Playing the Player, page 21
I heard one of the women give a gasp behind me, but I never took my eyes off Mia.
“Yes, you have.” I set down her bag and went down on one knee for the second time that night. “Open it.”
Mia flipped the box open. “Oh my God. James, it’s just so beautiful.” Tears were in her eyes suddenly and without warning. “Yes. Yes, I will marry you.”
“I didn’t even ask yet.” I held my hands out in a what the fuck gesture.
She let out a laugh. “Sorry.”
A couple of the guys laughed too.
“When I met you I wasn’t really looking for anything. But then you started wiping my shirt with club soda or whatever the hell it was and telling me what was what and there it was. The final puzzle piece of my life just clicked into place. You’re the most amazing woman I’ve ever met. You’re generous and hard-working and strong and loyal as hell. You don’t take crap from me and you’ve reminded me what really matters in life. I love you so damn much and Mia Abernathy, nothing would make me happier than to call you my wife. Would you do me the honor of marrying me?”
She grinned. “Yes. Yes, I will marry you. I would be honored to marry you.”
There were cheers and applause from behind us and on the tablet.
I reached out for the box. I took the ring out and slid it on her finger. “It fits perfectly,” I told her. “My redheaded Cinderella.”
She cupped my cheeks and kissed me.
When we turned around, all my friends were grinning at us.
“Congratulations!” Sydney said, tears in her eyes.
Eloise was crying too and leaning against North.
“Who is this guy?” Dak asked in amazement. “Mia, what have you done to JJ? He’s totally transformed into a romantic son of a bitch.”
I got off the ground and held my hand out for Mia. “Maybe I just needed the right inspiration.”
Cash brought the tablet closer. My mother was crying. My father was nodding like he was happy. Hot Mama looked smug. Christina was next to her, jumping up and down with Kadin on her hip.
“Chrissy, you knew!” Mia said. “How did you keep that a secret?”
“It nearly killed me,” she said, dramatically. “Seriously. I almost died three times from holding it in.”
“Ma, Dad, how did I do?” I asked my parents. I straightened my tie. “Looking sharp, right?”
“You were doing great until just now,” my mother said. “Mia, I am so looking forward to meeting you in person.”
“You too,” Mia said. “Thank you for raising such a wonderful man.”
I put my arm around her and drew her by my side. “Damn. I’m blushing.”
My mother rolled her eyes. “Knock it off. Go get a glass of champagne.” She turned to my father. “Jim, do we have any champagne?”
“She’ll use any excuse to have a glass of champagne,” my father said, winking at the screen.
I wondered if I would start winking automatically when I became a father. It seemed like a package deal along with dad jokes.
“Jim!” My mother hit my father’s arm.
Cash set the tablet down in front of the grill and retreated into the kitchen as Train and Miles and Dak all offered me a handshake and a clap on the shoulder. The women were giving Mia hugs. Cash reappeared with three bottles of champagne that I had ordered earlier that afternoon.
“North, help me get some glasses and bring them out here.”
I accepted a hug from Eloise and looked around, wanting to commit this moment to memory. This was what it was all about.
Family, friends, and football.
That was all I needed.
* * *
Mia
* * *
A little buzzed from two glasses of champagne, and pure giddiness, I picked up Mississippi off the patio and shook it. “I can’t believe you brought my bag. That was perfect.”
James looked pretty damn pleased with himself, as well he should be. “Thank you. I thought it was a good touch.” He leaned in. “Even if I jumped the gun on our walk earlier.”
“I’m glad you did,” I murmured. I was. It had been a private moment between us. It meant when he’d changed and brought out the bag in front of everyone, I hadn’t been nervous. I had enjoyed the gesture.
We’d ended the phone call with everyone and were celebrating with James’ friends, who seemed genuinely for him. For us.
I dropped Mississippi on the ground. It made a faint clinking sound. “Is there something else in there? What did you do, James?”
But he shook his head. “There’s nothing else in there, I swear. Christina emptied it. Maybe something got left in there. It was a lot to remove.” He made a gesture like he was shoveling.
I laughed and smacked his arm. “Be quiet.” I bent over and picked it back up and shook it. There was definitely something in there, but when I opened it, it was empty. Feeling around, I felt a lump behind the lining. “I think there’s a hole in the lining.”
I tried to maneuver into the small opening with a finger, but I wasn’t that coordinated. Or possibly I was drunk. “Hey, Sydney, can you get this out? You have small hands and you’re sober.”
“Sure.” She took the bag from me and shook it. She felt around inside and concentrated intently. “Olek, push my glasses up,” she said. “They’re slipping.”
Her husband obeyed, barely breaking a beat in his conversation with Miles, as he used the tip of his finger to gently shift her glasses back into place.
Now that was marriage goals.
“I’ve got it!” Sydney said. She tugged something out and held it up so we could all see it. “It’s a ring.”
Well. There you go. It was James’ much debated championship ring.
“Holy shit,” he said, reaching out to take it from Sydney. “This was in your bag the whole damn time?” he asked me. “I thought you said you looked for it.”
Oops. “I did! But obviously it fell into the hole of the lining. But yay, we found it.” I tried to give him as innocent a smile as possible. “Sorry?”
He just shook his head and laughed a little. “Jesus, Mia. You need a new bag.” Then he held the ring up and put it on his finger. “I’m just glad to have it back.”
“Why were you wearing your ring anyway?” Cash said. “Seems kind of a douche move to wear it out on a first date.”
James punched his arm. “Shut up, Young. At least I have first dates.”
“I could have dates,” Cash said, looking annoyed.
James laughed. “Sure, buddy, you keep telling yourself that. But for your information, I was actually supposed to be meeting DeShawn, and I enjoy rubbing his face in the fact that I have a ring and he doesn’t. Lucky for him, though, and me, his wife went into labor that night. He got a baby girl and I met Mia. Win-win.”
“I’m glad you have the ring back,” I said. “I really did feel bad that it was missing.”
“I know,” he said. “Hey, Williams, you can apologize at any time.”
To my surprise, Miles came right over. “Mia, I do owe you an apology. I’m sorry I thought you ripped off my boy.”
“That’s okay. You were protecting him. That’s a good quality in a friend.”
“Fresh start?” he said, opening his arms up for a hug.
“Absolutely.” I hugged him.
“We’ll be right back,” James said, when I stepped away from Miles. He took my hand.
“Take all the time you want,” Dak said, with a grin.
“No, I just want to take Mia down by the pond.”
“Again, take all the time you want.”
James tugged a blanket off the back of a chair and grabbed a bottle of champagne. “Should I find our glasses?” I asked.
“I can drink out of the bottle if you can,” he said.
“Works for me.” We walked, fingers laced together. “I think how we’re dressed for this is pretty indicative of both our personalities.”
It amused me that he had proposed to me in a designer suit and I was in denim shorts and a T-shirt.
“Cash recorded all of it too.”
We walked to the edge of the pond and he spread the blanket out. We sat down on it and stared at the water. The moon was high and the air was sweet with the scents of summer. “This is beautiful.”
“Yeah.”
I turned and realized James was staring at me, not the view. It made my heart squeeze.
“By the way, we’re going to tell our kids someday that we met when you leaped over that counter when I fainted,” I said. “That’s the ‘meet cute’ story.”
“But that’s not true,” he protested.
“They don’t need to know we met in a casino bar and hooked up,” I said firmly.
“I don’t feel like we should lie to our children,” he said. “Relationships are built on trust.”
I snorted. “So you want them to hear about your past as a luxury boat salesman?”
James laughed. “Fine. But I think in that case it’s a better story if we tell them about the second time we met. How I went back to the hotel suite looking for my watch and my bed was lumpy, so I threw back the comforter and found a hot maid in her underwear.”
I smacked him. “You can’t tell our kids that!”
“I can make it G rated.”
“How?”
“The hard-working maid decided to take a quick nap and I discovered her. Then I caught her when she fainted in the coffee shop. See?”
“Why are you referring to me as ‘she’ instead of ‘you’? Did this happen to you with someone else, too?” I asked, amused. I lifted my hand and admired my engagement ring, or rock, for the nine millionth time in the past hour.
“That’s how I tell stories.”
Without a warning, James pushed me back onto the blanket.
I gave a squawk and protested. “What are you doing? You’ll wrinkle your suit.”
“I have a connection in housekeeping,” he said, as he bent down and kissed me.
Sighing, I kissed him back. “I hope she’s good.”
He stared down at me, his thumb tracing over my bottom lip. “She’s the best thing to ever happen to me.”
“If the shoe fits…”
“Exactly, you gorgeous smartass.”
James took my mouth with his.
And ‘she,’ me, lived happily ever after.
Thanks for reading Playing the Player! Want more? Preorder The Player and the Pretender, a sexy fake relationship rom com with Miles Williams and a fiesty private investigator.
Also by Erin McCarthy
The Legends
Dating the Player
The Player and the Bookworm
Playing the Player
The Player and the Pretender (Coming Soon)
About the Author
USA Today and New York Times Bestselling author Erin McCarthy sold her first book in 2002 and has since written over eighty novels and novellas in the romance and mystery genres. Erin has a special weakness for tattoos, high-heeled boots, and martinis. She lives with her renovation-addicted husband and their blended family of kids and rescue dogs.
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Erin McCarthy, Playing the Player
