Page 103 of Always Choosing You

Rory snatched the present before he could finish. “You seriously think I won’t open a present when it’s in front of me? I haven’t changed that much.”

He smiled. “That’s my girl.”

Her heart fluttered at the sound of it. My girl. She tried swatting away the butterflies in her stomach as she undid the ribbon.

“Just open it,” Tyler said, stepping closer to her. His chest was now against her back, his hand stroking her arm. “Don’t overthink it.”

“Okay,” she whispered, removing the tissue paper on top.

Inside the bag was a neatly folded gray sweatshirt. She grabbed for it, holding her breath.

Her hands began to shake, but as she held it up in front of them, the words on the sweatshirt didn’t say North Texas University like she’d expected.

“Wait…” she breathed.

Tyler’s arms slid around her waist, and he rested his chin at the top of her head.

“This isn’t…” she stammered.

The letters on the sweatshirt weren’t green, but a cherry red.

Rutgers Football

She couldn’t control her still-shaking hands as she dropped the gift and turned toward him. Tyler just leaned in, holding her close, his smile warm and content.

“New Jersey?”

“One hundred and fifty-five miles. Three and half hours by car.”

Tears streamed down her cheeks. “Care to explain, Chapman?”

He brushed his nose against hers. “Can I kiss you first?”

She pretended to frown, which was rather difficult when trying to hide the goofy grin on her face. “No. Explain. Now.”

He chuckled, shaking his head as he leaned back, eyes not leaving hers. “When I met Zoe’s dad, I thought North Texas would be my only chance to play college football. But what I didn’t know was that a scout from Rutgers was at the Thanksgiving game.”

“That’s kind of a dumb game to go to,” Rory said.

“It wasn’t on purpose,” he explained. “He happened to be there with some family, but when he saw me play, he recognized my name from my application and started digging.”

An excited tremor rippled through her when he said it.

“At the time they didn’t have an open spot on the team, but something fell through for an incoming freshman a week ago and…”

“He called you,” she breathed.

He nodded. “He called me.”

She beamed. “But…what about North Texas?”

“I told them no.” He shrugged. “I thanked Garner for his help. He really did go above and beyond for me. He wasn’t mad, just said he was thankful that Zoe had such a good guy in her life.”

Her throat tightened. “Crap.”

Tyler nodded, catching her drift. “I feel awful. I shouldn’t have deceived him like that, but—”

“You were protecting Zoe,” Rory interrupted.