“That can be arranged.”
“You’renevergetting a tattoo at that place without me. I can’t have my girl getting hit on like that.”
She rolled her eyes. “Jesus, Romano. Are you some possessive boyfriend? I wouldn’t have guessed that.”
“With you, apparently. Never really been aboyfriendbefore.” I grinned. “I like the sound of it coming from you though.”
“Okay fine. No tattoos without letting you know.”
“Mm, not what I said, but I’ll let it go. Thirdly, you tell me what you need or if I mess up or hurt you. I want this to work, Mackenzie. I want to be with you and talk about your social media posts and how you want to scale the game and hear about your game plans, and I want us to make our own lists. I’m going to mess up and say the wrong thing, so please be patient with me. I’ll always make you a priority. Promise me you’ll always tell me?”
“I promise. But love is a conversation, and we’ll always do it together.” She pulled me down, kissing me softly. “I love you, but—”
“I love you too,” I said, loving the fact I could say it back.
Her eyes lit up. “Dork. What I wanted to say, was that I love you, but you need a shower and mouthwash.”
I snorted. “Fair. Any chance you want to join me in theshower, girlfriend?”
She smirked. “Only because you asked nicely.” She slid from the bed and tossed her shirt to the ground, revealing the fact she was completely naked underneath.
I sucked in a breath. “Damn, my drunk ass didn’t even take advantage of this.” I ran a hand over her back, her ass, enjoying the feel of her skin. “God, you’re sexy.”
“You should see the photos I left on your desk that I took.” She winked. “I’ll get the shower started. You brush your teeth first.”
She blew me a kiss before strutting toward my bathroom, and I scanned my desk for photos. Two Polaroids sat there, one from the two of us at the wedding we crashed. She looked so fucking perfect it was amazing. The second one though.
Hot damn.
She posed naked for me, and holy shit. I’d be keeping this one with me close. I stared, admiring the curve of her ass when she cleared her throat.
“You could look at the real thing, you know.”
“Yeah, but this feels naughty.” I grinned, tapping the desk twice before joining her in the shower.
I wasn’t one to question how we got to this point because things happened for a reason, but I couldn’t believe my luck. This was the best summer of my life, and instead of it ending, we were going to continue. I was giving this a real shot with her. Jessica had messed me up for sure, but my girl understood and was patient. It was unreal to me that she wanted this, but I would never take her for granted. Ever. I knew what pain felt like, and I knew what being the happiest I had ever been felt like.
Mackenzie Mallinson wasn’t in my playbook to start, but she still made me feel like I won the game.
And I’d make damn sure to never stop trying to win her.
EPILOGUE
Spring break…
Mack
The seagulls made a shit ton of noise. It wasn’t like I hadn’t been to a beach before, but it had been so long since I visited that I’d forgotten the smells, sounds, and the feeling of sand in my toes. I shifted from my stomach to my back, groaning a little.
“You need more sunscreen, soccer star?”
I rolled my eyes. “Offering to put it on meagain,Dean?”
“Anything to touch this ass.” He nudged his body with mine before he smacked my ass. He grinned and kissed my shoulder with a sparkle to his eyes. “No big deal, just smacking my girlfriend’s fantastic ass. Why is she awesome? Oh, she just got drafted to Chicago. You hear that, people? My girlfriend will play forChicago!”
“Jesus, stop it,” I said, laughing and shoving him away. He had been doing it nonstop since the NWSL draft back in January.
Did I go first round? Yes.
