The Trouble With J.J. (25 page)
She frowned at him, but her heart was racing fast enough to break the land speed record. “Was there really a page two?”
Jared took her hand in his and raised it to his chest, tracing an X with her fingers over the silk of his shirt. “Cross my heart.”
She pressed her palm flat, feeling the strong, regular rhythm of his heartbeat. Her eyes locked on his. “So where is it?”
“Beats me. I left it on my desk with page one and your check.”
“Finally something makes sense! That desk of yours should be declared a national disaster area.”
“I promise to clean it if you say yes.”
“You’ll probably find Jimmy Hoffa,” she said dryly.
“I’ll set fire to it as soon as I find that blasted page.”
Genna grinned. “Maybe we could get your dad to blow it up.”
He laughed, relief washing over him. She was going to say yes; he could feel it. He’d find that confounded note, have it framed, and give it to Genna for a wedding gift.
“You actually proposed to me on a piece of scrap paper?” she asked, looking less than pleased with him.
Jared had the grace to look sheepish.
“What a lousy proposal, Hennessy.”
“It seemed like a good idea at the time. In retrospect, it stinks. You should have heard what Amy had to say about it.” He winced in remembrance as he traced one finger along the delicate V of Genna’s collarbone. “My ears are still ringing. She
said I’d better come up with something pretty good to make it up to you.”
Genna’s eyes landed on the table at center field and the waiter who had wheeled out a tray with covered dishes on it. Her gaze found Jared’s, and she smiled. “This is pretty special.”
“You ain’t seen nothin’ yet,” he said with a grin. He took a step away from her and waved up at a set of windows on the second deck. The scoreboard came to life again as the organist played “Let Me Call You Sweetheart.” Cartoon brides and grooms marched across the enormous lighted board, then disappeared.
GENNA, I LOVE YOU MORE THAN A SUNDAY WITH
NO INTERCEPTIONS
I LOVE YOU MORE THAN A WIN AT THE SUPER BOWL
I LOVE YOU MORE THAN ROOT BEER
I LOVE YOU
A little football player ran across the screen, stopping in the center and giving an exaggerated shrug. The next line chased him away.
WILL YOU MARRY ME?
WILL YOU BE MY TEAMMATE FOR THE GAME OF
LIFE?
SAY YES! SAY YES! SAY YES! SAY YES! SAY YES!
SAY YES!
Genna pressed her hands to her cheeks. Tears shimmmered in her eyes. She took in the entire scene: the stadium, the table, Stephan the waiter, Otis and Brutus, the scoreboard, the corny sound of the organ. Jared, wearing his heart on his sleeve. He’d gone to a lot of trouble and she’d love him for it until the day she died.
Jared’s sexy smile teased his mouth as he looked down at her. His blue eyes glittered like jewels. The stadium lights turned his diamond earring into a prism of brilliant colors. “I feel it only fair to warn you, I’m going to run that at every home game until you say yes.”
She laughed out loud and let him take her in his arms, her fingers sliding up the lapels of his suit jacket to tease the back of his neck.
“Genna,” he singsonged. “Come on, say you’ll marry me.”
Genna fought a losing battle to keep a straight face.
He was incorrigible. And irresistible. And she loved every molecule of him even if he was a madman.
She gave him a lopsided smile. “I guess I’ll have to. We’re a team. Team players stick together, right?”
“Right.” He grinned.
“And we’re pretty good together, right?”
With a loving smile Jared lowered his head to touch the tip of his nose to the tip of Genna’s nose. “Unbeatable.”
“The best.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
TAMI HOAG’S novels have appeared regularly on national bestseller lists since the publication of her first book in 1988. She lives in Los Angeles.
The Trouble with J.J
. is a work of fiction. Names, characters,
places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s
imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual
persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
2009 Bantam Books Mass Market Edition
Copyright © 1988 by Tami Hoag
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Bantam Books, an imprint of
The Random House Publishing Group, a division of
Random House, Inc., New York
BANTAM BOOKS and the rooster colophon are registered
trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Originally published as a Loveswept mass market edition in the
United States by Bantam Books, an imprint of The Random House
Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., in 1988.
eISBN: 978-0-553-90652-3
v3.0
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