Johnny Deeper: A Sports Romance (20 page)

I kiss him and he holds me against him. “I love you, John.”

He laughs and looks around. “And I’m sorry…”

“I know,” I nod. “I should have listened to—”

“No, I mean… there are
a lot
of cameras on us at the moment.”

Blood rushes to my cheeks as I scan the stadium. “Oh, god…”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure every college football fan in the country knows about us now.”

I cover my face.
“Shit.”

He reaches for my hands and grins. “Don’t do that,” he says. “Don’t ever do that.”

My heart throbs, firing heat throughout and I can’t stop smiling. I put my hands down and I stare up at him. “Johnny…”

“Yeah?”

“Go kick some ass for me.”

He retrieves his helmet. “But that wouldn’t be fair…”

“I got my job back. You should get your championship, too.”

“Did you?” he smirks.

I study his sinister eyes. “What did you do?”

He shrugs his thick shoulders as he slides his helmet on. “Oh, I didn’t do anything…” he says. “But I
may
have heard about a professor receiving an anonymous email… with photos…”

“What did you do?”

John flashes a wink at me and jogs off to rejoin the team for the field goal kick.

“Wow…”

I look over my shoulder to find Daisy lingering behind me. “What?”

She crosses her arms. “And here I thought this game was going to be
boring
.”

MAY

Chapter 27

John

Bittersweet. I guess that’s the word.

Bitter
because I spent four amazing years on this campus and I’m sad to leave it. Four years of playing college ball. Four years of feeling like a damn god among women. I have to leave it all behind in favor of starting the next stage of my life and who the hell knows how that will turn out.

Sweet
because… well, you know.

Rose.

I step into the quad and there she is, waiting for me exactly where she said she’d be after the graduation ceremony. My heart thumps just looking at her and it pumps even faster when I see the cute baby in her arms.

Eliza stands beside her, each of them showering her daughter with some much-deserved attention while they wait for their men to show up.

Rose looks up, finally noticing me, and she smiles. “Hey.”

“Hey…”

For a moment, it’s like the world stops turning, and the nervous jitters I’ve felt all week about today just melt away as I look at her.

My Rose.

Eliza stares at me, her eyes trailing the honor cords hanging down my black robe. “You graduated
with honors
?” she asks.

“Hell yeah,” I say. “I’m honorable as fuck.”

Her head tilts, yet again trying to figure me out. I guess
constantly confusing Eliza
is yet another thing I’ll miss about this place. Finally, she shakes her head and turns her attentions towards her husband as he walks up behind me.

“Congratulations, Junior,” she says, kissing his cheek.

“Thank you,” he says, sliding his cap off his head.

Rose takes a quick step towards him and extends the baby. “I believe this is yours.”

He grins and expertly takes his daughter in his hands. “Yes, she is…” he coos, raising her up high in the air as she giggles.

“Are you guys going to the party at Ty and Grant’s?” Eliza asks us.

Rose nods. “We wouldn’t miss it.”

“Good. It’s probably the last time we’ll all see each other for a while since
everybody but me has graduated
…”

Junior nudges her arm. “You only have one semester left, Ellie.”

“I know, but still…”

“I’ll still be here,” Rose points out. “I have about a year left on my graduate degree.”

“Good,”
Eliza nods. “We can keep each other company while
they
toss a ball back and forth and have panties thrown at them.”

She gestures to me and Junior and we both smile.

It hasn’t quite sunk in yet. Pulling ahead in that final game, securing a spot in the championship,
winning
the championship. I’m honestly terrified that I’ll wake up at any moment and be back to square one again. All the hard work, all the ups and down.

It all paid off on Draft Day.

I look at Junior and I can tell he’s thinking the same thing.

“Uh-oh,” Rose laughs. “You know you’re not supposed to feed the egos, Eliza.”

“Eh,” Eliza waves. “He’s nothing without us and he knows it.”

“That I do,” Junior grins and kisses his daughter’s head.

Eliza tosses a diaper bag over her shoulder. “Anyway, we’ll meet you two at the party. Grant demanded we stop for ice on the way.”

“See you there,” I tell them.

Junior and Eliza walk through the quad and I pause, expecting to feel that envious stab in my gut but, for the first time, I feel nothing.

“John…”

I look to Rose and I realize why. “Yes?”

She stands in front of me and wraps her arms around my waist. “I’m so proud of you,” she says, popping up on her toes to kiss my nose.

I kiss her back, embracing her tight. “I bet you never expected to date a real pro football player, did you?”

“Oh, it was a common fantasy, I won’t lie,” she chuckles.

“Oh, yeah?” I kiss her again. “What other fantasies did you have?”

Rose pulls away, smiling wide. “We can talk about
those
later. We should get going.”

She takes a quick step towards the parking lot but I reach out to stop her.

“Wait…” I pull the black robe over my head and cradle it in one arm, happy to finally take it off. “Not yet.”

Her face tilts. “What?”

“Come with me.”

I grab her hand before she can say another word and lead her with me towards Prism Hall.

Chapter 28

Rose

“John, where are you taking me?”

“It’s a surprise.”

“John…”

He squeezes my hand a little tighter. “Patience, Rose.”

“The last time you said the words
it’s a surprise
, I found myself in the middle of the woods in a sex van,” I point out.

He pauses with his hand on the door to Prism Hall. “Well, when you put it
that
way, it’s a little creepy.”

I laugh as John holds the door open for me. The halls are completely deserted; not a single sign of student life as the spring semester has already met its end. Everyone down to the janitorial staff is on vacation, leaving the place oddly quiet.

John doesn’t drop my hand until we reach the chemistry lecture hall. He spins around and walks backward down the stairs towards the front. “So, you remember this place?”

“Of course, I do,” I chuckle.

“For a whole semester, you taught general chemistry in this room.”

“I did.”

“Monday-Wednesday-Friday,” he continues, tossing his robes over his seat back in the front row, “for
thirteen weeks
, I sat in this chair and I watched you teach.”

“You did.” I study his face, trying to predict his point.

“That’s almost forty hours, Rose.”

I sigh. “Okay…”

He takes my hand again and walks me to the desk. “I spent
forty hours
in this room, doing everything in my power to resist the temptation to bend you over this desk.”

I raise a brow. “Well, when you put it
that
way, I’m surprised you even passed the class.”

He leans in and guides me back against the desk. “Oh, it was hard,” he nods. “In more ways than one.”

I chuckle as his lips graze mine. “So, why exactly are we here now?”

“Simply put...” He crushes his lips on mine, planting a hard kiss on me that ignites my core. “I’m not leaving this school until I fuck your brains out on this desk.”

I kiss him back and his hands crawl down my body towards my skirt. “Oh, really?”

“Come on, Rose…” he whispers in my ear. “Don’t tell me you
never
thought about it
just once
.”

“Maybe,” I say, biting my lip as he kisses beneath my ear.

“There I was,” he says, raising my skirt. “Sitting in the front row, watching you, listening to you. You wanted me to stand up and walk over here, didn’t you?”

He reaches between my thighs and I breathe deep.

“You wanted me to fill that sweet, tight pussy—”

“Somebody could walk in here…” I say.

“I better fuck you fast, Ms. Hawthorne.”

I reach for his belt, overwhelmed with pulsing desire as he hooks his fingers into my panties beneath my skirt.

It’s been months since we’ve stood in this room together. I’ve almost forgotten what that
urge
felt like; watching him sitting there, staring at me, feeling the wetness pooling in my panties as I thought about us later in the TA office. That forbidden, taboo rush has long since left our relationship but I feel it taking me over again.

And I like it.

“John,” I sigh, pushing his zipper down, “did you bring a calculator?”

He chuckles against my lips. “Back pocket.”

I reach around him and slide my fingers into his pants pocket, feeling the square, velvet box hidden inside.

I freeze in place. “Uhh…”

John stands tall and reaches behind him to take the box from my trembling fingers. “Rose…”

“John…”

“I love you,” he says, staring into me with unblinking eyes. “I didn’t know it at the time but I loved you the moment I saw you in this room.”

I gasp as he opens the box and the diamond ring shines inside. “Oh, my…”

“I made some mistakes,” he says. “But I’m happy I did because they not only made me realize who I really was but also who I needed to be for you. I needed to
be more
. I’m going to spend the rest of my life making sure you get everything you deserve.”

“Man, you word so good,” I sigh, my pulse racing.

He laughs and takes the ring from the box. “And I lied to you before.”

“About what?”

“I didn’t spend all forty hours thinking about
this.
” He gestures to the desk. “I spent some of them imagining you walking towards me in a white dress.”

I smile as he slides the ring on my finger.

“Rose Hawthorne, will you marry me?”

The diamond glistens between us. It drifts in and out of focus for me as tears build between my eyelashes.

“Rose?”

I look up at him, swallowing the happy lump down my throat. “Yes,” I answer. “Yes, I will marry you, John.”

He cups my face and kisses me. I throw my arms around him, never wanting to let him go again and he returns the tight embrace.

“I love you,” he says, kissing me again.

“I love you, too,” I breathe, passions building inside as my hands crawl down his body. “Okay, we are
really
going to need a calculator here…”