She nods. “Excited and nervous. What about you?”
“Same.”
Silence falls once again. It's agony waiting for her to decide her next move. I pushed her last night, not letting her retreat from her feelings and from what was happening between us. But I can't be the one to push every time she gets scared.
“Brady,” she starts hesitantly, biting on her lower lip. “Tonight was amazing. Truly, I had a wonderful time with you and I don't want you to think I'm backing out or running away.” Her throat moves as she swallows. “But everything that scares me didn’t just disappear overnight.”
She’s looking at me with pleading eyes, hoping I understand what she’s saying. I straighten, keeping my gaze on her, intent on reassuring her that I do.
“I know, Sage. I'm not asking for any more than just this. We'll take it as slow as you need.” I take a stepcloser, and she's finally within reach. When her hands lift and land on my chest, I exhale with relief.
“We've got plenty of time. There’s no need to rush anything,” I say softly.
She exhales shakily. “Okay. Thank you. But we could…I mean, we could kiss?”
It’s framed more as a question, and that’s not quite consent enough for me. Licking my lips, I nod.
“We could. If you want to.”
“I want to.” She moves in closer.
My grip on the countertop behind me is painfully tight. But necessary. I dip my head down to press a kiss to the bare skin between her neck and shoulder. She shivers under my touch, her head turning slightly toward me. I take it as an invitation and kiss her again, and again, traveling up the column of her throat, along her jaw, until I reach her lips.
Finally, I let go of the counter, and my hands find their way to the base of her neck and the small of her back as I hold her to me and take what I've wanted for so damn long.
It would be so easy to lose myself to this. To kissing her. It feels like a grand slam every damn time.
But I won’t risk losing her, not when I only just got her. I break the kiss, gratified to notice she's breathing just as unsteadily as I am.
“If we keep going, I don't know if I'll be able to stop,” I murmur, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead. She sighs and nods, bringing her cheek to rest on my chest as her arms wrap around my body.
“You’re a really good man.”
I hold her like that for a minute, mentally reciting stats of my favourite major league players to convince my dick to stand down.
After her second yawn in less than a minute, I step back.
“Bedtime, little mama.”
Her sleepy smile makes it incredibly hard to do the right thing and not kiss her again. Instead, I take her hand and lead her from the kitchen, flicking off the lights as we go. Coming to a stop outside her room, I turn to stand in front of her, giving her hand one last squeeze.
“Sleep well, Sage.”
“Good night, Brady.”
Then she slips through the door, and I step back as she closes it softly.
I go through the motions of getting ready for bed with a smile on my face. But later, as I lie underneath my sheet, staring up at the ceiling, sleep evades me. Every cell in my body is alive and humming, thinking about the woman sleeping just down the hall.
It feels crazy to be thinking like this, but Sage could be it for me.
Just as I roll over for the tenth time, punching my pillow, trying to figure out why I can't get comfortable, there's a quiet knock at the door.
“Sage?” I whisper.
The door slowly opens and she steps into my room, her hair tousled like she, too, has been tossing and turning in bed. She’s wearing a pair of extremely short pajama shorts and a baggy T-shirt that I instantly recognize.
“Is that my shirt?” I blurt out, blinking my eyes.
