The Summer Proposal by Vi Keeland

When we finally left my apartment, a car was waiting at the curb. It whisked us off to the Four Seasons Hotel downtown, where we handed our bags to the concierge and told him we’d be back to check in later. Then we headed to Battery Park to catch the ferry to the Statue of Liberty. We stayed outside on the deck, taking in the gorgeous spring day from the railing as we crossed the Hudson River.

“Have you ever been to Liberty or Ellis Island?” I asked.

“Yep, with my brother Austin when we were in college. I was in my first year and had an exhibition game here in the city. He came with me, and we stuck around for an extra few days. Austin was really into buildings and history, so he wanted to come see it.” Max looked out at the water reflectively and smiled. “I got smacked while we were waiting to get in to the statue.”

“By Austin?”

Max shook his head. “No, by a woman a couple of people ahead of us in line. I was an idiot back then—basically checked out anything with legs. I motioned to a woman I thought had a nice ass, wanting Austin to check her out, too. When he did, he didn’t agree with me, so we debated the subject a little. I thought I’d kept my voice low, but apparently Austin was louder than he intended as he explained how her ass wasn’t symmetrical.”

I covered my mouth. “Oh my God.”

He nodded. “Yeah. She overheard and figured out we were talking about her, but she didn’t let on until we’d made it up to the pedestal. Then she walked over and asked which one of us was the pig. I raised my hand, and she reared back and slapped me. A security guard came over, and the woman told him we’d been harassing her, and he asked us to leave. So we didn’t get to climb up to the torch.”

I chuckled. “Well, hopefully you can keep your eyes where they belong, and we won’t get kicked out today. Cross your fingers you can make it up to the top.”

Max wrapped his arms around my waist. “My eyes have no interest in wandering anywhere.”

“I bet you say that to all the girls.” I smiled.

Max’s face turned serious. “You know I’m not seeing anyone else, right?”

I hadn’t given that subject any thought. I guess between me working so much and his hockey schedule, it never occurred to me that either of us would have time to go out with anyone else. But Max was off for the summer now. And technically I was still in a relationship, so that didn’t seem fair.

“You could, if you want…”

Max frowned. “I don’t want.”

“But I’m in a relationship still.”

“I get that. Though he’s not here. And you aren’t seeing him until at least after the summer is over, so it’s easy to put it out of my mind.” His brows pulled together. “Are you planning on dating other people this summer?”

“God, no. I didn’t even date more than one person at a time before Gabriel, when I was single. I’ve always looked at dating like trying on shoes. You try on different ones to see what feels right and is comfortable, but if you try on two different shoes, you never really know if either of them is any good.”

Max smiled. “So it’s settled. Our summer will be just that—our summer.”

“Are you sure?”

He held my eyes. “Very sure.”

“Okay.”

The boat pulled into the dock at Liberty Island. After we disembarked, the line to go into the statue was long, so Max and I wandered around for a bit, walking along the paved path. Max held my hand, and the simple gesture meant a lot to me. For all of the self-deprecating stories he’d shared—commenting on a woman’s ass, telling his friends about getting to second base at the movies—he seemed like he would make a good boyfriend. He was attentive and thoughtful. The fact that we were here at all proved that. A man who looked like him and had his celebrity didn’t have to work this hard to get laid. So when we came up to a big tree, I tugged his arm and led us behind it, then wrapped my hands around his neck, pushed up on my toes, and pressed my lips to his.

Max smiled when our kiss broke. “What was that for?”

I shrugged. “Just for being you. For making me take this time off, for not wanting to be with other women this summer, and…” I grinned. “You’re also kind of hot, and I just wanted to kiss you.”

Max’s dimples deepened. “Keep going. My ego’s taken a beating lately. A certain brunette had to be coaxed into even going out with me.”

I laughed. “Come on. We better go. I think our tickets are only good between certain times.”

The rest of the afternoon was so much fun. We climbed three-hundred-and-fifty-four crammed steps to reach the crown—a reminder of how much I needed to get back into exercising. But the view at the top made it all worth it. After that, we went to Ellis Island, and I was able to find my great-great grandfather’s name on a passenger manifest from a hundred years ago. By the time we took the ferry back and an Uber to the hotel, it was already six o’clock.

Not surprisingly, the young girl at the reception desk recognized Max and batted her eyelashes at him. Then she only took his credit card when I’d held mine out to her, too.

“You really need to let me pay for this,” I told him. “I’m sure it was a fortune.”

“Does it offend you when I insist?”