Page 658 of One More Kiss

“Did you miss the part about MVP sex?” he laughs, wiggling his brows suggestively. “Oh, we’re gonna celebrate, baby.”

Before he can leave the stadium, Milo needs to shower and spend some time in the media room. During the regular season, I wait for him off to the side and we leave the stadium together, but after tonight’s grand display, I don’t think there’s any possibility I’ll be able to hide for long.

“I should probably head to your house and chill that champagne then.” I grin.

“Speaking of my house,” Milo begins, the smirk that settles on his lips is a telltale indication of what is coming next. “Since we’re engaged now, can we revisit the whole you moving in thing?”

Milo’s been trying to convince me to move in with him for two out of the three years we’ve been dating. It’s not that I didn’t want to move in with him. I spend most of my time at his house during the off-season anyway. Milo thinks I’m just hyper-independent and need my own space. Mostly because that’s what I’ve let him believe.

The truth is that there is no way I will be able to contribute financially in a way that would make a dent in the household expenses at Milo’s. That wouldn’t matter in the least bit to Milo. For him, it’s the next step in building our life together. For me, it’s accepting that my fiancé makes a lot more money than me and would be providing the roof over my head.

Moving in with me is not an option. Not only is there the headache more commonly referred to as my sister, but my apartment is tiny. It was the only thing I could comfortably afford on my own after college that would let me have my dog. Those student loans weren’t going to pay themselves off. My vet tech salary doesn’t come anywhere close to being in the same bracket as Milo’s contract.

And I know heat and hot water aren’t included in the mortgage of his million-dollar Colonial. Why a single guy bought a house with five bedrooms, three and a half bathrooms, two fireplaces, a heated in-ground pool, and a Jacuzzi, I’ll never understand.

“Only if Endora can move in too,” I tell him, knowing damn well he’ll agree with my stipulation. “And we still have our weekly taco date.”

The only person who loves my chocolate lab as much as I do is Milo. So much so that she’s at his house now hanging with the professional pet-sitter Milo hired. We knew no matter how the game ended, I would spend the night at Milo’s, and I don’t sleep over without her.

“Wait,” he pauses, his face lights up with hope when I begin to nod. “Really?

“Really.”

I’ll have to work through my own shit and figure out what I’m going to do with Lennon, but none of that has to be decided right now.

Any moment we might have had is cut short when a handful of Milo’s teammates walk in, fist bumping Milo as they pass.

“Go on.” I nudge him, pressing up on my toes to kiss him goodbye. “I’ll see you at home.”

A quick peck later, Milo and I head in different directions—he heads toward the locker room, while I walk toward the stadium exit. For the first time since halftime, I pull my phone out of the small clutch body purse slung horizontally over one shoulder and under the other arm. If the broadcast was still live when Milo proposed, I can guarantee that I have a slew of texts and phone calls waiting for me.

“Lochlyn!” he calls, just as I’m about to turn the corner.

When I look back, he just stares at me.

“Did you need something, Milo?”

“Nope.” He grins. “I just wanted to see my fiancée’s pretty face one more time before she left.”

I feign annoyance with an enormous eye roll, but butterflies flutter in my stomach at his words. I’m someone’s fiancée. I’m Milo Perry’s fiancée.

There are twelve missed calls and twice as many text messages on my phone. Half of them are from Hannah.

I don’t bother listening to the voicemails or reading the texts before calling her back.

As soon as the call connects, I have to pull the phone away from my ear due to the loud screech that greets me.

“You’re engaged!” my best friend screams.

“Oh, come on. You had to have known,” I say.

Hannah’s fiancé, Derek, and Milo have an adorable bromance. If anyone knew about this beforehand, it would have been Derek. And there’s no way Derek would have been able to keep something like that from Hannah.

“No! Neither did Derek,” she adds before I can ask. “You should have seen D, Loch. He cried when Milo got that last touchdown, there were a million ‘that’s my boy!’ comments when he got MVP, and when you said yes? Everyone at the partylost their damn minds. We all thought he’d get MVP, but no one expected him to get down on one knee after.”

Today is also Derek’s grandmother’s eightieth birthday party so they couldn’t come to the game, but usually they’re part of the game day squad.

“It was definitely unexpected,” I agree, laughing.

---