Page 95 of Overtime

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I can barely containmyself when I see Colt coming out from his presser and I run full force and launch myself at him. He catches me and braces us against the wall when we nearly topple over, laughing.

“You are amazing and I love you!”

“I love you too.” He squeezes me tight and sets me back on my feet, leaning down to kiss me.

“How excited are you? The playoffs. That’s like a big deal right?”

“It’s kind of a big deal, yeah.” He smiles, and his eyes light up.

“That flea flicker thing was pretty badass.”

“How do you even know what that’s called?” He threads his fingers with mine as we walk toward the car, grinning at the idea of me knowing something about his work.

“I know things. I study football.”

He shoots me a skeptical look but his smile never fades.

“Okay, maybe I just know women who know football and they explain it to me. But that should count.”

“We’ll let it count.”

“I think I kind of love them too.”

“The girls?”

“Yeah. They’ve all been so kind to me. Oh and Mackenzie’s son, Waylon? He agreed to be our ring bearer.”

“That’s great Joss. I’m glad. I didn’t know if you’d want to be up there every weekend. I know this isn’t your thing, but—”

“It’s my thing now. You’re my thing.” I stop and kiss him again.

“You’re my thing too.” His eyes drift over my face.

“I’ve been thinking about venues. How it’ll be hard to get privacy here because everyone wants to gawk at you getting married… What if we rent a chateau in France during the off season and get married there?”

He pauses for a moment, thinking and then a smile tugs one side of his mouth and he nods. “Yeah. I think I love that. Will make sense for it to be smaller and my parents won’t want to travel that far so it’ll be an easy out for all of us.”

“Your brother though?”

“Oh my brother will be dying to go. He’ll claim he’s gonna meet some French woman and move there.”

“Good. Well I mean that he’ll come not the other part. Although in my experience time on the road does make for a clearer head and better decisions.”

“Yeah, well… I’m thankful for that when it comes to you but I think my brother would just get into trouble.”

“Maybe. So French chateau in the off season. Next year or the year after?”

“Fuck that. This year.”

“This year?” I stop at the car and turn to stare at him because he has to be kidding.

“This year.”

“But I mean… off season is soon. I mean hopefully not until after the—you know—I don’t want to say and jinx it, but still… Really soon.”

“I can put someone on it. I’m sure someone knows someone.”

“I thought you’d want a long engagement. Time to plan and all the things.” It’s my turn for skepticism.

“No. I was serious about marrying you in Vegas. As long as Ben, Violet and my brother are there and you’re marrying me? That’s all I need to plan for. The sooner the ring is on your finger and we’re moved into our new house, the better. I hope more of the guys can make it and if you want to have it at a chateau, great. But I just want you, Joss—the sooner, the better.”

“I mean… All I want is you. If you’re sure…”

“I’m positive.” He kisses me one more time and then opens the door for me. “Now let’s go celebrate getting into the playoffs with everyone, and we can tell them to start planning for France this spring.”

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