Page 129 of Breakaway Hearts

I want to tell him. Or maybe I just want him to know. To understand the extent of what he’s getting with me, what he thinks he wants. But he’s running his hand up and down my arm, placing a kiss on my forehead, and it feels too easy. Too comfortable.

“I should get going.” I sigh, expecting him to argue, to hold me close and try to convince me I need to stay now we’re dating instead of just fucking. But he immediately lets me sit up.

“Absolutely no pressure, but…you don’t have to. Whenever you’re ready.”

“I know, I just…”

“No worries,” he assures me like it was just a thought. “Can I drive you?”

I let him, and am relieved (albeit a tiny bit disappointed) when he stops the car in front of the entrance instead of parking.

“I think you’re enough,” I say instead of reaching for the door. “And kids aren’t as easy as you make them out to be. You’re just good at being there for people and being what they need. Even if you don’t always get the credit for it.”

I lean over and kiss him, a long, lingering one that gives me butterflies when Owen cups my cheek in his hand, then I head up to my apartment with a smile I can’t for the life of me get off my face.

Chapter Fifty-Four

Owen

Made to hold her

“Someone got laid,” Colt points out excitedly as the guys come and hug me for scoring thirty-three seconds into the first period.

“Shut up, asshole,” I warn, very aware of the smile that has not left my face, especially when I look up and see Madison in the stands between Savannah and Tabytha, like she always is, only when I smile up at her, not sure if she wants to be singled out just yet, I see she’s wearing the #6 jersey I gave her instead of her customary #1.

She doesn’t look thrilled about it, but she does smile back at me, like she wants to roll her eyes at how cliché it is, but if I know anything about Madison, she does not do things she doesn’t want to. She’d have no qualms leaving my jersey at the bottom of her closet.

We win 6-1, but I think having Madison waiting for me after, not just tolerating my presence as she waits for Jay, might be sweeter than the hat trick I managed against a team that killed us in preseason.

She fights a losing battle against her smile as I walk over.

“You look really good in my sweater.”

I want to take her in my arms and kiss her until her knees go weak, maybe carry her all the way back to Ivy, but while she said we could try dating, I didn’t check if it was in a top secret ‘burst the bubble and this ends’ or ‘scream it from the rooftops’ kind of way. The jersey has me leaning one way, but she has a jacket on so you can’t see the number, just my C.

“You played good,” she tells me. Then she bites her bottom lip like she knows exactly what she’s doing.

“You were watching.” I shrug.

“I’m always watching, but you don’t always get hat tricks.”

“Always watching, huh?” She rolls her eyes, but we’re inches from each other, and it would be so easy… “Can I kiss you?” I ask.

She stiffens just as she’s about to nod, like she hadn’t realized the foyer was filled with other students. Like as far as she’d been aware, we were the only two people in here.

“If you’d rather not out here in the open, I know a few supply closets,” I offer.

Madison looks resigned–or determined—rather than excited, but her voice is clear and confident as she looks me right in the eyes and says, “Kiss me like I’m yours.”

I can’t help my smile before I lean in and take her lips with mine, dropping my bag so I can take her in my arms. I groan when she wraps hers around my neck, her fingers tangling in my hair. The world around us disappears, even as I know my teammates and sister are watching. I lift Madison higher, and she wraps her legs around my waist like she belongs here, in my arms…like they were made to hold her.

She’s blushing and biting her lip again when we pull apart to the guys whooping and more than one, “It’s about time.”

“A supply closet is sounding pretty good right now, isn’t it?” I whisper in her ear.

She smiles back at me, but I can tell she’s nervous. All I want to do is take her in my arms again, figure out what’s wrong, and make it better, but my sister squeals as she comes to take her in for a hug, and our alone time is over.

Chapter Fifty-Five