He cuts me off. “And she’s not you. She’s not the woman I’ve opened my home and my heart to. She’s not the woman I introduced my family to.”
I lower my pint to the table and look directly at him. On his face is nothing but the truth he just spoke plus a heaping pile of devotion. I just have to be ready to reach for it.
He wants to claim me. To put a title on us. To be with me—even after my heart has been kicked around.
I open my mouth to give him my answer, but he stops me with a swift kiss. “Don’t say yes until you’re one hundred percent sure. Don’t say no if there’s any space for me in your heart.” Troy brushes a curl from my cheek. “When you’re ready, you’ll let me know.”
When his hand finds mine across the table, I know I’m ready for this game to end.
Because there’s so much more to life than playing. There’s living—being in the moment.
And I want both with Troy.
35
TWO-MINUTE DRILL: FAST-PACED OFFENSE NEAR END OF HALF/GAME.
Iimagine our room would be lovely if I could view it. But the second Troy’s arms wrap around me from behind me, I forget all about settling in. Relaxing my curves into the hard planes of his body, I tip my head back and ask, “What?”
“Just thinking about how incredible this trip has been.”
I raise my brows at his unilateral declaration. “We’ve been here for half a day.”
He kisses the side of my neck. “It’s because I’m traveling with you.”
My lungs stop functioning. There’s a quiet certainty in the way he says it that hits me harder than any grandiose statement I ever received from…no. I refuse to let him in here with us. “Thank you.”
His hand comes up and wraps around the base of my throat, fingers at my pulse while his thumb brushes along my jaw tenderly. “For what?”
I collect my thoughts as he releases his hold on me enough to shrug out of his jacket, letting it fall carelessly to the floor. “You. Me. Today. All of it. Everything.”
His arms wrap back around my waist as he pulls me flush against him. “You don’t have to thank me for being with the person I want most in the world.”
I twist my head to gauge his sincerity. The steady way he holds not just my eyes but the unspoken way he’s holding my heart relaxes something tightly wound inside of me. I spin around, tucking myself beneath his chin, and nuzzle his neck. “Still…thank you.”
For long moments, the world narrows to the sound of our breaths and the rain pattering off the windowpane. Troy releases his hold enough to cup my face so my eyes can’t escape his. His eyes are asking for answers to questions I’m not quite ready to give yet. Then, he murmurs, “Do you want this? Want me?”
I lean closer and place my lips against his when I answer, “If I didn’t , Troy, I wouldn’t be here.”
The gasp that falls from his lips causes my mouth to curve sensuously. After our first time together, I should have been prepared for the heat we’d generate between us. Instead, when his lips take mine fully, my heartbeat goes stratospheric.
When his hand slides deep into my curls to hold my head in place, I don’t feel trapped but treasured. All our physical hungerdoes is enhance the emotional bond that’s grown between us. With that realization, I jerk my head back and trace his features with the pads of my fingers.
Yes, the feel of his late-evening beard causes my skin to tingle in anticipation of what it will feel like on my skin, but it’s the need forhim—Troy—that has me spiraling out of control as I never have before.
He stands statue-still as I slide my hands up the broad expanse of his chest, undoing buttons of his shirt along the way. When I’ve released them all, I push the offending garment off his wide shoulders.
Troy groans and pulls me in for a devastating kiss, sliding his hands over my rear to lift me into his straining erection—rocking me against the hardness. His hands slide from cupping my ass to my hips as he navigates us to lie on the enormous bed positioned in the center of the room. But he still hasn’t lifted his mouth from the soul-searing kisses he’s imparting. His tongue duals with mine—tasting me as I capture the unique flavor of all that’s him mingled with the single ale he consumed.
Dizzily, I realize he’s more than all the nights we’ve spent together combined. I’m being flung up a mountain of pleasure so fast, I’m terrified of what the crash will be like.
Then, Troy proves he is a quick master of my body. He nips at the skin just below my jaw, causing me to release a low moan even before he lightly sucks at it. It isn’t until my whole body shivers that I recognize he’s marking me so everyone knows I’m his. Instead of feeling indignant, I feel as if this is just an external impression of the one he’s already made on my heart.
His hands travel upward, beneath my sweater, leaving a trail of goosebumps in their wake. When they finally reach their destination—each cupping the weight of my breasts—I let out a sigh of surrender.
Only I know it’s not just of my body, but of my soul.
The hunger on his face sharpens when he tugs my bra down enough so he can get to my nipples. The second his calloused thumbs brush against them, my body arches into his waiting hands. If I weren’t already spread-eagle across the enormous bed, I’d have collapsed as the ache from that one act causes my limbs to turn to Jello.
