“Change is coming to Keating Technologies as well as to Copperheads football, but I can promise you that it will be change for the better,” I say. “If there's one thing my parents taught me, it's the value of family. And you folks sitting out there – you're family. Keating Tech would be absolutely nothing without each and every one of you.
I know it's become something of an empty platitude among many companies today, but I can assure you that it's absolutely true. It's a point that Thomas helped underscore for me some months back when he had me tour the main offices with him. I got a chance to meet and talk with many of you – though, I will make the effort to meet everybody. But hearing your stories, hearing how you feel about working for KT and being part of our family – it inspired me. Made me want to be a better leader and a better person for all of you.”
More cheers and applause and as I looked out at the crowd, I saw many of them giving me wide smiles and thumbs up signs. I'd never felt like more of a rock star than I did in that moment.
“And lastly, while I have a minute – and a captive audience – I'd also like to acknowledge somebody special and important to me,” I say, looking at Amanda. I see the color flare in her cheeks and she quickly looks away. “Without her – I don't even know what I would do. She challenges me daily. Pushes me to excel and makes me want to be a better man. A better father. My life is better in a million different ways thanks to her. And I'm so grateful to call her my own.”
The room absolutely erupts in cheers and applause. I lean down and give her a quick, chaste kiss. Her face is nearly scarlet and she refuses to meet my eyes. Her embarrassment is absolutely adorable. A moment later though, I hold my hand up to quiet the crowd.
“My wife encourages me to pursue my passion and do those things that bring me joy,” I say. “And so, it's with that in mind that I am very happy to unveil the latest project I am tasking the brilliant minds at KT with – a project I am confident will become a reality.”
“In combining my love for Keating Tech with my passion for football, it gives me incredible pleasure to announce that Keating Technologies will be partnering with the NFL to design a new helmet and equipment – things that will cut down, and hopefully eliminate – the dangerous effects of CTE and other traumatic brain injuries.”
The applause is nearly deafening and I can't help but smile. As I look to Kendrick and Thomas – two of the greatest men I've ever known – and then to my wife, before I look out the crowd once more, I reflect on how funny and strange life can be at times – and how quickly everything can change.
As I hold on to Amanda's hand, I smile wide. Life is good. Life is very, very good. And to think – it all started with a sham wedding and a fake bride.
Like I said, life is funny and strange sometimes.
THE END
Snow and the 7 Hunks
Do you ever get tired of being a good girl?
I know I do, with a name like Snow I guess it's expected.
But there is nothing good about my boss' new wife.
That witch took over the office.
And she's determined to turn my fairy tale into a living nightmare.
Hello, Enchanted Woods, an exclusive retreat for worn-out girls like me.
The retreat has a saying:
"True love's kiss will fill your heart with love, but it's his c*ck that will make you cream."
Who knows? I might even find a prince there to give me a happy ending.
There's no room for grumpy, sleepy and dopey in my life,
not when I can have horny, cocky and lucky.
A cowboy, an athlete, and a biker... maybe even a billionaire too.
Seven is my lucky charm. Let's see which one is my happily-ever-after...
Chapter One
“Do you think that his dick is all shriveled up like the rest of him?”
I glared across the table at my best friend Robin, who was in turn staring wistfully at each of the waiters that swept past him without pausing. It was dessert night at The Wishing Well, our favorite hangout for as long as I could remember, and while the table in front of me was scattered with all of the sparkly, sugar-coated and cream-filled delights that I had ordered, they had somehow managed to miss everything that Robin had requested.
“I don’t know how I’m supposed to answer that,” I said, reaching for one of my treats.
Robin sighed and looked back at me.
“I do. I mean, it wouldn’t make sense for the rest of him to look like one big dangly sack now that he’s ancient but for his actual dick to still be all smooth and youthful.”
Another waiter swung past with a tray held high above his head, and Robin looked hopeful, only to be crushed when the man kept going right by.
“He’s a really nice man,” I said, feeling the urge to defend my boss.
“Does that change the fact that he’s a thousand years old and has more folds on him than an origami Shar Pei?” Robin dipped the tip of his pinky into the shallow dish of chocolate sauce beside one of my plates and licked it off. He looked at his finger contemplatively. “If it is all wrinkly, do you think that it stays that way when he gets hard? I mean, is it like an accordion-type situation where it smooths out, or does it get hard and still have all the wrinkles and stuff?”
I grimaced as I took the churro from my mouth before taking a bite and settled it back onto the plate in front of me, draping a napkin over it to cover the ridges that were no longer as appealing, even covered in sugar and cinnamon.
“I really wouldn’t know,” I said.
Another waiter started toward our table, making Robin’s eyes light up, but just before he arrived, he took a sudden turn and presented a nearby table with an elaborate spread of sweets. Robin turned back toward me and sagged against the table.
“Someday. Someday my blintz will come,” he said. He pouted for a few seconds and then looked at me like he had just heard what I had said. “Of course you don’t know,” he said. “You’re as pure as the driven…”
“Please, don’t.”
“Snow.”
“Thank you.”
“I’m sorry. I was already committed. I had to finish it.” I glared at him, not willing to let this one slide. “OK, so that probably wasn’t the best idiom I could have gone with.”
“You’re an idiom,” I muttered.
I couldn’t blame Robin entirely. When you have a name like Snow it’s kind of hard to make a purity comparison without it coming across as incredibly heavy-handed. He might as well not pussy-foot around it and go right for the brutally clichéd kill.
“Blintz?”
Robin and I looked up at the waiter who had appeared at the edge of our table and blinked at him, somewhat stunned that he was actually there. He stood staring back at us, holding a plate of cherry cheese blintzes in between us, the three of us now locked in some awkward tableau of bad service. Finally, Robin nodded and the waiter lowered the plate to the table.
“I’m really not as pure as all that,” I said. I had hoped that the waiter was far enough away from us at that point not to have heard the declaration, but by the way he glanced back at me over his shoulder I figured that I didn’t have that much luck. I leaned forward on the table so that I could speak to Robin in a more conspiratorial tone. “It’s not like I’m a virgin.”
Robin looked up at me as he deconstructed the carefully folded blintz so that he could smear the cherry sauce inside rather than eating it like a civilized human being worthy of the dainty desserts.
“You’ve had sex with exactly one person, Snow,” he said. “One. I don’t even think that counts as not being a virgin. That’s like training wheels.”
“I don’t think that’s accurate,” I said. “How many do you think it takes?”
I didn’t necessarily want to hear the answer. Robin might look sweet and innocent, but I knew very well that he was far from as pure as the driven anything. Upon further thought it might be because he looked so sweet and innocent. There could be some appeal there.