“I was hoping to get this signed.”
His eyes darken.“Watch it.I’ll write my name on you with permanent ink.”
I bite my lip.“You already did that.”
“That was my number.And I said I owed you a tattoo.”
“You still do.”
He goes back into his room and returns with a pen.“Where do you want it?”
I debate a second before I pull down the neck of my jersey, exposing my ribs over my heart.
Clay writes carefully across my skin.I’m not watching the pen—I’m watching him.
“Before you look at it, I need to tell you something.”He clears his throat.“Everything I am, everything I did, was about basketball.The one time I faltered, the one time I blinked back in college, it burned me.Bad enough I swore I’d never hesitate again.
“Coach’s accident got me thinking about how everyone in this hotel, in that arena, knows me for basketball.If I died tonight, that’s what they’d remember me for.But I want more than that, Nova.”
My breath catches.
“I want your brightness to rub off on me… and maybe some of your goodness too.It’s not fair to ask that of you, but what I can promise you in return is that I’ll care about you.I’ll put you first.I’m not used to that, so I’m going to screw it up, but I want to do it.”
I look down at my chest, at the words he wrote carefully on my skin.
I love you
CW
It doesn’t feel like fireworks.More like balloons lifting off from the ground, drawing me weightlessly up with them.
There’s never been a time I wasn’t drawn to Clay, from the very first moment when we argued over a seat on a plane I didn’t want to take.
He believed in me when no one else did.His quiet confidence taught me how to believe in myself.
My heart has cracked open, sprouted new buds and blossoms thanks to him.
“Okay,” I say.
“Okay?What the hell does that mean,” he growls.
“It means I love you too.”
His eyes work back and forth over mine, his jaw clenching.
Clay’s hands fist at his sides.“You’re serious.”
The silence between us is buzzing.Or maybe it’s the blood pounding in my ears as we stare at each other.
I smile so wide it hurts.“Way serious.Now can I please come in?”
He grabs the back of my neck and hauls me towards him.
23
CLAY
“Won’t everyone know?”Nova says as I tug her inside.
