Page 48 of Personal Foul (The San Diego Storm #3)

W e spent the month after our wedding taking care of all the little things we needed to do before going home to San Diego.

And one not-so-little thing.

Leland.

I’d decided to make an appearance at his hearing. I wanted the fucker to see my face when he walked into the courtroom. And I got exactly what I wanted.

When he entered the courtroom and found me sitting behind the prosecutor's desk, he stopped in his tracks.

It was quite comical to see him reduced to the living piece of shit he was.

And when the judge asked if I wanted to say anything before he sentenced him, I decided to get it off my chest. I looked him in the eye and spoke from my heart.

“When I met you almost seven years ago, I idolized you.

I looked up to you as a player and a teammate, and you took advantage of me.

And when my career here went off the rails, you tried to ship me off to South America to play.

No doubt, so you could steal more from me.

For what it's worth, you did me a favor by not appealing my suspension. Now I have a new career, a new life, and a new husband who loves me for me. Not what I can give him. So good luck in prison, and may you have the life you deserve.”

Leland’s wide-eyed expression of shock was the best part, other than when the judge sentenced him to ten years in prison. I finally had my closure, and we celebrated with my blokes at the Kangaroo.

Speaking of blokes, I had the honor of being Owen’s best man when he married Carrie. They decided to do what we did and planned their own wedding before we left. They’d had their paperwork for months, so it was only a matter of planning.

On our last night in Sydney, we sat out on the balcony by the fire pit and watched the ships go by.

I sat reclined between Carson’s legs, while he wrapped his arms around me.

Bella was stretched out on the rug, and Allister was somewhere inside.

He didn’t much care for the balcony, but he loved the pool deck at home. I guess it was just meant to be.

“Are you going to miss it here?” he asked, wrapping me in the blanket. I loved how he took such good care of me, as if I were precious to him. And I guess I was.

“Yes, and no. I love our life in California. Our teammates and our friends. I love it all.”

He hugged me close and kissed the side of my head. “Me too. But there’s one more thing I’d like to do before we leave.”

I smiled as his erection poked me in the back. “Yeah, what’s that?”

“Go sit on the beach, then come back up and get in the big bathtub and soak.”

“We haven’t done that, have we? I have that glorious tub, and we’ve not used it once.”

Carson ran his tongue along my ear, making me shiver. “I think we should fix that, Mr. St. James.”

I loved it when he called me that. “Then what are we waiting for, Mr. St. James. Let’s go.”

We ended up skipping the beach and went straight for the tub.

The following morning, we woke early and threw the last few things into the boxes and suitcases. The driver would arrive to pick us up around seven-thirty for our eight-thirty departure.

I looked around my place one last time before I locked it up for the last time. As much as I loved it, it made little sense to keep it. My life wasn’t here anymore. It was in San Diego. Selling it to someone who would love it felt like the right move.

Carson had taken the first load of boxes downstairs to the lobby. Bella and Allister were packed up and ready to go. Thank god we’d chartered another jet to take us and the few things I’d chosen to keep home to San Diego.

The bell to the lift rang, alerting me to Carson’s return. Bella barked with a greeting, even though he’d been gone five minutes, but I understood. That’s how I felt every time I saw him, too.

“Ready to go, babe?”

He grabbed the handles of our rolling suitcases before looking at me.

“Yeah, ready to get home. Did ya get the sand?”

He smiled. “Yes. It’s packed away and ready to go.”

It was probably dumb, but I wanted to take some home so that we always had a part of Australia. The good parts, anyway.

We hauled the rest of our things and our little family to the lift. As we stepped in, I looked over at Carson. “We should bring our kids here one day.”

His smile was beautiful. “Whatever you want, Mr. St. James.”

We loaded everything into the van, taking us to the airport. I had chartered the plane taking us back to San Diego. It made me happy to do that for us. I felt like I was contributing to our marriage. We were going into life 50/50.

Taking a last look at my building, I was a bit more melancholy than I thought I’d be. We’d spent almost three months here in the early days of our marriage, and I’d never forget it.

Climbing into the van, I took my seat in front of him. He had Bella, and I had Allister. And when we were ready, the driver pulled away.

I looked at the city as we passed by places I’d spent my life. Carson put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed. He always seemed to know when I needed him.

An hour later, we were tucked away on our private jet, ready to go home. With our boxes stowed and pets secured, our takeoff was smooth as we lifted into the air. Glancing at Allister, I was happy to find he was unaffected, nor was Bella.

After we reached our cruising altitude, our flight attendant served us a late breakfast, then busied herself in the front by the cockpit. Carson and I kicked back on the sofa and snuggled.

I rubbed my hand up and down his thigh, getting inappropriately close to his cock.

Carson chucked. “I see what you want.”

I grinned. “I believe I was promised a club membership in return for making an honest man out of you.”

“I seem to remember something about that.”

My husband stood and took my hand. “Then I guess we should get started. We’ve got about fifteen hours to kill.”

With a happy heart, I stood and kissed him. “We should. We really should.”