Defensive (22 page)

Jackson

I had a lot of fun playing, knowing that Vanessa and Eric were in the stands cheering for me. I tried to glance in their direction during my break but I didn’t like taking my eyes off the game for very long, even if I wasn’t playing. I knew that if I really looked for her, I’d get distracted and completely lose focus.

“Hey, buddy did you have fun?” I asked Eric as I entered the kitchen of my house.

“Yeah. It was so cool. I even got on the dance cam.”

“Did you have a dance off?”

“No, but that would’ve been totally awesome,” he said with a huge grin on his face.

“I’m glad you had fun.” I walked over to Vanessa and gave her a light kiss. “Did you have fun?” I asked her.

She grinned. “I did. I had the best company ever and I got to cheer on my amazing boyfriend.”

“Good. I’m going to go shower real quick.”

“Okay. Eric will probably be gone when you’re finished, though. Landon just texted me.”

“Hey, buddy, if I don’t see you before you leave, I’m glad you had fun. Video games soon?” I asked.

“Sounds good, but I’ll warn you. I’ve been practicing.”

I laughed. “Well, I guess I’ll just have to start practicing, too.”

I ran up the stairs and stripped out of my clothes as I turned the water on. I was feeling really happy. I looked down at Vanessa’s birth control pills lying on the counter. I hadn’t wanted a baby for a while in the future but after everything that had happened recently, now I did. Maybe we should talk about trying for another one and talking to a specialist about why she had miscarriages.

As I stepped into the shower, I decided that maybe I was rushing everything. She still needed time to heal mentally from the last miscarriage and I needed to get through tomorrow night. I needed to take it one step at a time.

It was Saturday night and I was a complete nervous wreck. I had told Vanessa to dress up because I wanted to take her on a date to celebrate us getting back together. It was the truth but the real reason was because I was planning on proposing.

I decided to go back to Vast, where I had kind of asked her to be my official girlfriend. It was a great restaurant for this sort of night. It was on the forty-ninth floor of one of the downtown skyscrapers. At night, it offered amazing views of the city and the river. I had called earlier to make sure everything was set and to make sure we would be seated by ourselves. I didn’t want a crowd around for our private moment.

“You look breathtaking,” I told her as she marched down the stairs in a black dress with red stilettos.

“So do you, handsome.”

I walked over to her, gently pulling her close to me. I wanted to kiss her red lips. I looked into her eyes before I lowered my head and gently brought our lips together.

“Are you going to tell me where we’re going now?” she asked as she pulled back.

“You’ll see when we get there,” I said pulling her back for another kiss.

She smiled. “If you keep this up, we’ll never get there.”

“True, because once I start with you, I can’t seem to quit.”

She shook her head. “You’re bad.”

“No, I’m really not. I’m actually really good. Don’t you remember telling me last night?” I asked.

“Stop it! I’ve really got to stop telling you things. One day your head is going to be so big, you’ll start floating.”

I chuckled. “You love it.”

“I do. Let’s go.” She dragged me toward the door to the garage.

I only lived a small distance from the restaurant but I took my time driving down different streets just to throw her off. I knew as soon as I got close, she would know exactly where we were going. I watched her out the corner of my eye, looking around, trying to figure it out. She finally narrowed her eye and turned to me. “You’re just randomly turning down streets to annoy me, aren’t you?” she asked.

“Yeah, I am.”

“You’re such an ass sometimes.”

“And you love it.” I turned down the street that led to the parking garage.

She rolled her eyes and then smiled. “Are we going to Vast?”

“Yes, we are,” I confessed as we pulled into a parking spot.

“I love it.”

“Good, come on.” I grabbed her hand and pulled her close to me. “Have I told you how beautiful you look?”

She smiled. “Yeah, I think so.”

“Good, because you do.”

We stopped in front of the elevators and I took the opportunity to bring her in for a kiss since we were alone. I placed my hands at the nape of her neck as she grabbed my arms and I slid my tongue inside her mouth. I explored every inch of her mouth until I heard the elevator ding and then open. I pulled away, walking us inside. As soon as we were across the threshold, I hit the button to close the doors, immediately picking up where I left off.

She moaned and kissed me back just as forcefully until she pulled away to get some air. “We have to stop. What if someone sees us?”

I smirked. “I don’t care. You’re my girlfriend, whom I live with. I should kiss you.”

“Kissing and making out are completely different.” She said as we stepped off the elevator.

We walked to the hostess, “Reservation for Berrios.”

“Oh, yes. Just one moment.”

A young guy appeared and led us to a secluded table near the back with a view of the city lights. It seemed like the perfect place to propose. I sat down after Vanessa and took her hand. “Do you like the view?” I asked.

“It’s gorgeous. I don’t remember it looking this pretty the last time we were here.”

“I wouldn’t really know about that. All I remember seeing is you and that was gorgeous. As you are tonight.”

“Have you done something? You sure are being extra nice tonight,” she said.

I chuckled. “No, I haven’t done anything. I’m just speaking the truth.”

We ordered some wine and picked up our menus. I peeked over the top of mine and watched her. She wasn’t doing anything but looking at the different food options, but I couldn’t help but smile. I was so nervous and excited. I was ninety-nine percent positive she would say yes, but I couldn’t help but be nervous. What if she said no? What the hell would I do? Drop to her feet and beg? Yeah, I probably would.

The waiter poured our wine and I proposed a toast. “To us and our happiness together.”

“To us,” she stated as we clinked glasses and took a drink. It was actually really good.

“Do you know what you want?” I asked her.

“I’m thinking the sea bass.”

“Good choice. I think I’ll have the same,” I said as we looked out the window.

“It feels like it’s been years since the last time we were here, but it’s only been a few months.”

“Yeah, it does seem like it was forever ago that I asked you to officially tell people we were together.” I smirked.

“We’ve been through a lot the last few months. A lot of heartache that I caused,” she said.

I grabbed her hand and squeezed. “I caused a lot too. Let’s not think about that. We’re here together. Let’s just focus on moving forward.”

“You’re right. I just hope you know how sorry I am.”

“I wasn’t innocent. I made some mistakes, too,” I told her, not really wanting to think about how I had slept with another woman. Broken up or not, it made me sick. “You know I’m sorry too, right?”

She nodded. “Moving forward,” she said as the waiter came and took our order.

While we waited on our food, we talked about lighter subjects. She told me how excited she was that Landon and Amanda were trying to work things out and how much fun she’d had with Eric at the game. She told me about the lady in the next section over who had gotten so excited when I made a three point shot that she stood up and accidently threw her nachos on the kid behind her. “It was so sad because he was covered in cheese from his chin down.”

“You laughed, didn’t you?” I asked.

“I waited until I saw the kid laugh. I would have cried if something like that had happened to me. The lady who did it felt so bad that I think she was crying.”

“At least the kid took it well. I guess he got some free nachos,” I said.

“Yeah, he was laughing and joking about it. He just went to the bathroom and cleaned up. A few minutes later, he was back to cheering for y’all.”

“That’s funny,” I said.

We devoured our meal and ordered dessert. As soon as it was delivered, I began to get really nervous. It was go time. I took a drink of water and slowly moved my seat back. She watched me with a curious expression on her face. I knelt down in front of her, pulling the platinum, five carat princess cut diamond ring out of my pocket. I grabbed her hand with my free one.

“Vanessa,” I started as she gasped, realizing what I was doing. “You mean everything to me. I mean
everything
. I’m pretty sure I fell in love with you the moment you rolled over on the grass. After I had lunch with you, you consumed my thoughts and all I could think about was trying to find you so I could see you again.” I cleared my throat and continued. “Once I got to know you better, I knew you were special and that I was definitely in love with you. Now that I have you, I don’t ever want to lose you again. Vanessa, will you marry me?”

She had tears in her eyes and her breathing was really heavy. I was starting to panic but she finally whispered, “Yes.”

“Yes?” I asked to make sure I’d heard her right.

She nodded her head. “Yes,” she said louder.

I placed the ring on her left finger and gave her a long kiss. I was the happiest guy on the planet. The perfect woman had just agreed to marry me. I got up and slid back into my chair.

“You look relieved. Did you think I’d say no?” she asked.

“Honestly, I was almost positive that you’d say yes, but then it seemed like forever before you said it and yeah, I panicked.”

She smirked. “Sorry. It’s just that, after everything, I was a little shocked. I mean I knew you were going to ask. Just not this soon.”

“Everything that happened made me realize how much I want this. I don’t want it to be so easy next time you decide to push me away,” I told her.

“I’m really hoping there isn’t a next time.”

“Me, too.” Suddenly, I realized something. “What did you mean by you knew I was going to ask?” I asked.

“I might have overheard you talking to my parents while I was in the hospital.”

I grinned. “Did I at least surprise you?”

“Yeah, you did. I think we have an audience,” she said, glancing around the room.

I had asked to be seated alone, but that didn’t mean we were in a private room. “I’m thinking you’ll need to call your parents on the way home or they might find out another way,” I said.

“Oh, you’re probably right.”

After finishing our dessert, we drove home as quickly as possible and I showed her how amazing the rest of our lives would be together.

Vanessa

The finals were over and the Thunder were the NBA champions. We had put off getting married until the season was over because we didn’t know how far they would go. I was glad we had waited since they went all the way to the end. We’d decided on a small ceremony in Puerto Rico with just our family and close friends. I had never been there and I was really excited about seeing the island. Once the wedding was over, Jackson and I would take a short flight to St. Croix to spend our honeymoon alone, while everyone else stayed in Puerto Rico a few more days.

I was really glad he was paying for everyone because I knew my parents wouldn’t have been able to afford staying longer. They deserved the vacation. I had just sat down in the boat next to my mom, waiting to be taken to the restaurant located on Lago Dos Bocas, a lake in the center of the island. We had chosen the restaurant for our rehearsal dinner because of its secluded location and great food. “You look so happy, honey,” she said in my ear, leaning over.

“It’s because I am. I feel like this is all a dream and I’m going to wake up soon.”

“It’s not a dream and you deserve this. You’ve been through a lot.”

“Thanks, Mom,” I told her as I took a peek at Jackson. He was having an animated conversation with his uncle, who still lived on the island. He caught me looking and winked at me before he went back to his conversation.