“Did you hear that, Mike? No way am I marrying him. But, I’m also not going to be the reason you lose basketball.”
“It doesn’t matter. It’s love—”
“Forget that.” Her face took on that stubborn edge he adored. “I love you, too, but here’s how it’s going to work. You’ve got to prove that love makes you better.”
She loved him. She loved him! Jesus—
“Wait—” said Edward. “You love him? Is he the guy from the summer?”
Tori rolled her eyes. “I told you on the plane I was still hung up on my summer guy.”
Then she grabbed Mike’s face, not to kiss him but to glare into his eyes. “Now listen to me. You’re going to do five three-pointers and win the game. Do you hear me? And then I’ll marry you.”
He blinked at her. “What? I’m…what?”
She kissed him hard on the lips. “We’ll work things out, but only if you make five three-pointers. Got it?”
The sweat was burning his eyes, and his mind was racing. “There’s only three minutes left in the game.” Then he gestured at the TV camera. “And you’ve just told everyone what I want to do.”
“Three minutes and twelve seconds. Go get ’em.”
He clenched his hands. Now was not the time for pie-in-the-sky plans. “Tori, no one could do that!”
“Then if you do, you’ll know that our love is stronger than any damned system.”
Behind him, the whistle blew. Shit, he was out of time. Five three-point shots? In three minutes and twelve seconds? No way. And yet…
She was standing there, love shining in her eyes.
“Do it for us,” she said. “I love you.”
She loved him. For her—for love—he could do anything.
So he ran to his place and played. He played as if his life depended on it, and in this case, it very well might. Because if he didn’t pull this out of the crapper, she wouldn’t marry him and he’d be fired to boot.
In-bound pass. Foul. Crap. But at least this time the penalty was on Toronto, not him. Fine. In the background, the fans were going wild and the coach was screaming at him. His teammates looked grim, and a couple shook their heads. But thank God for Cole. The Knicks’ greatest rebounder gave him a thumbs up.
“I’m going to do this,” he said to no one in particular. Or perhaps to everyone.
And then he took control.
First three-pointer rimmed and flew out. Fuck.
But Cole grabbed it out of the air and instead of going for the easy lay-up, he passed it back out to Mike. That was a true friend.
Mike shot and the ball went swish. First three-pointer down.
Toronto had the ball, but it was like Mike’s feet had wings. He was faster than he’d ever been in his life, and he stole the ball right out from them. He started dribbling back to the basket and suddenly he was surrounded by Raptors. Well, they hadn’t taken long to decide to triple-team him.
He was considering his options when he heard her voice. Hadn’t a clue how he could zero in on her over all the noise, but he heard Tori cheering. And in his head, her screams translated to: I love you. Do this for us.
So he did. He faked left, then leaped up and shot.
It wasn’t pretty. It banged on the backboard too hard, but somehow it dropped in.
Second three-pointer—check.
He didn’t have the time to look directly at Tori, but his peripheral vision was enough. She was climbing over the wall with help from his teammates. At least some of the guys were smiling at her.
And then he saw only the ball.
The Raptors shot their own three-pointer and scored. Fuck. The Knicks would need every one of his baskets to win. That’s probably why Coach hadn’t benched him.
They had the ball, but the Raptors were sitting on him now. No way could he make the shot. But that left the others wide open.
Under two minutes.
He loved Tori, but he couldn’t be completely selfish or stupid. So he leaped up and didn’t shoot. Instead, he passed the ball to Cole. Two points, but it didn’t help him win the girl.
Diving forward fast enough to steal the ball did. Especially since as soon as he got it, he pivoted and shot with his bad arm. Swish.
Number three—check.
Now Toronto was slowing things down. They weren’t letting him close and they weren’t going to shoot the ball. They could drain the clock.
Fuck that. He was winning Tori.
He made some stupid lunges. Desperate attempts to steal the ball. Ugly