I swallow. Tears stream down my cheeks. He swipes them away with a flick of his thumb.
“Yes. Go ahead. Take your shot.”
Marek ducks his head and kisses me soundly on the mouth. It’s not a peck and not a long, sexy kiss, but it does the trick, and my knees go wobbly and weak.
The entire room erupts in applause, and I jerk away from his hold, snapping my head to scan the audience, noticing for the first time that all cameras are pointed in our direction.
I look back up at Marek, who grins proudly like he just won the final game of the championship series.
“You do realize we’ve just gone public and we’re now going to be the feature story on every news channel and internet sports pages tonight.”
With a cavalier shrug, he wraps an arm around my shoulders and tugs me into his side, making an announcement to the room.
“The press conference is officially over,” he says cheerfully. “I’ve got some personal business to take care of.”
I give him a good whack on his stomach as he laughs, leaning to the side and out of harm’s way.
“Just kidding,” he quips loudly for everyone to hear. “That’s later. Right now, I’ve got some more groveling to do and a future proposal to plan out.”
Marek Talbert knows how to take a game-winning last shot.
He plays big. He wins big.
The End