“Hey, Thorn?” Derek's voice was quiet.
“Hmm?”
“Thank you. For tonight. For celebrating with me. For being you.”
“Thank you for choosing me. For letting me in.”
“Every time. I'll choose you every time.”
I pressed a kiss to his chest, right over his heart. “Sweet dreams, champion.”
His hand stilled on my back for a moment, then resumed its soothing motion. “Sweet dreams, Rosebud.”
I don't remember falling asleep. One moment I was watching the movie, feeling Derek's heartbeat beneath my ear, and the next I was drifting into dreams.
DEREK
I knew the exact moment Rosalie fell asleep. Her breathing evened out, her body went heavy against mine, and her hand that had been clutching my t-shirt slowly relaxed.
I should have been exhausted. I'd just played a full ninety-minute game, scored twice, dealt with post-game interviews and team celebrations. My body should have been demanding sleep.
But I was wide awake, hyperaware of the girl in my arms.
Carefully, so as not to wake her, I reached for my phone. I pulled up our new playlist “You, Officially” and added one more song. An acoustic cover of “Everything” by Lifehouse.
The lyrics were perfect:You're all I want, you're all I need, you're everything.
She was everything.
I set my phone aside and pressed a kiss to the top of her head, breathing in her vanilla scent.
On the laptop screen, the heist crew was celebrating their victory, everything tied up in a neat bow. Unlike real life, where things were messy and complicated and scary.
But as I lay there on a studio floor, holding the girl I loved, I realized that messy and complicated and scary didn't mean bad.
It just meant real.
And this, us, was the most real thing I'd ever had.
My eyes grew heavy. The exhaustion I'd been holding at bay finally caught up with me. I adjusted the blanket over us, made sure Rosalie was comfortable, and let myself drift.
Tomorrow we'd wake up tangled together, probably with sore backs and stiff necks from sleeping on the floor.
Tomorrow, we'd have to face the reality of keeping this secret for a little while longer.
Tomorrow, the world will still be complicated.
But tonight? Tonight was perfect.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
DEREK
Rosie’s taste lingered on me for days. I knew there was no other opportunity like this for a long time as our schedule grew more hectic and the secret grew bigger.
Halloween was fast approaching, and everyone was talking about parties and costumes, while we still had one more game to play before that.
Greenfield wasn't what I was worried about, but knowing that the Westpoint game was fast approaching put me on edge. I knew the players who injured me no longer played, but fuck, my mind was not having it.
