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Cane held his breath before he knocked on the door. He pulled on his collar. It should not be this hot in December. What was he going to say to her? He had had three hours to think about it and he still didn’t have a clue. Sorry? I’m an idiot? Take me back? Love me.
No one answered the door. Shit. Were they not there? Where was she? Panic squeezed the air from his lungs. Come on, Alex. Cane pounded on the door. He had to see her. He was sure she was here. If he had to tear down the door-he might do it. Cane shook his head. No, he wouldn’t do that. He was not going to cause damage to property. The only thing he needed to tear down was the wall that Alex had built up around her heart. He raised his fist again to knock.
“Cane?” Alex’s dad asked when he opened the door.
Cane unclenched his fist and reached out to shake hands. “Sorry, Mark. I know it’s late. I have been trying to get a hold of Alex for the last two weeks. She isn’t answering my calls. I need to talk to her.” He didn’t break eye contact. Man to man. He had to face her father first.
Mark let out a stream of air. “I don’t want her crying anymore. I don’t know what happened with you two but if you hurt her—” He poked Cane’s chest. The pressure of his index finger was more than any coach had ever given him. Even when he made a bad play. Mark was serious. Cane understood.
“No. I would never hurt Alex, not on purpose. I just need to talk to her.” He pulled his hands up as if to show he was only there with good intentions.
Eventually Mark nodded. “Alexandra, Santa came early.”
Alex came to the door. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail. She was wearing her glasses, the ones she wore when she read, and blue fleece pajamas with a gingerbread man print. Her mouth fell open and her eyes widened.
“Hi,” was all Cane could manage to say.
“Hi,” she whispered.
“Well, I’m going to call it a day. Night Alexandra, I love you.” Mark kissed Alex on the cheek before he turned to Cane with a warning look.
“Alex,” Cane began when Mark had left. Shit! He had no idea what to say. His mind was blank. He just wanted to grab her and kiss her and never let her go. He ran a hand through his cropped hair. “Can I come in? It’s kind of cold.” It wasn’t cold, he was burning up but he wanted to be inside where Alex couldn’t slam the door on him. Cold was the best he could come up with. The only cold was the distance between them. It had been like he was on an Antarctic cruise all alone. Like a sad penguin that had been left by its flock of family.
Alex nodded. She moved to the side to allow him in. Her dad’s house was huge, as big as his. But this house was a sea of maroon. No denying they were in OU territory. He had lost every single game to OU in college. This was not a good place to have confidence and no home field advantage. Get your head in the game, Cane. He took in a deep breath. Focus.
“Why are you here?” Alex’s eyes were wide with confusion.
“Because you’re here, Alex. Wherever you are is where I want to be. I need you. I love you but it is more than that. So much more. I need you. I didn’t even know I needed you but I do. I’m sorry. I am so sorry that I was an ass. I wish it had been different. I wish I would have remembered you. I wish I remembered the first night we were together. I wish that was our anniversary. I wish that I could tell our kids that I met their mama in college and loved her every day since. But I can’t because I am an idiot, which you already knew. I am a complete fucking moron. I had a chance with you and I fucked it up. I can’t even remember. I am so sorry for that. I will be sorry for that until the day I die but I will make up for it if you let me. Please, Alex. Let me make it up to you. I need you.”
Alex swallowed. “Oh Cane, I missed you.” She wiped her eyes with the back of her hands.
“Stop running, Alex. I love you.” Cane lowered to the ground.
“What are you doing?”
“I think it’s obvious. I’m taking a knee. I said I would only do it once. But I will do it every day until you say yes. Marry me, Alex.”
Alex leaned down and kissed him. “Are you sure?”
Cane blinked. “Did you just ask me if I am sure I want to marry you? Do you think I’m going to change my mind? Is that it? Alex, I will love you for the rest of my life. You’re it. You’re mine. I don’t want anyone else. Ever. Just you and me.”
“And our four babies. Katrina and the three boys we haven’t named yet.” The corners of Alex’s mouth pulled into a smile.
“And our four babies. So will you marry me?”
“Well, I don’t want our children to be some sort of tabloid story so...”
“I need to hear a yes. It has been a long day and a shitty couple of weeks. I really need to lock this down.”
“Lock it down? That’s not very romantic. Do you want to borrow my thesaurus? My fiancé gave it to me.”
Cane sighed in exasperation. “You still haven’t said yes.”
“The yes was implied.” Alex giggled.
“We’re going to have to edit this part from our official story. The part where you are awkward.”
Alex took his face in her hands. “Yes. Yes, Corn Fed. I will marry you and have your freakishly large children.”
Relief washed over him. She said yes. She said yes! “We will make this work. We can commute. We will have so many frequent flier miles between us. And when I miss you, I will just have to turn on ESPN. We will make this work.”
Alex shook her head. “I didn’t take the job.”
“What?”
“I couldn’t. Texas is my home. I am a sideline reporter. That’s what I love. And I don’t want to work anywhere where I need to starve myself to fit in. Me and my butt are meant to be in Houston.” Alex turned and patted her bottom. “Didn’t you notice your friend is back?”
Cane stood up and pulled Alex against him. He cupped her backside with both hands. “Not quite back but we can work on it. When the season is over, we will eat cheesecake and watch The Vampire Diaries.”
Alex shook her head. “Nope, you’re not ruining the Salvatore brothers for me. We can eat cheesecake at Perry’s but I’m saving Vampire Diaries for Vanessa.”
“Probably a good idea. Oh dang, I almost forgot the ring. Edit that part of the story, too. We need to write down our official story. You’re a good writer. I’ll let you handle that.” Cane pulled out the light blue box and slid the diamond onto Alex’s finger.
“I’m engaged,” Alex said in disbelief. She held up her hand and gave her best broadcaster smile. “Take a picture, Corn Fed. This is going on Twitter. Your fangirls need to know it’s time to step off.”
Cane pulled out his phone and snapped a picture. “I am tagging you in this too, so be prepared for your notification to go crazy. Oh, that’s right; you turned off your phone. I almost forgot. Merry Christmas. This is for our first born.” Cane pulled the orange onesie out of his coat pocket.
Alex’s smile stretched wide across her face, even bigger than her broadcaster smile. “Follow me, Corn Fed. I need to show you something.” Alex took his hand and led him upstairs and down a long hallway to her bedroom. “I bought this after Thanksgiving. Great minds and all that.” Alex handed him a navy bag tied with a red bow. Inside there was the tiniest Texans jersey Cane had ever seen.
“Turn it over,” Alex said. On the back Clayburn was written in shiny black letters.
“I love it. My wife and my baby will wear my jersey.”
Alex stood on her tiptoes and kissed him. Instantly he was hard. It had been too long. “Sweetheart, please forgive this performance. Next time I will bring it. But this time I just need to be inside you. Next time will be all about you. I promise.”
“Corn Fed, It’s like you’ve never met me. You know I am going to finish before you no matter how fast you go.”
Cane threw his coat on the floor and reached for his zipper. “Damn woman, you’re sexy. And you’re mine. You might want to get your stopwatch out because this is going to be a record performance for both of us.” Cane lowered them both to the bed. “I love you, Alex.”
“I love you, too. But let’s save the talking for the cuddle time.” Alex smiled as she pulled his head down for a kiss.
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The End