Page 41 of Not that Impressed (Houston Pumas #3)
WILL
Three Months Later
I’ve never wondered about Rob Bennet’s ability to negotiate.
You don’t get to be a billionaire owner of a professional football team with success like the Pumas without it.
But I’m especially impressed with how he maneuvered the network that Being the Bennets airs on.
Charlie and Janelle get their small, surprise wedding, and the network gets two cameras to air the celebration today as a special bonus episode.
Ellie has been over the moon. Janelle and Charlie gladly offered it up to get the network off the Bennets’ backs about doing a finale detailing everything that happened with Libby—all under the guise of “spreading awareness.” (Ellie’s finger quotes, not mine.) The Bennets fought hard to protect Libby.
All of us did. I even offered up date access to let the show portray my relationship with Ellie.
Ellie nixed that. It’s like she thinks I can’t handle being on TV at all—but I’ll let her be protective of me in this way if she wants to.
I’m relieved not to have to deal with it, even if I was willing.
Ellie is tucked into my side as Janelle and Charlie say their vows, Libby on her other side, holding her hand.
They’ve grown close over the last few months, not only because of Mexico, but because Janelle and Charlie have been spending every free moment together.
Ellie has had the foresight to get Libby involved in her work with Girls Play, her brand, and Janelle’s foundation, keeping her busy as the investigation into Hollis’s actions continues.
Ellie tells me Libby is ready and willing to testify about everything that happened with him, and she’s inspired Anna to do the same.
She’ll be a corroborating witness about Hollis’s behavior, although there was a fight to get that allowed.
Ellie sits up as Charlie and Janelle finish their vows, leaning toward me to kiss my cheek. I stare at her long after she turns away from me, sliding her hand into mine.
“Bro,” Libby whispers from her other side. “I keep telling you that you have to get some chill.”
Ellie gives her sister a good-natured slap on the leg. Libby grins, something I have grown to love. Libby has become my little sister too.
“Never,” I whisper back. I wiggle my eyebrows at Ellie and do an over-the-top bite my lip expression. Libby pretends to gag.
“You two need to behave,” Ellie scolds quietly.
We stop messing around long enough to hear the officiator pronounce Charlie and Janelle man and wife and then stand and cheer with everyone.
It’s a handful of teammates, the Bennet family, and their closest friends, no more than fifty people in the room, although it seems like more when so many of them weigh over two-hundred pounds.
“What do you think?” I ask Ellie as Charlie and Janelle do their silly dance down the aisle that they’ve been planning for weeks. Both of them have the widest grins, and despite thinking that this is fast, I know it’s exactly right for them.
“About what?” she asks, wrapping her arms around my arm and leaning into me.
“Getting married,” I say nonchalantly.
“Will Pemberton, this better not be a proposal.” She puts one hand on her hip and arches an eyebrow. I tilt her chin toward me, leaning down to kiss those fierce lips. She gets me every time she does that hand on her hip thing.
“Ellie Bennet, you know me well enough by now to know that I’m in the planning stages.
” I kiss her again. Three months ago, Charlie told me that my view of my job changed when I met Ellie, but it’s not the only thing that’s changed.
Ellie told me once that she was surprised I’m a PDA guy.
I never really was before. She’s the most comfortable I’ve been in a relationship ever.
I don’t care when my teammates rib me if she comes by practice and I can’t stop staring.
Or how it doesn’t matter to me that the video of her jumping into my arms and kissing me soundly after we won the championship two weeks ago went viral and that’s what I’m most famous for right now, not the two sacks I got in that game, and the multiple stops I led the defense in to keep the Arizona Cobras to only three points the whole game.
Jett may have won MVP, but I don’t regret dropping everything to go to Mexico. I just have to look at Libby and catch her smiling or watch Ellie stare at her and I remember that it was all worth it. I’d do it again.
Ellie smiles at me. “In that case…” She tilts her head and studies me. “I have a favorable view of it.”
I pull her toward me. “I meant with me.”
She laughs. “Oh, you did? Hmmm, I’ll have to think about that a little more.”
I press my lips into a spot on her upper jaw, just below her ear that I know is ticklish, and she squirms in my arms, giggling. “Will,” she says breathlessly. “The cameras.”
I pull an inch away and then press a kiss to her lips.
There are pictures of us all over her social media accounts—and mine too.
Usually it’s of us working together on her pet projects that have become mine.
But our fans are incessant, demanding pictures of us together, and we oblige from time to time.
I’m not worried about the Being the Bennets ’ cameras catching me with her.
I love everything about Ellie and who she is. Her fame included.
“Embarrassed?” I tease .
“This is supposed to be Janelle and Charlie’s day.” She doesn’t pull away from me.
“Then we don’t have to worry about the cameras.” I lift her closer to me, moving in to kiss her again.
“Will,” she says, wrapping her arms around my neck.
“Hmmm?” I study her. This is one of my favorite views, especially of her green eyes.
“I think marriage—to you specifically—sounds good. Really good.”
A grin breaks free, and I close the millimeters between us again, kissing her for far too short of time.
“Ugh. You two,” Libby says from behind us.
Ellie laughs, but she doesn’t stop kissing me. In fact, she presses her hands to my face and continues to kiss me, making loud smacks with her lips to annoy her sister, until Libby starts to giggle too.
Ellie shares a look with me as we listen to her laugh, both of us smiling but not daring to look over at her.
Libby has come far in the last few months, and she’s fortunate to have the support system that she does—her sisters and her parents all fighting to make sure she has every tool possible to heal.
Charlie will treat her like a sister, the same way I will.
It makes warmth spread through my chest to think that I get to be a part of this.
I’ve always regretted the judgment I made of Ellie that first night I saw her at Charlie’s house almost six months ago. But sometimes … I think it might have been the best thing to happen to me.
Because in the end, it brought me Ellie.
“I love you,” Ellie mouths at me.
I press my forehead to hers. “I love you too.”