He laughs, but it doesn’t distract me from him moving closer.
“I’m sorry.” His eyes meet the ground. “You deserve someone a lot better than me, Ember. You always have. And I should’ve told you the whole story about freshman year, whether I felt I played a part in it or not. You deserved the truth, and I’m sorry I wasn’t honest with you.”
“I don’t think I do,” I reply, and he scratches his head. “Sure, you could’ve gone about things differently. You could’ve told me the truth and how you felt at fault, even though you weren’t directly behind it. No, actually, youshould’vetold me. So, yes, I deserved the truth. But I don’t think I’ll ever meet someone who loves me like you do. You never pressured me to be someone I wasn’t. You understood me needing time and let me take this at my own pace.”
I motion between us.
“You’re not perfect, Declan. But neither am I. And as far as I’m concerned, you’ve always treated me like I’m the most important person in the world. You’ve loved me like each day might be our last. I deserve a good guy. A great guy. But to me,” I take a step toward him, tugging lightly on his jersey, “you’re that guy, Declan.”
He takes another step, our bodies now practically pushed up against each other. He brushes his thumb across my cheek, and his eyes soften as they look into mine.
“I’ve missed you.” His warm breath creates goosebumps across my arms.
“Good.” His thumb grazes my cheekbone as he tilts his head down. His nose brushes against mine, and he pulls his bottom lip into his mouth as he studies me like he wants to make sure it’s okay to kiss me. It’s so okay… more than okay. And then his mouth urgently meets mine, and I know he’s missed this as much as I have. My arms wrap around his neck as he lifts me up into his arms.
His lips are soft and warm, and I regret not caving two weeks ago. Maybe I needed this time to figure things out on my own, but thinking about all the times I missed out on having Declan’s lips on mine… and everywhere else on my body makes me a little sad. But that just means we’ll have to make up for lost time.
“Are we gonna be okay?” he wonders, his lips still lightly pressed against mine.
“I think so.” He draws circles on my hips with his thumbs. “But you have a lot of making up to.”
“Oh yeah?” His eyes darken as his thumb grazes my bottom lip. “What’d you have in mind?”
“You’re just gonna have to wait and see.” I grab his hand and pull him with me. “Come on, we’ve got some celebrating to do.”
The only thing sexier than Declan in his uniform… is him out of it, preferably out of all clothes. Also, I wish someone would’ve told me how great makeup sex is. But maybe it’s just because it’s with Declan; I mean, the man knows what he’s doing.
“God, you’re a vision.” His body’s wrapped around mine, both of us covered in a thin layer of sweat from our first two rounds. And with the way his fingers are roaming around my body under the blanket, I can tell there’ll be a third round happening very soon.
“Are you only saying that in the hope that all is forgiven?” I ask, and he pushes my hair behind my ear.
“I’m pretty sure all was forgiven when my head was between your legs about twenty minutes ago.” He presses a kiss against the tip of my nose. “But if you needed a refresher, I’d happily do it again.”
He lifts the blanket and begins to slide down the mattress, but I tuck my forefinger under his chin and pull him back toward me.
“Maybe in a minute. Right now, I’m enjoying just being with you like this.”
“At least this time, we won’t have to worry about your brother walking in on us.”
“Or anyone else, for that matter. Like Jaxon… or Zeke… or Brooks, the one time he decided not to stay at Liv’s.”
“We’re just super lucky, that’s all.”
“If that’s what you want to call it.” I laugh. “But you’re sure no one will walk through that door?”
I sit up, holding the blanket firm against my chest, and stare, like someone’s already on the other side of the door and getting ready to make their entrance.
“Everyone’s celebrating. I think we’ll be okay. Plus, I messaged Jaxon and told him he needed to find another room to stay in tonight.”
“You kicked him out of his own room?”
“I gave him an option. Be here while we make up for the last two weeks… or find somewhere else to sleep. He chose to find somewhere else.”
“I don’t know where you think I’m getting the energy to make up for two weeks of lost time. I’m already kind of beat... and hungry.”
“Well, the plan is round three.” He kisses me. “Then shower… together… possibly as a round four.” I roll my eyes. “Dinner.” He kisses me. “Dessert… which, for me, is probably you.” I shove him away from me, but his arm keeps me close. “Then maybe another round. And another… and—”
“And sleep, at some point.”
