“What do you need forgiveness for? What did you do, baby?”
“How can you still sound so sexy, even when injured and unbathed?”
“Uh, rude,” I teased, unable to stop smiling.
“I conspired against you, and I was really proud of it until right now. Now I’m nervous. What if you hate the idea? What if it’s too soon? Even though you kinda asked about it, so I thought you’d be okay, but the stairs make it difficult, so elevators would be better?”
“Ivy,” I said, smiling hard. She rambled when she was nervous, and seeing her all cute and flustery made me laugh. She was fucking adorable, and I couldn’t wait to find out what she’d done. “I don’t know what you’re referencing.”
“I got all your stuff from the football house.” She swallowed. “I was hoping you’d live with me while you got better. I can take care of you?—”
“Fuck yes.” I closed my eyes and yanked her toward me. “Yes. Please. I want that so badly.”
“Really?”
“Yes.” I sniffed her hair, the growing tension in my spine snapping and disappearing with one breath. “I’m gonna be needy, though.”
“That’s okay. I like taking care of you.”
“That’s my job though.”
“No, we take turns.” She cupped my face and ran her thumb over my bottom lip. “Let me take care of you the next three weeks. Esme is totally okay with it. Your guys already dropped your stuff off with us.”
“Fuck, I love you. This was what I was dreaming about but was worried you wouldn’t be ready to offer. Thought it might be too soon.”
“If I learned anything the last two days, it’s that I am one hundred percent in with you. Forever. I want to be there for you when you’re hurting, when you realize what life is like without football. I want to hold your hand when or if you talk to your dad again or when you become an uncle. I held myself back a littleout of fear of you hurting me again, but it’s worth it all. Okay? You are worth the absolute devastation you could do to me.”
“Devastation, huh?” I sniffed as my eyes got irritated by the sunlight. It was definitely the sunlight, nothing else.
“Yes, Callum.” She swallowed hard and adjusted her glasses. “You have the other half of my heart, and with that comes a lot of power.”
“I’ll take care of it, baby. You own all of mine.” I shrugged and placed a hand on her hip. “You know I’m never gonna wanna move out?”
“We can deal with that when you’re doing better.” Her gaze warmed, but then the playful mischief reentered. “Okay, O’Toole, I’m tough when I need to be, so you need to get your ass in the front seat. It’s gonna hurt, but you gotta power through. We’ll ice when we get home.”
“Can you boss me around shirtless?”
“Yes. Once weget home.”
That was the thing about Ivy. Home was wherever she was. Where she went, I followed.
“Are you gonna play nurse to me?”
“Shut up, Callum, and get in the car.” She crossed her arms and smirked, a challenge in her eyes. “Do you want me to lift you?”
Shit. “No. I don’t.”
With her injury? No. I was heavy. That got me into action, and I hoisted myself into the front seat, biting down the urge to yelp. My head spun from the pain, but I knew it’d get better every day. Plus, I got to live with Ivy. My actual dream.
You ever think things happen for a reason?
Yeah, like what if he had to get a broken ankle to get to move in with Ivy and finally overcome all the barriers she put up against you?
And what if you two never fought three years ago? Would she have worked for the team and reentered your life?
Life is weird, huh?
I reached across the console and squeezed her thigh, sighing with absolute contentedness. My voices were still wilding out, but they made sense. I hate that I’d once hurt Ivy, but it got us to where we were at today, and I wouldn’t trade this for the world. “Can you give me a naked sponge bath?”
