Page 48 of The Surprise Play (Nolan U Football #3)

ELIZABETH

I’m just about to head out for my morning walk when there’s a knock at my door.

Confused, I creep toward it, softly asking, “Who is it?”

“It’s your boyfriend, birthday girl. Lemme in.”

An instant smile lights my face, and I rush to unlock the door, pulling it open and laughing when I’m faced with the biggest teddy bear I have ever seen.

“Happy Valentine’s Day!” Wily’s voice is muffled by the bear as he talks behind it, moving its arms and stepping forward to wrap them around me.

I giggle into the soft fur, my heart melting into a mushy puddle at how incredibly sweet this man is.

He’s the best boyfriend I’ve ever had.

He’s the only boyfriend you’ve ever had.

He’s still the best.

So sweet and attentive. I’ve been asking so much of him this week, desperately trying to keep him away from Jade, and he’s accommodated me at every turn.

I feel a little bad about it, like I’m stealing his life away, but he hasn’t complained once and doesn’t seem to mind showing up whenever I invite him.

In fact, I was making a concerted effort not to contact him this morning, knowing I was stealing him away for the entire weekend. If Jade happens to get her claws into him today, I can hopefully wipe away any damage in Fledgling.

At least I hope I can.

“You like it?” Wily’s head pops around the bear, squishing it between us as he leans in to kiss me.

“I love it,” I assure him, smiling against his lips and giving him one more kiss before pulling back to admire the bear. “This is the sweetest gift. It must have cost a fortune. I can’t believe you went to all this trouble for me on my birthday.”

He sets the bear down on my bed and pulls me into his arms. “This isn’t your birthday present, baby.”

“What?”

“It’s your Valentine’s Day gift.”

I tense before wriggling out of his embrace and gaping up at him.

“I’ll give you your birthday presents tonight, when we get to your parents’ house.”

“Presents? As in plural?”

“Yeah, it’s your birthday.” He shrugs, looking kind of mystified by why I would be so gobsmacked over that.

“Wily, it’s… That’s too much. You don’t need to buy me anything.” I wince. “I mean, I just wrote you a card for Valentine’s Day. I didn’t even get you anything else, and I’m so, so?—”

He stops my apology with his lips, his tongue soon claiming mine and making me forget everything but his addictive mouth.

Once I’m thoroughly drugged up, he pulls back and whispers against my cheek, “You’re enough for me. I don’t even need that card.” He smiles. “Although I’ll take it, because knowing you, you’ve squished it full of lovely words that are gonna make me feel like the most amazing guy on the planet.”

“You are the most amazing guy on the planet,” I clarify, reaching into my bag to pull out the red envelope.

“See, I didn’t even get you a card, baby.” He rips it open while I look at the huge teddy bear taking over my bed.

I grin and take a seat beside it, stroking its soft fur.

Wily’s gone quiet, and I hold my breath, wondering what part he’s up to.

He’s right. That card is filled with ink. I wrote down everything I love about him, and his expression is telling me it was worth it.

I even found the courage to write, With all my love , at the bottom, which is the closest to I love you that I’ve managed to get.

I stared at those words until my vision blurred, wondering if I should have put them, but as Wily’s lips twitch, then he looks up at me and lets that smile grow, I know I’ve done the right thing.

“Thanks for being the most amazing boyfriend,” I whisper.

He drops to his knees in front of me, resting his large hands on my legs and giving them a gentle squeeze. “It’s easy when you’re the best girlfriend a guy could ask for.”

Oh my gosh, he makes it so easy to love him .

Cupping his cheek, I give him a tender kiss, then ask if I can buy him a Valentine’s Day coffee.

He’s nice enough to let me, and we take our sweet time, walking to Java Jeans and back again.

I keep my eye out for Jade but don’t spot her or Kelsey or Viper Girl. It helps me relax, and all I can hope is that they don’t lavish my man with flirtatious invitations all day, using Valentine’s as an excuse to try and lure him into whatever trap they no doubt have planned.

This week, I’ve only spotted them once but was far enough away to turn the corner and avoid them before they saw me.

I’ve subtly tried to ask Wily if he’s seen Jade, but he only mentioned that she sat next to him in class on Wednesday and it was really annoying, because she kept passing him notes and he was trying to concentrate. In the end, he stopped reading them and made a concerted effort to ignore her.

“Think it pissed her off some, but I’m trying to graduate here.”

That one little sentence made my week, but I’m still nervous about what she might try. I wouldn’t put it past her to jump into his arms and start dry humping him. It’d be a desperate move on her part, but I’m sure she’s scheming something, and I’m on edge waiting to find out what it is.

“So, I’ll pick you up right after your last class. I’ve arranged with Coach to skip practice today so we can hit the road early.”

My eyes bulge. Practices are sacred in Wily’s world, and he’s trying to get out of one? “Are you sure that’s okay? ”

He nods. “When I explained why, Coach said it was cool. My training and prep for the Scouting Combine is on track, so I can skip a practice.”

I grin up at him. “That’s so sweet that you’d do that for me. I know how important football is to you.”

“You’re important to me, too, baby.” He winks and smiles down at me. “And when I told him it was your birthday, he caved in a heartbeat. The guy’s a deep-down romantic, I swear.”

“Lucky me.”

His smile grows as he wraps his arm around my shoulders and pulls me close. Kissing the top of my head as we saunter along, he starts telling me how excited he is to meet my parents.

“Really?” I glance up, worry starting to niggle at me.

I’ve been so distracted by Jade this week that I haven’t really had time to think about the fact that Wily is gonna be meeting my family. But now that the hour is nearly upon us, I’m starting to stress.

“They’re your parents. Of course I’m excited.”

“But…” I stop, tugging on his coat and guiding him to face me.

“But what, baby?” He brushes his knuckle down my face. “What are you worried about?”

“I’m just… They’re probably very different to your parents.”

He gives me an expectant nod, silently encouraging me to keep going.

“They’re… older. Like, my dad turned sixty-six just after Christmas. I’m their miracle baby. The one they never thought they could have, so… I was a late arrival. I mean, Mom was forty-three when she had me. ”

“Okay.”

“And… they’re small-town and not very chic or… anything. They’re very into their routine and?—”

“I’m sure I’m gonna love them. If they’re anything like you, I’ll adore them.”

I wrinkle my nose, not sure if I can really believe that. I saw a family portrait in his bedroom, and his family are so obviously wealthy and aware of what’s cool and what’s not.

My parents don’t even have a cool radar.

They march to the beat of their own drum. They always have.

And I used to love it, until I got mercilessly teased about how weird my family is.

Those cutting comments slice me as I try to prep Wily for this experience, but he speaks before I can say anything else.

“Satch, you seriously need to stop worrying. I’m great with people. All kinds of people. Nothing can weird me out, okay?”

“Are you sure?”

He grins, tipping my chin up while assuring me, “Stop worrying. It’s gonna be great. They’re gonna love me, and I’m gonna love them.”

Kissing the tip of my nose, he then pulls me into his arms and sings me a slightly off-key rendition of “Happy Birthday.”

I giggle against his chest, my cheeks flaming when he raises the volume at the end, capturing the attention of everyone around us.

“Happy birthday!” someone shouts behind me, and I groan, burrowing into Wily’s jacket while he laughs and rubs my back.

“Thanks, man. Have a good one.”

A few more people call out to us, and I raise my hand in thanks while Wily smiles and charms the lot of them.

Ugh. He’s probably right. I have nothing to worry about.

My family is going to adore this guy, and Wily does seem pretty accepting of everybody. All I can hope is that they don’t do anything so weird that they’ll put him off for good.