Page 13 of Marring an Athlete

McKenna paused but then shrugged. “Sure. I guess. I’m hungry anyway.”

Once she was in line at Starbucks, Anna turned to see Michael smiling at her. She hesitated. “What’s going on?”

Michael wiggled his eyebrows and motioned for her to sit. “I have a surprise for you.”

Anna studied him, and then turned her attention to the chair he’d waved toward, half-expecting to see a whoopee cushion or a tack sitting on it. Growing up, surprises from Michael never ended well.

The coast was clear, but Anna didn’t let her guard down as she sat, just in case he had a trick up his sleeve.

“You look a little terrified, Anna,” Michael said as he peered down at her.

“Well, forgive me for saying this, but surprises from you always ended up either hurting or terrifying me.”

Michael’s eyebrows rose. “That was when I was a dorky kid. I’m not like that anymore. I’m little more. . . smooth.” He winked at her as he grabbed his phone from the table, and a few seconds later, Marry You from Bruno Mars came over the speaker.

Anna’s heart hammered in her chest as she stared at him. “What are you doing?”

He grinned at her as he slipped down on one knee and pulled a tiny box out of his back pocket. “You didn’t think I’d take you to a marriage resort without properly asking you to marry me?” He paused as his head bobbed to the lyrics. “And I thought one of those corny YouTube-like proposals would be up your alley.”

Of all the ways she’d imagined a proposal going, sitting at a Starbucks in the airport listening to the cheesiest marriage song was not one of them. “Michael, you should get up,” she said, glancing around at the crowd that was slowly starting to form.

“What?” he asked, glancing to the side. Suddenly, his face paled as his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. He turned his attention back to Anna as panic glinted in his eyes. “Be my fake wife? Please?” He leaned in, as if he didn’t want people to hear what he was asking

This fake proposal had taken a strange turn. What was going on? But the desperation in Michael’s eyes tugged on her heart, so she nodded. “Of course, I’ll marry you,” she said.

A look of relief passed over his face as he flipped open the box to expose a sparkly, ice-rink-sized diamond ring. “Sorry, I may have gone overboard,” he said, pulling it from the box and slipping it onto her finger.

“A little.” Anna replied. She could almost feel the weight of the diamond. Before she could say anything more, a cheer rose up around them.

Glancing up, she saw the crowd that had formed. A few had out their cell phones, and were taking pictures. Nerves ate at her stomach as she turned her attention back to Michael. He looked worried for a moment, but then plastered on a smile.

“She said yes,” he said, turning to address the crowd.

“Kiss her!” someone yelled.

Anna’s eyes widened as she stared at Michael. What were they going to do? They’d never discussed this before. Why had he joked about the boundaries that she’d wanted to set? A list would be perfect right now.

The crowd began to chant kiss her.

Michael lifted his hands up and shrugged. “I don’t think they’ll let this go,” he said, leaning closer. “And mob mentality can get out of hand.” He smiled over at her.

The look in his eyes told her that she could trust him. And she wanted to. After all, they’d done this before. Kiss. Why couldn’t she do it again?

“I guess so,” she said, moving closer as well. It seemed best to just act and not think too hard about it. Recalling all the ridiculous proposal videos she’d seen in the past, she flung her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his.

Electricity raced from her mouth, across her skin, and flooded her body. It took a moment for her brain to register what she’d just done, and as soon as it did, she regretted it. But she couldn’t back away now. So she sat there, not sure what to do.

Michael seemed to be having the same reaction, as if he too, was stunned by the kiss. But then, she felt his hands find their way to her arms and then around to her back where he pulled her closer, deepening the kiss.

Whoops and hollers could be heard from the crowd around them. But they sounded muffled and far away. Like her body had given into the feeling of Michael next to her. As if it wanted to divert her nerves to drink in every point on her body where he was touching.

Thankfully, he pulled away first. Anna wasn’t sure she had the strength.

“What was that?” he asked. His voice was low and husky.

She opened her eyes to see him staring at her. Not sure what she would sound like if she spoke, she decided to just shrug and act like that kiss hadn’t completely taken over her entire body.

“You better warn a guy next time you plan to kiss him like that,” he said as the corner of his lips turned up. If he’d felt the intensity the way she had, he seemed to be recovering much faster.

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