Dex knew exactly what he was doing. He knew exactly how to handle me, and I truly never realized what I was missing since the others I’d messed around with didn’t know what they were doing at all, and my own fingers are hardly a match for the way Dex can use his body.
Damn.
I’ll be dreaming of him and how good he felt for the rest of time.
How many people get to say they lost their virginity to someone they were really, truly falling for? We have an actual shot at a future. Maybe. God, I don’t know. I’m so confused. But after the last few weeks, and after what just happened…I hope we can find a way.
We’re doing this all backward. We got married, and then we started to fall, and then we had sex, and I went and fell even more.
And there’s a child on top of the equation. I’m a nanny, a stepmother, and a wife, fake or not, and yet we just slept together.
I don’t think we can come back from this and survive as separate entities now that we’ve been together in this way.
I don’t want him to go in the morning. I feel like there’s still so much I don’t know about him. He’s let himself be vulnerable with me, but there’s still so much more to Dex Bradley left to uncover. I can’t wait to peel each part back bit by bit, but I can’t do that when he’s in another state working day and night to prepare for his upcoming season with his team.
I’ll be here when he gets back. I guess we just…hit the pause button until then and pray that nothing changes in the meantime.
I draw in a breath and head back out to Dex, and he’s lying in bed. I don’t want to make any assumptions, so I ask the question that’s on my mind. “Should I head back to my room, or…?” I trail off, letting the question hang there.
“Get your cute little ass back in my bed,” he demands, and I can’t help the relief that darts through me.
This is different. I’ve only been in his bedroom once since I’ve lived here, and it was when I didn’t know the layout of his penthouse and I had no idea where I was going back on that first day when Jack’s mother was here saying goodbye.
I couldn’t have known the roller coaster I was about to get on—both literally at the New York–New York and figuratively with Dex. Less than a month ago, I thought my heart was broken by some idiot on a reality television show.
Now look where I am.
I can’t wait to tape the reunion show. I can’t wait to show up and throw my new relationship—my marriage to a pro football star—right in Jordan’s face.
I’m sure the accusations will fly. But I’ll be going home to Dex, and the two of us know the truth. That’s all that really matters to me.
I slide into bed beside Dex, and he immediately pulls me into his arms. And that’s where I sleep, my body exhausted from the workout he just gave me, until his alarm blares at us far too early.
I get up with him even though I don’t really have to get up until Jack does. He said goodbye to his son last night, but he sneaks into his room anyway before it’s time to leave. He presses a kiss to his own hand, and then he gently lays his hand on his son’s back.
I melt. I freaking melt. He’s becoming so sweet with Jack, and it’s such a one-eighty from the day I ran into him.
It makes me feel like we can do this. There’s an actual, real possibility of a future here, and I am beyond excited to see what could happen.
But then it’s time for him to leave.
He drops his duffel by the door and turns to face me. He blows out a breath. “I don’t want to go.” His words are simple, and I get the feeling that he’s never felt that way before. Football always came first, but now he has someone waiting at home for him. Well, two someones.
“You have to,” I say softly. “I know what football means to you, and even though the next two weeks will be hard, Jack and I will be here waiting when you get back.”
He presses his lips together and nods, and then he hooks an arm around my waist and pulls me closer into him. “Last night meant a lot to me, Birdie,” he says quietly.
“It meant the world to me.”
He leans down and presses a gentle kiss to my lips. When he pulls back, he holds me close for a few extra beats, hugging me and breathing me in. And then he grabs his duffel and heads out the door without another word.
I sigh as I lean back against his door. I wish we had more time, but he’ll be back.
It’s only two weeks.
We can do this.
It just sucks that we have to do this right now, right after we admitted our feelings and we’re at the precipice of something new and exciting.
