Page 57 of Mad Rivals (The Bradley Legacy #1)

He Grins, and I Swoon

One Month Later

A year ago, you couldn’t have paid me enough to don a Bradley jersey, in particular one that wasn’t for my home team from Chicago, but here we are.

I’m proudly wearing my man’s San Diego Storm jersey as I sit beside Clem in the front row right in the middle of the field on opening day on the Storm’s side of the field.

I spot Cassie, the quarterback’s wife, sitting with Sophie, her soon-to-be sister-in-law, in the end zone, and I text her to let her know where we are.

She waves wildly at me, and we already have plans to go out after the game to celebrate since we’re all feeling a victory down to our bones today.

Grace is here, too, up in the suites, I think, maybe with Spencer’s mom.

These women—the football wives—have become my little local family as I’ve started to dig into life in San Diego.

I realize they can come and go at any minute.

Trades or retirement or injuries—it’s all possible in this ever-changing world, but for now, I feel like I’m part of something big and exciting.

It feels like we’ve started bonding in ways that will take us far beyond this game .

I floundered a while as I worked out whether I really wanted to be here.

I’m a Chicago girl at heart, and I always will be.

But sometimes the heart can grow to love something else even more, and for me, that’s Madden.

Home is wherever we make it, wherever we are together, and right now, we’re making it pretty damn sweet just outside of the San Diego city limits.

I haven’t told him yes yet, but it feels like today’s the day.

I’m nervous as I watch our boys take the field. I say a quick little meditation in my own mind: stay safe, have fun, and play your heart out .

I know he’s got three-hundred-pound defenders ready to plow into him to stop him from moving the ball up the field, and I don’t know how he’s so damn brave to face them. Something about this game is in his blood, though—even though his father couldn’t play, he and his brothers can.

I never in my life thought I’d cheer for anybody other than the Bears, but now that the man I love is a player on the San Diego Storm, my allegiance seems to have shifted to a new city.

I’ll never cheer for anyone else has become an adage of the past. If the Storm plays the Bears, I might tease Madden that I have some issues with who to cheer for, but my allegiance will always fall to the man who holds my heart in his hand.

Clem and I are both eating popcorn and drinking beer, and even she showed up in a Storm shirt today.

Our team receives the ball first, and Tanner hands it off a few times to running backs. He passes to Spencer, and then Madden has a catch before the Cowboys take offense, and Madden stands on the sidelines while the Storm’s defense takes the field.

I watch the back of his head from where I sit, and he’s watching the game carefully.

He’s dialed in and focused as he watches every play with an analytical eye, something he’s been trained to do for the last thirteen years that he’s played in this league.

Will that number tick to fourteen? Time will tell, but we’ve talked fairly extensively about it, and I think I know what he wants to do .

He wants to play through some of this season before he focuses on what comes next.

He may not even get an offer to stay, but if he does, it’ll be a decision we’ll make together. That much I know. And I also know that I’ll support whatever it is he wants to do. We’re a team now, and teams run more smoothly when everyone on it is doing what they love.

It’s my first time experiencing game day with him.

He was quiet this morning as if he was already focused on today’s game, but he also kissed me like his life depended on it before he headed out the door this morning.

He told me he’s always a little quiet on game day morning, so I knew what to expect.

He turns around during a commercial break, and I give him a small wave when I think he’s looking at me.

He grins and waves back, and my heart absolutely melts.

And then his eyes shift down to the number eighty on the front of my shirt, and I spot the heat in his eyes as they move back to mine.

He raises a brow, and it’s one simple look that speaks volumes to me as if we share our own language now.

That’s the look that means we’ll both be going to bed with smiles on our lips tonight.

And I can’t wait for him to make me smile.

Near the end of the first half, Tanner hands the ball off to his twin, who’s taken down by a defender almost immediately.

But on the next play, Madden cuts downfield and is wide open.

Tanner spots him and throws him the ball.

It sails easily into his arms, and he runs it into the end zone for a touchdown.

I scream as I jump out of my seat, spilling popcorn everywhere without a care in the world, and Clem screams next to me, too, as we celebrate Madden’s touchdown.

After the play, he runs over toward me, and I bend down to slap his back. “Oh my God!” I scream at him. “Great play!”

He grins, and I swoon, and it’s pretty much the most perfect moment in history as he celebrates his big play with me.

He pulls his helmet off, and I kiss him.

When I pull back, I say, “Yes. I want to marry you. ”

“Yes?” he repeats.

“I want to marry you.”

His smile widens, and he kisses me again, and it’s all a blur since he has to get back to the sidelines.

I stare at him from where I am with a huge smile on my face for the rest of the game.

Clem is next to me screaming and cheering at my yes, and everyone around us must think we’re nuts, but I’m getting married.

That man right there wearing number eighty on the sidelines?

He might’ve started as my enemy back when we were mad rivals, but now he’s something else entirely to me.

He’s my fiancé. He’s my entire future, and whether we’re here celebrating victories on the field or in an office building or at home, I can’t wait for every single second of what’s coming next.

* * *

We’re heading back to Vegas next with bad boy Dex Bradley’s story, PLAY FAKE! What happens when a woman drops off a baby and tells him he’s the father?

* * *

Find out whether Madden decides to keep playing another year or trade his jersey for a suit in the bonus epilogue!

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Flip the page to read the first chapter in PLAY FAKE , the second book in THE brADLEY LEGACY series from Lisa Suzanne.