“You—what?”
My thumb lazily grazes her jaw. “I love you. I have for a long time, and I figured, since you’re my girlfriend now,” she lightly slaps my chest, “I should tell you how I feel—have been feeling. You don’t have to say it back. I just wanted you to kn?—”
“I love you too.” The words rush out of her mouth like an avalanche, and I feel crushed by the magnitude of happiness hearing those words come from her mouth. “And not because you said it, but because you are the best person I’ve ever known, and not loving you was never going to be an option for me?—”
I crush my lips to hers, and the world spins and tilts until all I know is Jade—her mouth on mine, coaxing open my lips until the taste of her kiss dances along my tongue, her perfume, warm and sweet, invading my nostrils, the feel of her soft hair sifting through my fingers.
She iseverywhere, woven into my soul in a way so fundamental, I’m not sure how I endured before I had her quiet strength to anchor me.
Her lips are soft as flower petals, but they’re firm against mine as she kisses me with a fevered sort of reverence. This is so much more than a kiss. This is the beginning of the rest of our lives, because there’s no way in hell I could everlet her go now. No universe in which I could give this up with her.
She is mine, and I am hers, and no force on this Earth could tear us apart.
For the first time in a long time, the anxiety that’s been looming over me like a spectral monster, waiting to feast on my fear, is nowhere to be found.
In its place is love and trust and connection.
Deepening the kiss, Jade whimpers into my mouth, and I bend down to grab under her thighs, wrapping her legs around me. My hands find their way to her arse, squeezing and digging in as her hands rake through my hair, tugging the strands as the bite of pain makes my cock twitch beneath my jeans.
I band one of my arms around her waist, needing to hold her tighter, desperate to have her as close to my body as possible while my lips find the answer to questions I’ve been seeking my whole life.
Jade. Jade. Jade.
She rolls her hips against my thickening cock, making us both groan in pleasure. I spin around, holding her firmly in my grasp, and set her down atop the chest of drawers I have against the wall. Breaking away from her mouth, I trail kisses down her throat, and she mewls into my ear, needy and wanting. When she slips her hands under my shirt and scrapes her nails down my stomach, I have to stifle my groan, biting her neck.
“Quiet, or your family will hear,” Jade whispers on a husky laugh into my ear.
I lick and suck, soothing the spot I just wounded before kissing my way back to her mouth.
“I can’t help it. Whenever you touch me, I go out of my bloody mind.” I nip at her bottom lip, and she smiles against my mouth.
I dive in for more, coaxing her lips open with my tongue. Running my hands up her thighs, I settle my palmsagainst her waist, gripping her tightly and getting lost in the euphoria being this close to her induces.
“Yes, I’ll let them know the roast is ready,” Lottie shouts, accompanied by overly aggressive stomping up the stairs.
I pull away from Jade, groaning as I rest my head on her shoulder, slowly coming to terms with the fact that we have to stop.
The laugh that trickles out of her mouth is soft—effervescent.
A light knock on the door alerts us of my sister's presence. “Ummm…if you guys could stop doing whatever you’re doing, that would be great.”
“We’ll be right down,” I call out before we hear her footfalls walking away.
Jade hops off the furniture and checks her lipstick in one of the frames atop it.
“You look perfect,” I say, openly admiring her.
“I look like I was about to get fucked,” she panics.
“Like I said, perfect.” Smug satisfaction rings through my tone, clear as the crystal blue waters of the Mediterranean. “Let’s go. You’ve not lived until you’ve had my mum’s duck fat potatoes.”
We only make it to the top of the stairs before I stop to scoop her up in one more kiss that sets my world right.
We’ve wonanother two matches since the last, and the papers are now saying we’re experiencing a comeback.
It feels like a gross understatement.
The way I feel now compared to the way I felt a few months ago is like I was body snatched and put into a completely different person. Transformation is what has been coursing through my veins in the few weeks since Jade’s pep talk. I no longer feel dread when I step through the double doors of the personnel entrance to the stadium. Instead, I feel invigorated—like a dam burst, releasing all the shite muddling my brain.
