not soft,” I argue, even though I know damn well I’m as soft as a marshmallow when it comes to Addy.

“Out of all the women you’ve ever met, Addy is the one,” Henley says, his eyes filling as he looks between the two of us.

“Addy, we’ve always known that when Penn finally fell, he’d fall the hardest, and I have to say, before you ever even came back to Silver Hills, he was pining for the woman he met in the Bahamas.

You got in his head from the very start. ”

My cheeks heat and I look at Addy shyly. She’s smiling at me, her gaze not wavering. I reach for her again, needing her to anchor me again. “Yes, she got in my head for sure.”

“Pretty boy’s in love!” Henley yells. He wipes his eyes. “God, this is making me so emotional.”

Everyone laughs, but Rhodes and Weston are wiping their eyes too.

“Well, damn. Adeline Evans, you tamed Penn Hudson,” Rhodes says. “How does it feel?”

“Pretty damn great,” she says softly. “I couldn’t stop thinking about him either.”

“This calls for a dance!” Weston yells. “We weren’t really prepared, but I think we could manage something, don’t you?”

I start laughing. “Shit, you guys. Don’t run her off before we’re even getting started.”

“She married you, she’s not going anywhere,” Rhodes says, squeezing my shoulder. “Elle baby, find us the right song.”

Elle holds up her phone and waves it. “On it!”

The sound of “Womanizer” by Britney Spears blasts through my speakers. I turn to Elle in horror.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

She laughs. “We’re saying goodbye to the Womanizer.

You-you-you aren’t , you-you you aren’t ,” she sings before the song even gets going.

“We’ll change it to fit you now. Boys, get in place.

Penn, that goes for you too. Does your new bride know you and your boys have a thing for dancing to Britney? ”

I glance at Addy and smirk at her incredulous face, kissing her knuckles before going out in the middle of the floor with my boys.

Everyone else clears out to the sides to give us our space, and I get in the center, flipping my hair like I’m Britney.

The room roars in laughter and a few throw their napkins at me.

I shimmy, my eyes never leaving Addy’s, and for the next several minutes we shake our asses off.

Her head falls back as she laughs at us, and I’m sweating by the time we’re done, laughing so hard myself.

I walk over to Addy and she throws her arms around me, still cracking up. “That was the best thing I’ve ever seen!” she says in my ear.

We hug and when we pull back and look at each other, there’s a mass tinkling of the glasses. We stare at each other as the sound gets louder.

“I guess we should give them what they want,” I say.

“Yep, I think so.” She grins.

I lean in and kiss her and just about lose my mind.

She feels so good, tastes so good. The room erupts in cheers and laughter, and Addy and I are laughing too when we finally part.

Her eyes are bright when she looks up at me.

I’m weak all over as I stare at her, like my legs might give out. It’s the weirdest feeling.

When I finally break my gaze from hers, I see her dad glaring at me.

Great, her parents decided to come.

I’m happy they’re here, I really am. I don’t want to do anything to jeopardize her relationship with them, but holy shit, Coach Evans does not look happy.

Addy’s eyes are still dazed when I look at her again and it makes me smile. “How about we go say hi to your parents?”

That seems to clear her fog. “Oh, good idea. Let’s take Sam with us.”

I laugh. “Even better idea.”

Sam’s talking with Henley’s daughters, Cassidy and Audrey. I go over there and put my arm on his shoulder. “I hate to interrupt, but can we steal you for a few minutes? I’d like you to come say hello to Addy’s parents.”

Sam manages to tear his eyes away from Cassidy and nods up at me. His cheeks are pink and I want to tease him so bad about his crush on Cassidy, but I resist. It’s not the time and I wouldn’t do it in front of her anyway, but it’s so tempting.

“Yeah, for sure,” Sam says, his head bobbing.

I grin at him and am surprised when Addy’s fingers thread through mine. I love having reasons to touch each other now. “Let’s do this.”

We walk toward her parents and when we reach them, Addy hugs them both. And then she puts her hand on Sam’s shoulder. “I believe you’ve met Sam before? Mom, I’m not sure if you have. Sam, this is my mom, Danielle, and my dad, Rex.”

“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Danielle.” He shakes her hand.

I could not be prouder of him than I am right now. When we first met, he was a great kid—kind and considerate and smart—but the confidence he’s gained over the past couple of years has been awesome to see.

I can tell they’re impressed too.

“It’s so nice to meet you, Sam. You sure look handsome tonight,” Danielle says.

“Thank you.” He ducks his head but doesn’t break eye contact with her. And then he reaches out to shake Coach’s hand, meeting his eyes. “And good to see you again, Coach Evans.”

“Well, hello, Sam,” Coach says. “Yes, I remember you. That’s quite the shiner you’ve got there. You doing okay?”

Sam touches his eye and makes a face. “Much better now.”

“You were interested in football, if I remember correctly?” Coach asks.

“Yes, sir. Penn put me in a football camp earlier this summer and he says I’m improving all the time.”

“He’s a better running back than I was at his age, no question,” I say proudly.

Sam’s face glows with the praise.

Coach studies me with an unreadable expression before looking back at Sam. “I hope to see you at one of our games this season.”

“I can’t wait. Addy says that since I’m living here now, I’ll get to go to all the home games.”

Addy’s dad looks between me and his daughter. “He’s living with you?”

“I’ve been trying to get custody of Sam for a long time now.” I put my hand on Sam’s shoulder and he leans into me. “Unfortunately, it took really awful circumstances for them to okay it, but my lawyer is confident that we’ll be able to keep him with us now.”

He doesn’t say anything, just studies us. I shift uncomfortably and Addy squeezes my hand. I look at her and lift her hand to my lips, unable to resist kissing her soft skin, even in front of her dad. Her cheeks bloom with color and I freaking love it when that happens.

I wave my parents over. “You’ve met my parents before, I believe?”

My mom smiles warmly at Danielle, and my dad shakes Coach’s hand. I feel better knowing that they’re here and they have my back.

“Did you know about all this?” Coach asks my dad.

“Only after the fact, like you,” Dad says.

That seems to appease Coach somewhat.

“Should we have cake now?” I ask.

“I’d love cake,” Addy says, smiling up at me.

I grin at her, my heart doing its skip over itself. I guess I should be getting used to this feeling now, since it’s happening all the time around her, but I’m so not. It’s exhilarating and terrifying.

My mom steps out in front of us. “Can I take a few pictures of you outside? The flowers look so pretty out there.”

“Sure, Mom.” I glance at Addy. “And then cake.”

She grins and we step outside. My mom leads us to the flowers and they do look gorgeous.

“Great idea,” I tell her.

We pose for a few photos and then my mom grins. “Okay, lighten up, you two. Let’s have some fun with this.”

Addy laughs nervously. I take my jacket off and toss it on a bench, and then I tug Addy toward me. I twirl her around and then lift her up. Her hands move to my hair and she smiles down at me.

For a few frozen moments, I forget that we have a houseful of people and I stare up at the beautiful woman who agreed to be my wife.

“You’re beautiful,” I say, looking up at her.

“Oh, that’s perfect,” my mom says, startling us.

I slowly lower Addy to the ground and kiss her forehead.

“Did you get some good ones?” I ask.

“I did,” Mom says. “The two of you are absolutely gorgeous together.”

I grin at Addy and her cheeks flush.

“Cake?” I ask her.

She nods, her lips lifting in a shy smile.

We walk to the house and when we walk inside, we stop in front of the beautiful cake.

The design was all Addy’s idea. It’s smooth and has this elaborate beading around the bottom edges that looks like little pearls, but it’s all icing.

It’s entirely too pretty to eat, but having had Greer and Wyndham’s cakes before from Serendipity, I know it’s going to be delicious…

which is all I cared about. But I’m pretty damn impressed about the way it looks too.

We printed the pictures Sam took and have them in frames around the cake.

“Hey, everyone, come to the kitchen,” I yell, like I have no care in the world, when all I can think about is what the fuck is this woman doing to me?

Our guests trickle into the room, and everyone gathers around us.

More pictures are taken as we cut the cake together.

I feed Addy’s piece to her gently, and I think she’s going to do the same with me, but then at the last second, she smooshes it into my face.

I stare at her in shock while she laughs her fine ass off, and I tug her toward me.

“Are you going to help me get this off?” I ask, my voice low.

She reaches out for a cloth to wipe my face and I hold onto her wrist, pausing it in place.

“Kiss me first.” My tone is playful but demanding, and her body sort of sways against me. I remove some of the frosting with my thumb and swipe it over her lower lip.

Her eyes widen and then dart between mine as she laughs. Her tongue peeks out to lick her bottom lip. I get hard instantly and now there’s no way I can back away. Everyone in this room will be aware of my situation.

The tinkling of the crystal amps up and Addy straightens.

I put my hands on her cheeks and she stands on her tiptoes, meeting me the rest of the way.

When her lips touch mine, it’s like an explosion of color going off behind my closed eyelids.

I keep it chaste because I don’t want to embarrass her.

I’ve been at weddings before where I saw way more tongue than I wanted to see and I won’t do that to Addy, but goddamn, do I want to.

I want to pillage her mouth with mine and never come up for air.

Eventually, we break apart and I lean my forehead against hers. “I hope they do that with the glasses all night, so I can keep having an excuse to kiss you.”

“Do you need an excuse?” She reaches up to smear off the lipstick she left behind.

I smirk. “If I have your permission, I’ll kiss you all night long.”

Her hands drop from me and she turns to get our cake plates. And then she looks at me over her shoulder and smirks right back. “You have my permission.”

Hot damn. It is on.