Need Your Number: Tampa Thunder Series

I get in my car to drive home, and all the emotions hit me.  I just sit in my car and process in silence.  The entire hockey world now hates Justin – that’s a win.  I am engaged to the absolute man of my dreams – HUGE win.  The team won the championship – big win.  The game itself, having my personal life on display, dealing with Justin… that was all losses in my book.  The good outweighs the bad, but I still deserve to grieve the bad.  I think people get caught up in the idea of focusing on the good, which I agree is important, but you need to grieve and heal from the bad or you will never be fully happy.

I start the drive home and realize when I pull in that Zane beat me home.  I am sure he is freaking out right now.  My phone is on silent in my purse.  I dig it out and see that I have a bunch of missed calls and texts.  I grab my bags and head inside.

“Oh, thank the gods you are okay!” he exclaims when I walk inside.

“I am sorry.  I had my phone on silent in my purse,” I tell him.  He pulls me into a big hug, kissing my head.

“It’s, ok I was just worried.  After everything with Justin, then I got home, and you weren’t here.  I thought maybe something bad happened,” he says, upset.

“No, I am ok.  I sat in my car at the arena and let myself feel all the emotions of the day.  I didn’t want to come home and not have handled them all personally,” I say. “

I understand.  I am glad you took that time.  If you need to talk about any of it, I am here for you, always,” he tells me.

“Right now, I want to focus on my amazing fiancé,” I tell him, giggling.

He picks me up and kisses me.  “I can’t believe I get to marry you. Mrs. Miller,” he murmurs against my lips.

“That does have quite the ring to it,” I say, kissing him.

When he walks me to our bedroom and sets me down, I start to strip my clothes off.

“Leave the jersey.  I am not about to celebrate our engagement without my name across your back,” he commands.

I get my pants and panties off while he strips down.  He goes and lays on the bed.

“Sit on my face, but look towards my legs,” he says.  I follow his directions and lower my pussy against his mouth.  I take his dick in my mouth and begin to twirl my tongue on the tip.  He begins to twirl his tongue on my clit.  I start to suck him, inch by inch, until I have his whole length in my mouth.  He slides a finger in my pussy and alternates between sucking my clit and swirling his tongue around it.  I start to suck harder and faster.  I grab his balls and he thrusts slightly in my mouth, making me gag.  He adds another finger and continues his tongue’s assault on my clit.  A few moments later he is filling the back of my throat with cum while I grind my pussy into his face, cumming on his tongue.

I climb off him, moving up to lay by him.  He is immediately rolling over, caging me in with his large body.

“I love you, future wife,” he murmurs, kissing my neck.

“I love you too, future husband,” I say back.

He reaches down, guiding himself into me.  He takes his time fucking me tonight.  His thrusts are deep and hard.  I moan into his shoulder as I reach my climax.  He kisses me as I come down, still fucking me.  When he finally gets ready to orgasm, he rubs my clit, getting me to cum with him.

“Four orgasms in one night, if you include the broom closet.  My future husband spoils me,” I giggle into his neck.

He gets up and grabs the washcloth, cleaning me up.  “You deserve every single one of them,” he says, and he kisses my pussy.  Tossing the washcloth in the laundry, he climbs into bed, pulling me close to him.

Zane wakes me up asking if we can go to Penny’s for breakfast to see his parents before they leave.  Of course I say yes, then get up to shower and get dressed.  Zane is wearing preppy khaki shorts and a button up with the sleeves nicely rolled.  I decide to dress similarly in a white sundress with a subtle floral print and my Converse.  I keep my hair down in its natural waves.

“You look stunning, sunshine” he says.

“Thank you.  I didn’t know if we were supposed to dress up.  You look super nice, so I decided on this,” I tell him.

“There is no dress code, babe, I just grabbed something,” he says.  We get our stuff, then head over to his sister’s house.

When we walk in, everyone yells, “Surprise!” I scream again, like I did when I got the job with the Tampa Thunder.  I am not good with jump scares. I look around at all our friends and families, the balloons, and the congratulations sign. “How did you guys do it so fast?” I ask, crying. “When Zane told Luke he was asking at the game, we used the phone tree and TA-DA!  We have a surprise engagement brunch,” Lucy says. “We wanted to do it before our parents left,” Penny adds. “Plus, everyone knew you would say yes,” Luke says. “Thank you all so much!  This is amazing!” I say through tears.

After we greet everyone, I grab a mimosa and we all sit and talk.  The food is served buffet style, so everyone is able to kind of graze and socialize.  It is exactly what I would plan myself.  Something simple, intimate, and low stress.  We take lots of pictures and everyone compliments Zane on the ring.  I cry looking at the pictures and videos from the proposal.  He really did an amazing job.  Our families already know and like each other, which is great because I couldn’t imagine tension in the family.

People ask us if we have decided on a date, but we haven’t discussed it yet.  We talk about the game and how amazing it was.  No one mentions Justin, but I know he is on everyone’s mind when we talk about the game.  I haven’t checked online or any sports news, but I am sure it’s not looking good for him.  After a few hours, we head back home, promising to see everyone before too long.  With the draft in two weeks, I know most of us will be together soon.

Driving home, I snap a picture of my hand on Zane’s on the gear shift.  I decide to post that, and a few that people took of the proposal with the caption, I got your number, now I need your last name.

I laugh, because I know Zane loves when we joke about that moment in our first interview when I asked for his number.  I meant his jersey number, even though it sounded like I was asking for his phone number.  He checks his phone at the light and sees the tag.

He chuckles.  “That joke will never get old,” he says.

I knew he would love it.

Getting home, I head straight to change.  I am ready to get comfy on the couch after a long few days.  When I come back out, Z is watching the sports channel.  They are doing a segment on Justin.  They don’t say my name and they bleep out everything sexual.  They talk about him being canceled and his career being ruined.  Then they have a segment on our team.  There is a part about our engagement and Coach calling me the season MVP.

“This woman is going to be in demand in the sports media world, just watch.  This won’t be the last we see of her. The things she has done for a small college team are amazing!  The pros are going to be begging for her,” the anchor says.

Zane looks at me and says, “He is not wrong, you know.  You could open a business where you go and train sports social media managers.  You could host speaking events.  You could offer more than just hockey and you can offer college and pro.”

I laugh.  “That would be fun, but let’s be realistic here,” I say.

“Check your emails and tell me you aren’t blowing up with interview requests,” he says confidently.

HOLY SHIT!

“I have over fifty emails from teams asking to interview me,” I say, breathless.

“Told you,” he says.

“There are football, basketball, hockey, soccer… even a NASCAR team.  It’s not all pro either, there are some college teams here,” I say, overwhelmed.

“You are amazing; I am not surprised,” he says.

I text our family chat with my parents, telling them about the news and the emails.  They all agree with Z that I should form a media company.

I shoot an email to Marissa, asking for a meeting, then I try to relax.

“No hockey or work talk,” I say.

“So when are we getting married?” he says.

I don’t answer, thinking.

“I would prefer this weekend, but I can wait,” he says with a huge smile.

I laugh.  “I don’t want anything big, but I would like an actual wedding,” I say.

We go over things we both do and don’t want in a wedding.  We decide on September 8th so we can honeymoon before the hockey season begins.

We discuss venues and we decide on trying to rent out the ice rink at the school.  How romantic to get married where we met and where our love story began!  The place where our love developed and grew.  I shoot an email to the athletic director, asking for a meeting so I can talk with her about the possibilities of this.  We are being so productive right now!  My engagement post is blowing up.  Everything is just perfect.

Monday morning, Zane has class so I start looking at wedding stuff until I get an email from Marissa.  She can meet this afternoon.  I start getting my thoughts together with what I want to talk to her about.  I want to be sure I cover all my bases.  I text Z and let him know where I am heading.

I walk in and Marissa greets me. “Hey, Fiona. I hear congratulations are in order!”

“Thank you so much,” I say.

We gossip a little about wedding and engagement stuff.  I tell her about my idea for the venue.  She loves it and wishes me luck with my meeting.  I let her know I have it set up for tomorrow morning and she tells me how excited she is.

“Are you here about the news segment on you?  I assume your email is blowing up,” she says. “Yeah, how did you know?” I ask. “Who do you think gave out your email?” she says, laughing. “I was wondering but I was too excited to think into it too much,” I say. “Are you wondering who to work for?” she asks. “No,” I answer.  “I actually want to start a full sports social media company.”  I give her my ideas and plans.

“I love it.  Please let me know if I can help at all.  I think your initial plan is perfect.  Get everything official quickly, then send out emails from your company to everyone requesting interviews.  Don’t forget to add the university to the list.  We could use someone to help train the others,” she says. We say our goodbyes and I walk out, determined to make all my dreams come true.  I will marry the man of my dreams and work in sports social media management.

When Zane gets home, I cook dinner and tell him about my meeting.  He offers to help me financially to get my business going, but I decline.  I want to do this without his money, but I will take his support.  I let him know about the meeting I have with the athletic director tomorrow.  He offers to come but I think it will be best if it’s just me.  I stay up way too late getting the last details of my business plan together, but I am just so excited.  I was able to find the old business plan I made for my capstone in college – my dream of one day owning a sports media company.

Justin crushed that dream quickly, so I focused on the Thunder and working for them.  But Zane is amazing; he helped me remember my dream career.  After I knock out a bunch of details on it, I crash on the couch.

Tuesday morning comes quickly with me waking up uncomfortable on the couch.  I get up and put on a cute but professional outfit for my meeting.  Giving Zane a deep long kiss, I head out the door.  Stopping for coffee, I arrive ten minutes early.  I down my drink, take a deep breath, and knock on her office door.

“Good morning and congratulations!” the athletic director, Mrs. Baker, says.

“Thank you, and thank you for making time for me today, Mrs. Baker,” I tell her.  I explain my business plan to her and go over all the services I plan to have.

“Sounds amazing!  We are definitely interested.  Send me over the prices and we can discuss things further,” she says.

“Well, actually I was willing to offer to train three people for free in exchange for something,” I inform her.

“Oh, what would be worth all that free work for you?” she inquires.

“I want to have my wedding on the ice rink on September 8^th.  We will hire a clean-up crew, and I know we have covered the ice before for special events,” I tell her.

She picks up the phone and makes two phone calls, going over everything.

After a few minutes she says, “You have yourself a deal!”

We shake and I let her know I will be emailing her with my information.  I walk to my car, crying.  Everything is falling into place.  I send a text to our group chat with both our families.

We are getting married on the ice at the Penguins Arena on September 8^th!

My phone blows up with everyone excited over how unique and perfect that venue is.

When I get home, Zane isn’t there, but has flowers on the counter for me.  He gets home shortly after I do and I have dinner ready.  We talk about the venue and the deal I made.  He isn’t exactly happy about it. He thinks I should get paid for my work and just let him pay for the venue, but that’s okay.

“The draft is next Thursday.  Are you excited?” I ask him, trying to distract him.

“I am, but I am more excited to take you house shopping once we get a location,” he says.

“We can rent, babe,” I say.

“No, I want to own a house with my wife. Please don’t fight this.  I have enough money.  I am struggling with not going to buy you a new Jeep of your own,” he says.

“My car is fine, babe,” I say.

“The minute it acts up, we are heading to the dealership,” he says seriously.

“Fine.  You are incredibly annoying when it comes to wanting to buy me big things,” I say, laughing.

We spend the rest of our night cuddling and watching TV before heading to bed.