Epilogue
“Has anyone seen my phone?” I shout, trying to keep my frantic energy at bay, so Austin doesn’t grow suspicious. I’ve been planning this day all week, but lying to my husband isn’t something I’m used to doing…even if it’s a requirement.
When Mr. Grant called and told me that Austin was being inducted into the Professional Football Hall of Fame in Canton, I couldn’t hold in my excitement.
I screamed and cried tears of joy—which were probably more plentiful than normal due to the fact that I’m pregnant and so fucking emotional.
I’m beyond proud of him for all that he’s accomplished over the course of his career as a player, and now a coach.
Our first season as a couple was a complete whirlwind, ending in the Renegades winning the Super Bowl for the second time in a row.
The next year, they almost had it, losing to the Boston Blizzard in the AFC Championship game.
They’ve been a force ever since, with so many records broken by the still-new franchise.
We’ve had players come and go, but we’re still the same tight-knit family we’ve always been. It’s the Renegades way.
“Here, Mommy!” Lennon says, my phone clutched in her hand as she runs into the room with her younger sister not too far behind.
We got pregnant with Paisley shortly after I had my IUD removed, which was the same week the kids and I moved in with Austin.
While she wasn’t technically unplanned, we were a bit surprised that it happened as fast as it did.
If I had to do it all over again, though, I wouldn’t change a single thing.
She and the little boy that’s currently kickboxing my rib cage complete the Baker family in the most beautiful way.
“Thanks, baby. What’s Daddy doing? Are you two keeping a good eye on him?”
“Yep!” she says with a tight nod, lifting her chin proudly. “He’s playing catch with Ro and Rhys in the backyard!”
I smile, taking in their matching purple dresses.
Paisley is a carbon copy of her older sister, though she has Austin’s blue eyes, even toting around the same stuffed bunny that was passed down to her the day she was born.
I fall in love with this little life of mine more every day, grateful for all the bumps and winding roads that brought me here.
I’ve got an amazing husband, four beautiful children and one on the way, friends who’ve quickly become family, and a home that’s bursting with more love than I could’ve ever imagined.
Now, I get to watch as the man who helped me find myself gets the biggest honor of his career.
Normally, when a player is inducted into the Hall of Fame, previous franchise inductees show up in their custom gold membership jackets.
But since Austin was a part of the inaugural team, and is the first Renegade to receive this accolade, the Hall allowed us to shake things up a bit and include some of the people who made it all possible.
I can’t wait to see my man’s face when it all goes down.
As if I had summoned the whole thing in my mind, the doorbell rings, springing the entire house into action.
The boys are aware of what’s about to happen, and they’ve been given the task of making sure it’s Austin who opens the door.
The girls and I hang behind for a few seconds, waiting for them to make the trek from the backyard before following.
“Are you two okay?” Austin asks, completely confused. “What’s going on? I smell something fishy”
“Relax, Dad,” Rowan replies, stifling a smile. “Just see who it is.” Rhys has already lost the fight to remain cool, his mischievous ear-to-ear grin screaming that we’re up to something.
Austin looks back at me as I hold up my phone, his brows pulling inward when he realizes that I’m recording. “You, too? Is the whole family trying to prank me or something?”
I giggle. “Would you just answer the door, please?”
“Fine,” he says, rolling his eyes playfully. “But if someone ordered thirty pizzas to this address, Paisley’s paying.”
I huff another laugh, watching as he takes hold of the handle and slowly swings the thick wooden door open to reveal Jett, Emmett, Theo, Steele, and right in the middle—holding the most beautiful Hall of Fame jacket I’ve ever seen—Maddox.
“Congratulations, Cap. You’re in.”
“Fuck.”
I don’t have to be in front of Austin to know that he’s crying, his hand shooting up to grip his hair as he chokes out the one-word reply. I’m a mess, my eyes welling with tears until they spill over, streaming down my cheeks.
Nobody deserves this more than he does. Since the day he was drafted to the team, he’s given the Renegades his all while still being the most amazing man and father in the world.
He proves day in and day out that with hard work, integrity, and persistence, you can have everything you’ve ever wanted.
I’m grateful for the example he’s set for our children, and I know they’re proud of him, too.
Maddox helps him into the jacket, and each of his teammates takes their turn congratulating him as they step inside, funneling into the living room that I somehow managed to kind of decorate for the occasion.
Purple and black balloons are scattered around the space, while highlights from Austin’s career play on the wall-mounted television overhead.
Thankfully, the caterer should be here shortly, because entertaining this many professional football players requires an obnoxious amount of food.
The WAGs and their children arrive next, followed by Mr. and Mrs. Grant, then my brother, who I’m actually surprised to see.
He’s been so busy with work that I wasn’t sure if he’d be able to sneak away, even though I knew he’d have been heartbroken to miss it.
But the gang’s all here, celebrating Austin the way he deserves on his big day.
Everyone settles in, and I slip into the kitchen, wholly unsurprised when my husband enters shortly after.
He’s all smiles as he eats up the space between us, pulling me into his strong arms until there isn’t an inch separating us.
My growing belly presses into his lower abdomen, and I lift my chin, my adoring gaze finding his.
“Congratulations, baby,” I say, my arms winding around his neck. “I’m so fucking proud of you.”
“Couldn’t have done it without my loving, supportive, sexy as fuck wife,” he replies, his hands curving around my waist as he dips down for a kiss.
His tongue traces the seam of my lips, and I open for him, letting him deepen the connection as we make out like two teenagers without a care in the world.
I breathe him in, soaking up every second I have alone with him in this house full of people until a cacophony of loud laughs filters in from the other room and bursts our bubble.
He pulls back, groaning in annoyance. “Don’t think we’re done here, Baby Girl. You kept a pretty big secret from me, and you’re not getting away with it.”
I pout, batting my lashes coyly. “How can I make it up to you?” I love this side of him—the playful one that comes out when he’s feeling particularly needy for me.
Between work, the kids, and him traveling with the team, we’ve had to carve out any time we can for intimacy…
even if that means using banter as foreplay until we finally have a moment alone.
It makes for the best sex, both of us so desperate by the time we get our hands on one another that we don’t hold a single thing back.
His gaze darkens wickedly, the sight causing heat to pool between my thighs as he leans in and lowers his voice so only I can hear. “I expect you to be face down, ass up in our bed wearing only my old Renegades jersey the moment those kids are asleep. Understood?”
A slow grin crawls across my lips before they part, and I answer with the two words I know he loves to hear more than anything in the world.
“Yes, Coach.”
Curious about Memphis and Oakley’s “friendship”?
Keep reading for the prologue of Throwing Heat!