“You have no idea how sexy it is to hear you talk like that.”
“You like it when I talk football to you,” I said flirtatiously, rolling my shoulders for added effect.
“You’ve known that since the moment I met you.” Lamar’s smile grew as we approached his car. He opened the door for me to get in. “But it’s not just the way you say shit that’s sexy. It’s the way you pay attention to what I’m doing.”
“It’s very easy to pay attention to things I love,” I said as he closed my door.
The grin that spread across his face made my stomach flutter.
He tossed his bag in the backseat and then climbed in on the driver’s side. Grabbing my face, he kissed me hard. “I know I probably shouldn’t have kissed you in the stadium. But I—”
“No, I leaned down specifically for you to kiss me,” I interrupted.
“So when you said fuck them people, you didn’t just mean the people around us…?”
“I meant everybody. Are people going to take shots at me and talk shit for a while?” I made a face. “Unfortunately. But Aunt Addy came to me in a dream and reminded me that because I’ve been through this, I’m prepared for this.”
“I hate that you’ve been through it at all.”
“Me, too. But if growing up in Chance was to prepare me for a life with you…” I lifted my shoulders. “It’s worth it.”
“A life?” He started the engine and then gave me a look. “You want to spend a life with me?”
Grinning, I rolled my eyes. “Stop!”
“Nah, I like the sound of that. I like it way better than you saying you don’t want to do this.”
“I’m sorry about that,” I apologized. “I just didn’t want you to feel like you had to choose between me and football. I kept thinking about how affiliating with me was putting your job on the line. I knew there might be a couple of comments here and there. But when they were coming at me so hard, I worried it would make you want to distance yourself. But I never thought it would result in you losing money or opportunities. I never wanted that. And the fact that they did that because theythoughtyou were involved with me… I just wanted to protect you.” I squeezed my eyes shut. “I’m sorry. Fifty thousand dollars is a lot of money.”
His hand gripped my thigh, and when I opened my eyes, a small smile tugged at his lips. “I appreciate you wanting to look out for me. But if I lose my position, if I get cut or get replaced, that’s the nature of the game. I’ve been preparing for that. My business, which you helped me bring alive, is in motion, and when I’m done playing football, that’s what I’ll be doing.” He took my hand. “But if I lose you, I don’t have a plan for that. That’s not something I’m prepared to do.”
My heart slammed into my chest. “What?” I breathed.
“You’ve been mine in my head since we met. But I want you to be mine out loud. The only reason you came up in the meeting was because they figured if I hadn’t come out and said we were together, it must not be real. And losing money over some shit that isn’t real doesn’t make sense. So I set them straight. And they were good with it, but it wouldn’t have mattered if they weren’t. And I’m about to set everyone else straight, too. Okay?”
My stomach flipped. “Yes, okay,” I murmured.
“Good,” he said as he kissed me slowly, sexily. “Even though it’s nobody’s business what I got going on in my personal life, I will be making it known that you’re mine.”
Heat crept up my neck, and I smiled against his mouth. “I like that.”
A lot.
My entire body was on fire.
He pulled his phone out and flipped through the pictures of us he had saved. “You like this one?”
It was from the night of our double date.
I smiled. “I love it.”
He opened one of his social media apps and uploaded the photo. Right before he hitSUBMIT, he looked at me. “Are you sure? You don’t love attention…”
“But I do love you,” I assured him softly.
With a grin, he posted the photo and then dropped his phone. “I love you, too. Come here,” he uttered just before crashing his lips into mine.
35
