He gives me a pained grimace. “I don’t claim to understand it fully, but that day you cut your brow open and I held on to you while Jan ran to get help, I knew with bone-deep conviction that you were mine to love. Back then, it was the innocent love of a child.
“But it never faded. I was always aware of you. It was like some superpower, a built-in Penelope radar. The mere mention of your name grabbed my complete attention. Whenever you were around, I’d light up. And you never saw.”
The darks slashes of his brows snap together as he looks at me in bafflement. “How could you not see that? Honestly, it pissed me off some days. But then I realized, you weren’t ever going to see me when you never bothered to even look. You’d just run, and it broke my heart every time.”
August huffs out a half laugh full of self-deprecation. “I tried to get over it, over you. But I couldn’t. The heart knows what the heart knows.”
So great is my surprise, it takes a bit for his words to truly sink in, for me to really hear him. When I do, however, it’s as though I’m champagne uncorked. Giddy, effervescent joy bubbles up and overflows. And I start to laugh. Really laugh. I can’t help it.
Unfortunately, August takes it the wrong way. He rears back as though struck. “You’re laughing?”
“Yes. I’m sorry. It’s nerves. Irony. Both.” Weakly, I reach out and catch hold of his hand, squeezing it. “You loved me the whole time? I can’t believe... August Luck, I have been inlove withyousince I was nine years old and you cuddled me close while I bled all over your shirt. You were my hero. You’ve always been. It’salwaysbeen you.”
My words seem to bounce around in the following silence as he simply looks at me blankly. Then, as if snapping out of it, his brows lift in clear shock. “How...” He frowns and narrows his eyes in annoyance. “You always looked at me like I was something foul the cat dragged in!”
And he talks ofmenot seeing things as they are.
“I looked at you the way a painfully shy girl does when facing the object of her affection and being totally overwhelmed with feeling.”
“Damn it, Pen. I didn’t have a clue.” With a huff, he stands and grasps the back of his neck with both hands like he doesn’t know what to do with this information.
“As you said, we never see ourselves the way others do.” My smile is wry. “I guess I’m a better actress than I think. And anyway, why would I have a clue about your feelings?Younever looked at me either.”
At that, he drops his arms with a scowl. “Oh, I fucking looked. You simply never looked back.”
“And none of the girls you hooked up with were remotely like me—”
“There’s a reason why none of them were like you. Because if it couldn’t beyouthen I was damned well not going to settle for a weak copy.”
Heat prickles behind my lids. His words, the emotion in his expression... I want to hold him close. Soothe away all those past hurts. But he’s on a tear now.
“Are you going to keep arguing with me on this, Pen? Or are you going to accept that I love you, just as you are, and always will?” He looks so good standing there, irate and flushed. Strong and tall and mine.
Giddiness returns. I’m floating with it. “No more arguing. I love you, August. So much.”
It’s as though I’ve winded him. He sinks to his knees before me. Eye to eye now, he searches my face. “Say it again, Penelope.”
Now that I have, it’s easy. Like breathing. “I love you. I love you.”
His answering grin is like the sun, bright and hot. Then he kisses me with such quiet intensity, my insides go soft as warmed butter.
He’s mine. He’s mine.
Laughing, I tackle him. He takes my weight easily, holding on as I wrap myself around him like a monkey, then stands to set us both back on the bed, chuckling as he flops against me. I kiss that smiling mouth. August hums in pleasure and deepens the kiss, his hands gently touching my cheeks, trailing through my hair, finding the small of my back. Soft words of love flow from his lips.
Love. Loving him used to be so hard. I struggled to ignore it for so long. Now it’s everything. A balm. A gift. I sigh in pleasure.
We do nothing more than kiss each other, touch like we can’t believe this is real. The sun sinks low in the sky, and we’re cuddled up on the bed, limbs intertwined.
Idly, August toys with the tips of my fingers. “I have one more confession, then I’m done.”
“If you say so.” I’m so happy now, he could tell me anything and I’d still be floating.August loves me.
“When we started this agreement, you asked me if there was any risk of me falling for you, and I said I’d already found my true love in football.”
“I will never resent sharing you with football.”
“I know that. But I was lying.”
