Page 120 of Defend Her Heart

I shrug. “They’re not going to stop if we don’t give them a little something.”

Connor huffs out a breath and then rolls down his window. He hollers at one of the security guards to let a young woman with a cell phone through.

“One question,” he says to the reporter.

The woman, who can’t be older than twenty-one, nods enthusiastically. She holds up a tiny, fuzzy microphone to hermouth, the kind that influencers on social media use, and begins talking.

“I’m here with Connor Smith and the amazing Avery Chamberlin.”

Connor turns to me and smiles. “You are amazing,” he whispers.

I shake my head and we both look back at the woman standing outside the truck.

“The world needs to know, is this marriage real or was it all a ploy?”

Connor’s jaw flexes, and I see the anger rising on his neck. I lean over the center console and answer before he can snap.

“One question that isn’t about us or our marriage.”

The woman’s face falls and she begins to panic trying to think of another question. It’s clear everyone is here to get the truth, so she wasn’t prepared with anything else.

“You’ve got five seconds, ma’am,” Connor says.

The young blonde woman stammers before a question rushes out of her mouth. “What’s your favorite thing to eat after a game or practice?” She holds the microphone out to Connor and waits for an answer.

Connor looks at me, trouble written on every inch of his face, then turns back to the reporter. He places one hand on the steering wheel and rests his elbow on the open window. Leaning down into the fuzzy microphone, with all the confidence in the world, he responds with two words.

“My wife.”

My mouth hangs open as he takes off down the street and closes his window. We approach a stop sign and when Connor turns to me, my jaw is still on the floor.

“What?” he asks, as if he didn’t just tell the entire world I’m his favorite meal.

“I can’t believe you said that!”

He shrugs and eases his foot off the brake. “You told me to play nice. I just answered the question truthfully.”

Conor turns his attention back to the road, and we make our way through downtown toward his apartment. Once we get there, he finds a parking spot and turns the truck off. Before he can open his door to exit, I stop him. He turns to look at me, and this time, I’m the one with trouble written all over my face.

“Let’s see how quickly you can devour your post-practice meal today. Time to eat, Superstar.”

I flip the omelet in the pan I’m making for Avery and can’t wipe the smile that’s been permanently plastered on my face since I woke up this morning. I spent the night devouring my favorite post-practice meal and then fell asleep with the love of my life in my arms. I don’t think there will ever come a day when I won’t wake up with a smile on my face with Avery beside me.

The entire world knows we’re married now, and I plan on letting my wife know just how thrilled I am about that every day for the rest of my life.

I slide the omelet onto a plate and put some berries beside it before setting it on the island. When I turn to go wake Avery up, preferably with my face between her legs, I stop in my tracks when I see her leaning against the wall near the hallway. My heart stammers and my dick grows in my shorts because Avery is standing there, a sultry smile on her face, wearing nothing but a jersey with my number on the sleeves.

“Morning, Superstar.”

I grunt with fake annoyance at the nickname then slowly make my way over to her. “The more you call me that, the more I want to spank that ass as punishment.”

“Don’t tease me with a good time,” she says while wrapping her arms around my neck.

She pushes up on her toes and presses her lips to mine. I open my mouth to deepen the kiss but she pulls back before I can.

“Did you make me breakfast?”

Her arms fall away from me and she walks toward the island. My eyes immediately move to her backside, and I’m left wondering if she’s wearing anything underneath my jersey. I’m still staring at her ass when she turns around. I move my gaze to her face and see her eyes narrowed at me.