“Doesn’t matter.” I rolled onto my back and pulled herinto my side. “I want to take you somewhere where I can show you off.”
“Like outside the locker rooms at Wayne Field?”
I smiled at her raised brow.
“We can stop there.”
She laughed and slapped my chest.
“Well, at least get under the covers with me.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I said, slipping my legs under the sheets.
“We’re really…” she started, sinking her teeth into her bottom lip as she searched my gaze. “You really want this? With me?”
I brushed a light kiss to her lips, going in for one more because I couldn’t help myself. Her mouth was already intoxicating, and it would be so easy to lose myself in her tonight, even more than I already had.
“Yes, I do. With you. More than anything. Do you want this with me?”
“I do,” she said on a long exhale, as if she’d been holding it in for a long time too. “So much.”
“Then we can wait a little more, even if it feels pretty painful right now. Good night, baby,” I whispered against her temple.
Her eyes grew wide with a weird recognition before she nodded and cuddled into my chest.
“It is a good night.”
TWENTY-FOUR
STELLA
I jerked my head off the pillow as my alarm blared. Daylight seeped through the windows, leading me to panic for a moment that I’d overslept before I remembered that it was Sunday, Lee’s sleepy groan reminding me that I hadn’t slept alone.
My eyes burst back open, wide awake now for a whole other reason.
I ran my fingers over my lips, still sensitive and tingling from Lee’s scorching kisses. My lifelong dream had been to wake up next to Lee, to hear him say all those wonderful things he’d told me last night.
That he wanted me.More than anything.
I covered my face with my hands, smoothing them over my cheeks to check the injuries I’d forgotten about. A small, rough scab had formed over the scrape on my cheek, but it wasn’t as sore. The bump on my temple had shrunk, only painful if I pressed into it. I wasn’t dizzy or nauseated when I lifted my head off the pillow, like the ER doctor had told me to watch out for when I woke up in the morning. I still had to wait it out for another coupleof days, but for the most part, I’d come out unscathed and lucky.
Lee grumbled behind me, cinching his arm around my waist to pull me closer. He was warm and hard—everywhere. I rubbed against the poke at my back, Lee’s hold tightening as he moaned into the pillow.
“Good morning. How’s your head?” he murmured, dragging his lips across my shoulder.
“Better. I’m not light-headed or queasy, so I think I’m okay.”
I craned my neck to Lee, another layer of stubble coating his cheeks, his short, dark hair sticking up. Lee had stayed over at our house a couple of times when we were younger, but he’d always been up with my brother for hours before I’d climbed out of bed to join them in our kitchen.
Well, I had run to the bathroom to fix myself up a little, then joined them.
This morning, I was treated to Lee’s sleepy smile and hooded gaze, along with the sexy rasp of his voice, pieces of him I’d never seen or thought I’d get. Waking up next to him felt deliciously intimate, even if he’d stopped us from taking things past kissing last night.
I reached under the sheets to pinch the back of my arm. I flinched, hissing at the instant pain.
I’ll be damned. This is all real.
“What’s wrong?” Lee stiffened behind me and sat up. “Why did you jump like that?”
