When I Need You, Page 37

  I had to be in the public eye, I was going to have fun with it.

  So they saw me poking my head in a side door of the media room and beckoning Rowan out. Camera flashes captured her huge smile as she ran toward me and then pictures of the big old kiss she laid on me. Then more snapshots of us hustling down the corridor hand in hand to our getaway vehicle.

  I wasn’t sure I even breathed until we were out of the maze of one-way streets surrounding the new stadium and out on the interstate with no signs of pursuit.

  Rowan was quiet. Too quiet.

  “Okay, Coach. Let me have it. How mad are you?”

  “I’m . . . stunned. I have a million questions.”

  “Hit me with them.”

  “Are we going back for my stuff that’s in the dressing room?” She gestured to her uniform. “Because I don’t want to wear this any longer than I have to.”

  “I’ll strip it off you, baby. As soon as possible. Don’t you worry about that.”

  She whapped me on the leg. “Jensen. I’m serious.”

  “Your stuff is in the back. The ever-efficient Astrid got it all from Daisy.”

  “Oh.”

  “I know the next question is about Calder. Your parents are taking him to the big party at my parents’ house.”

  “Party? I am not dressed for a party with your family, Lund.”

  I grinned at her. “Luckily, we’re going home first. My mom and dad always have a big family deal for the first preseason game. You’ll know everyone. I imagine Mom invited members of the cheer team too.”

  “I love your family, Jens. They’re so . . .”

  “Not what you expected?” I supplied. “I told you that at dinner the first night.”

  Rowan rolled her eyes. “I still don’t know why you brought them up on basically our first date.”

  I grabbed her hand and kissed it. “Because part of me knew right away that you were it for me. You were everything I ever wanted in a woman.”

  “Liar.”

  I laughed. “If your next question is about what happened after the game . . . yes, some of it was planned.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like even if I hadn’t scored a touchdown, I planned to kiss you in full view of the cameras. I knew I’d have media time today no matter what, so I wanted to use it for a change. Annika handled getting all the right people lined up. She is a PR whiz. Enlisting the public’s involvement in our ‘fight to love’ will hopefully help keep you on the cheer team.”

  “When you said you love football, but you love me more? Even if I’m off the squad, I don’t feel like I’m losing anything because I found you.” She leaned her cheek against my biceps. “Besides, it might be more fun to watch the game from the Lund skybox anyway.”

  I’d prepared myself for her anger, so this acceptance threw me.

  We were each lost in our own thoughts, and we didn’t speak again until after I’d parked in my spot at Snow Village.

  “Thank god we’re here,” she said as I helped her out of the Hummer. “Will I have time to shower after I fulfill your dirty sex fantasy of banging a cheerleader in uniform?”

  “Yes. But I want to show you something first.” Once we were in our building, I bypassed the stairs to the second floor and the elevator, leading her down the hallway on the first floor.

  “Jens? Where are we going?”

  “You’ll see.” I used my master key to open the door to the third apartment and ushered her inside.

  “Did you rent this apartment for me?” she demanded. “Because that is breaking a relationship rule. We need to discuss things like this.”

  Pressed her against the door. “No, I didn’t rent it for you since I own the whole damn building. The whole complex actually.”

  “What?”

  “I bought the property over a year ago. I’ve kept it on the down-low for a number of reasons.”

  Her eyes turned sharp. “That’s what you meant the time you told me you were dabbling in real estate?”

  “Yeah. I thought that might be a career option if playing football wasn’t an option.”

  “That’s also why you were always talking to Bob?”

  “I swear that man asks me more questions than you do.”

  She gave my chin a bump with her forehead. “Smart-ass.”

  “Anyway, let me finish. The other thing . . .” My hands shook when I curled them around her face. “I love you. I love you like crazy. I love Calder. I feel like we’re becoming a family, but I want to make it official. So will you marry me, Rowan Michaels? I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to help you raise Calder. I want to have more kids with you when the time is right. I want to create a home for us here, in the place we met and fell in love.”

  “You’re seriously asking me to marry you right now?”

  Always with the damn questions. “Yes. I am. So what do you say?”

  She smirked at me. “Would my answer be obvious if I started doing herkeys?”

  I laughed. This crazy woman never reacted how I expected her to. I hoped that would never change about her. I stepped back. “Show me.”

  She did. She even tossed in a few high kicks. Then she launched herself at me and I caught her. She crossed her ankles behind my back and wreathed her arms around my neck. “I love you like crazy, Jensen Lund. But I have a few conditions to add to yours.”

  “Of course you do.”

  “In addition to us raising Calder, and you knocking me up at some point, I want a dog.”

  “Any kind but a Saint Bernard.”

  “Fine. And that ridiculously huge couch gets put in the TV room, man cave, whatever, but not in the damn living room in our new place.”

  “Done.” I kissed her. “Anything else?”

  “No more lists. No more rules. We can’t seem to follow them for the long term anyway.”

  “Or we could start fresh. Call it the Lund family playbook.”

  She sighed. “I can’t believe I’m marrying a jock. I’ll be stuck with sports analogies for the rest of my life, won’t I?”

  I shrugged. “Probably. Is that gonna be a problem?”

  “Nope.” Rowan pressed her forehead to mine and smiled. “I can’t wait.”