He huffed and waited for her convulsions to die down enough to explain, “It’s not a big deal. High school basketball was much bigger in my town.”
“Oh, it’s a big deal.” She wiped tears from her eyes. “So do you still have your jersey? Oh my God, can I wear it? Will you take me to brunch today and let me tell everybody we meet that my boyfriend’s a jock?”
Her laughter choked to a halt as the wordboyfriendhung in the air above the bed, vibrating like a struck bell.
This time she was the one to flip over and try to burrow through the mattress. “Oh my God, forget I said that. I got carried away. In my defense, I was picturing you in those tight, shiny pants.”
The words emerged muffled from where she’d pressed her face into the sheets, and he rolled over to run a hand down the length of her spine.
“Hey, it’s no big deal. I don’t mind,” he said soothingly.
She peeked at him warily. “Seriously?”
“Seriously. It’s flattering. I love getting invited to brunch.” He pressed his lips together to keep from smiling as embarrassed outrage flooded her face.
“Oh my God! I like it so much better when I’m the one teasing you,” she wailed into his mattress.
“Boyfriend.” He said the word out loud, and she froze but didn’t roll over to face him.
Enough of that. He wanted this out in the open.
“You’re better with words,” he said, addressing her back, “so you tell me. Is that what you want?” Because fuck, he needed to know. He’d used his body to show her how he felt in every way that he could, and he’d even used his words to try to ease the hurt caused by her mother. But he still had no idea if she was just a tourist here or if she was experiencing the heady, confusing, overwhelming things he was.
Real things. Long-term things.
She rolled over but didn’t meet his eyes, busying herself collecting her wild morning hair and twisting it into a tail that hung over one shoulder. “Can’t you… can’t you give me some perfect sign? Steal my house keys? Hand me your class ring? Give me a clue so it’s not just me out here alone?”
He was helpless when she hit him with those big brown eyes, so he attempted to fumble his thoughts into words. “The day I met you, I risked a fight on the train, and I’ve been doing things that scare the shit out of me ever since.” He leaned against the headboard with a soft laugh. “Let’s see. I started my own bakery. I put my face on a business card. I sold my family farm. I bought a suit. I told you about Leo the Liberty Valley lion. I’ve spoken more words to you than I have to any other human being. I trusted you with my whole future. How many more clues do you need?”
That list, which stacked up like a mountain of evidence to him, did nothing to smooth the worried crease between her eyes. His funny, confident girl was braced for the worst, and he had the chance to be the guy who did right by her.
“Okay. Hang on.” He slipped out of bed to locate his jeans where he’d flung them the night before. He pulled the wallet out of his pocket and tossed it on her lap. “Here.”
She picked it up and smoothed her fingers over the worn brown leather. “And this means what?”
“Look inside.”
She frowned but did as he asked, rifling through the cash, the old receipts, the coffee shop loyalty cards that he’d never get around to filling up. And then she found it.
“Is this…?” She extracted the thin, crumpled material carefully, as if it were something ancient and precious. “You kept it?” She pressed the napkin flat against her bare legs and examined her crude sketch that had turned into the face of his business.
“I did. I tried so hard to hate it, but I couldn’t. In the end, I fell a little in love with it.”
To his dismay, the hope in her eyes dwindled.Shit. He was doing this wrong.
He sat next to her on the bed and reached for her hand. “It wasn’t just the drawing. It was the person who drew it. Her energy. Her talent. Her get-shit-done spirit.”
This time when she looked up, he saw the glint of tears in her eyes, and it killed him that all it took to undo her was to hear someone sing her praises.
“You believed in me,” he said. “But I don’t think you understand how much I believe in you, sweetheart. How much I believe in you and how much I love you.”
Her breathing hitched as a tear spilled from her lashes, and he leaned forward to kiss away the damp path it left behind. “I’m in love with you, Josie.” He cradled her face in his palms and smoothed his thumbs over her soft skin. “I’d love you even if you’d ended up with freckles. Now, is that enough proof, or do you still want my class ring?”
That drew a laughing sob from her, and she reached up to wrap her fingers around his. “I love you too,” she whispered. “I love you too.”
Lightness filled him, followed by a bone-deep sense of belonging. Too overcome to keep using his words, he wrapped her in his arms and crushed her to his chest. She tucked her head under his chin and squeezed back, and they simply held one another until his leg tingled where it was bent funny underneath her. Not that pins and needles were enough to get him to let her go.
She shifted first, twisting her neck to look up at him. “You know, boyfriends are allowed to say no to brunch provided they’re willing to bring their girlfriends pancakes in bed.”
