I toss Hashtag up onto my shoulder, dash across the wide foyer and fling it open. “What—”I don’t get to finish my sentence because he’s wrapping me in those solid arms and lifting me off the floor and burying his face in my neck, all while not disturbing my very high cat.
“Are you okay?” he gasps. “I got here as soon as I could.God, it feels so good to hold you. Are you okay? What can I do? What do you need? I’m here. I’m here, and I swear to fuck, I amneverleaving again.”
“Cooper—what?”
“The sharks, Waverly. The sharks came for you and I’m here to punch them in the face and shove them back in the water where they belong.Are you okay?”
“Why aren’t you playing baseball?”
“Who the fuck cares about baseball when the woman I love is hurting?”
My breath catches hard in my throat and my eyes go hot.
He tightens his grip. “That’s not how I meant to—”
“You love me.”
“I love you so much it hurts. I love you so much I can’t stand the way we’ve been apart. I love you so much, I’ll spend the rest of my life carrying your bags and your cat everywhere you go so that I can be next to you, wherever you go, no matter what time it is or how far away it is from home.Youare home. You’re my home. I walked away from you once. I won’t do it again. I love you. I love you above all else, and I always will.”
Hashtag, who’s still hanging out on my shoulder like a baby, sings a drunken yowl.
“And I love your cat too,” Cooper adds. “Are you okay? I haven’t shut up. I need to shut up. What do you need? What can I do?”
“I’m perfect,” I whisper.
“Are you sure?”
“Aside from the part where you’re supposed to be playing baseballright now. I should’ve canceled everything this week. Ididcancel everything else this week. How did you get here? Never mind. My team’s getting my plane ready. We can be in the air in thirty minutes.”
“I’m not fucking leaving you.”
“I’m coming with you. All week. I’m all yours. I love you, and I amall yours.” I shift and press my lips to his, Hashtag yowls out a protest and leaps off me, and then Cooper’s kissing me back, a rough rumble coming from the back of his throat that feels like relief and adoration andeverything, all in that one perfect sound.
And everything inside me settles into sheer peace.
At least, for all of half a second before my hormones take over.
I don’t know if I’m devouring him or if he’s devouring me, but we’re all over each other. I’m wrapped around him as he kneads my ass and carries me back upstairs to my bedroom. I pull his jersey over his head while he tackles the buttons on my loose blouse. I barely get his pants unbuttoned before he’s tugging my leggings down.
And then we’re rolling over my bed, kissing and hugging and laughing, both of us lunging for condoms, and I will never,everget over the feel of him sliding inside of me, driving deeper, driving me wild, until I’m coming so hard I can’t see straight and nothing matters but the feel of the two of us together, as if we’re all that there is in the world.
He’s everything in my world.
And he’shere.
And he’s solid and dependable and coming inside me with a groan, squeezing me so tight I shouldn’t be able to breathe, but he’s my oxygen. He’s my purpose. He’s everything I want and even more than everything I need, andwe will make this work.
He’s still holding me, both of us on our sides, while I explore his back with my fingers and breathe in the scent of him, long after we’ve both quit panting.
“I canceled my next three years,” I whisper as the sun sets and shadows fall across my bedroom.
He goes still. “No, Waverly, I’m done. I’m telling Tripp and Lila—”
“That you’re finishing out your contract with the Fireballs while I take somemuchoverdue time off to figure out what parts of my business I need to keep forme, and what parts I need to let go of because they don’t make me happy, and while I justbreathe. I can’tbusinessmy way into happiness. That comes fromhere.” I press a kiss to his chest.
And once again, Cooper proves that he is the best hugger on the planet. “We can talk this out and make sure—”
“Cooper, yourlife’s dreamis to take the Fireballs all the way to winning the World Series. You need to go back. I’m going with you. Andnext week, we can talk about next year. And next week, you can lose this argument with me all over again.”
