Bliss by Kaylee Ryan Page 0,73

promise you I will fight any story. Hell, I’ll give it all up if I have to. I won’t let them talk to you or treat you like that.”

“Nothing they say can hurt me. The only thing that can hurt me is losing you.”

His eyes soften. “That’s never going to happen, Mrs. Reeves.”

“Future,” I remind him, smiling.

“I love you,” he says, shaking his head.

“I love you too.”

He leans in and kisses me, and the crowd goes crazy. We pull away from the kiss and look around to see that we are now on the jumbotron. Cooper raises my engagement ring to his lips and places a kiss there before releasing me and jumping back over the wall.

My mom loops her arm through mine as I stand here and watch him jog off to the locker room with the rest of his team. I don’t want to turn around to face the crowd, but I know that I have to.

“Ready?” I turn and lean out a little to look at our parents.

“Uh, Reese.” Trevor smiles. “I think you should turn around.”

“Why? Are they all staring at me?”

“Just do it, sweetheart,” my dad says.

Mom and Ann grin and nod, as Mom drops her arm from mine. Taking a deep breath, I turn, and tears prick my eyes. There is a line formed, but not to exit the stadium. No, it’s formed, waiting for me.

“He’s my favorite,” a teenage boy says, who is first in line. He takes the hat off his head and hands it to me with a Sharpie. “Will you sign this?”

I nod, unable to speak from the knot in my throat. I sign Future Mrs. Reeves with Cooper’s number and hand it back to him. The next person steps up, and I repeat this same step over and over again. It’s surreal, and these are his fans. I can’t turn them away. They’re showing their support for him and for me. I was scared of being judged by his fans, by the media, but here on his home turf, this is their way of telling me they don’t care about my past, only our future. They support their favorite player and, by association, me.

I stand here with our parents at my side and sign every item placed in front of me. There are maybe ten people left in line when Cooper appears. He shakes hands, and signs items sent his way, and when he makes it to me, he pulls me into his side.

“Looks like you have some fans.”

“They’re your fans.” I smile up at him.

“You better get busy so we can go home.” He nods, and to my surprise, the ten or so people are still there. I figured once they got his signature, they would leave, but they stayed. I take the seat cushion and sign what I’ve been signing all day.

“That’s fucking awesome.” Cooper grins when he sees it.

I laugh, not looking at him, and sign the next item given to me. Once they are all gone, I turn to look at our parents and Cooper, who are watching me. All five of them are smiling. “What?”

“It’s a good thing you aren’t the one with the professional career. You’d never be able to leave the house.” Ann chuckles.

“Why?”

“Because you can’t tell them no. I don’t know of anyone, even me, who would have stood there that long to sign autographs,” Cooper explains.

“But they’re your fans, and they support us. I thought that was the least I could do.”

“The media is going to love her,” Trevor comments.

“America’s power couple. I can see it now,” my dad replies dramatically.

“Come on, you goofs. I’m starving.”

“Let’s go home.” Cooper takes my hand in his and leads us up the steps and out of the stadium. The six of us head back to our place. The guys throw some steaks on the grill, while Mom, Ann, and I make some sides. It’s the perfect ending to a day I thought was going to end in disaster.

Chapter 23

Cooper

It’s the week before Thanksgiving, and the Defenders have a bye this week. You know who else has a bye? The Louisiana Badgers. That means that Nixon and Tessa are free. Reese and I are free. Our parents made themselves free when I called them last week.

I don’t want to wait until February to marry Reese. I need her to be my wife now. As in this week. She already has a dress; it’s at her parents’ place. Her mom is bringing it with her.