First Star I See Tonight (Chicago Stars #8) - Susan Elizabeth Phillips Page 0,126
lovemaking.
“How long do you think it’ll be before I outlive my usefulness?”
“A very long time.” She curled into his chest. She didn’t know exactly how she’d pull it off, but she intended to be a superstar wife. “I can’t believe we’re married.” She sighed.
“I thought we weren’t going to mention it.”
“Only tonight.” She flipped to her back. “Now that I’ve landed a man, I’m thinking about letting myself go. No more dresses, makeup, haircuts . . .”
“You barely get haircuts now,” he pointed out, drawing her close once again.
“Dresses are a lot of bother.”
“Fine with me, but you’re going to miss sneaking looks at yourself in the mirror whenever you get dressed up.”
Her smile turned into a frown. “You have to get a prenup. Or a postnup. Honestly, Coop! For someone who’s supposed to be a crackerjack businessman, you’ve been completely irresponsible.”
He yawned and curled his hand over her thigh. “You and Heath work it out.”
“Is that the way this marriage is going to go? The three of us. You, me, and your agent?”
“That’s how it rolls when you marry an overprivileged ex-jock.”
She laughed and held up her hand, admiring in the soft bedroom light the ring he’d given her. A spiral of tiny diamonds wrapped a narrow gold band. “You could have afforded a lot bigger.”
“True.” He kissed the slope of her breast. “But you’d have killed me.”
He knew her so well. Not only her jewelry preference, but also her flaws and insecurities, along with every one of her hang-ups. But he loved her all the same.
“I have a ring for you, too,” she said, “but you won’t get it for a couple of weeks.”
He twisted the platinum band she’d bought him by wiping out a big chunk of her savings. “I already have a ring.”
“Not that kind of ring.”
His head came up off the pillow. “Tell me you didn’t—”
“I had to. It was on my conscience. Mrs. Calebow and I had a long conversation after the ceremony, and she and I worked out a trade. A replacement Super Bowl ring in exchange for some computer security work I’ll be doing for the Stars this winter.”
“Pipe, I don’t give a damn about that ring.”
“You’d better give a damn!” she exclaimed. “Because now I’ll have to give up all my Bears T-shirts for real.”
He laughed. “It’s a good thing you’re tough.”
Not so tough. But tough enough. Because once you married a champion, you had to be ready to play at the top of your game.
Epilogue
Jada sat cross-legged on the floor of Piper and Coop’s house in Lincoln Park and watched eleven-month-old Isabelle Graham and her twin brother, Will, wobble from one piece of furniture to the next looking totally drunk. They were batting around a scruffy pink pig and babbling to each other in a language only they understood, which made them even more adorable. She loved them with all her heart.
She remembered when Piper had found out she was having twins. Jada had been staying with them while her mom was in Lansing meeting Eric’s parents for the first time. She’d been a junior in high school, old enough to stay by herself. But she liked spending time with Coop and Piper, so she hadn’t bitched about it.
Piper was super nervous when she got pregnant, but that was nothing compared to what happened when she had her first ultrasound. Because Jada was taking biology—and because she’d pleaded with them—Piper and Coop had let her come along for the doctor’s appointment. When Piper found out she was having twins, she had a total freak-out. She’d jumped off the table, ultrasound goo still plastered all over her stomach, and charged Coop. “One!” she’d yelled. “I said I’d have one for you! And you agreed to take care of it! I never said anything about two! Do you have to be an overachiever in everything?”
Coop had lifted her off her feet, getting goo all over himself, and said she’d be the best mother of twins ever because of her competitive nature. Then she’d yelled that he was the one with a competitive nature and that she was too emotional to have twins. Coop said it was true she was emotional and asked her if she felt like crying. When she said she did, he’d told her to go ahead. She had, but not for long, and then she’d started hugging him back. The whole time, the medical technician was standing there with the ultrasound thingy in her hand and staring at them