Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 73094 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73094 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
“This is all I wanted,” he murmured against my lips. “Outside the bar.”
“Me too. We should have just kept kissing and let him punch us both into an unconscious heap on the floor.”
“Would be worth it.”
“I know.”
“Do you, uh, happen to remember what you said, when you were just waking back up?” I asked gingerly.
The steam of the shower billowed up around him in plumes. “I don’t remember much until we were in my car.”
I bit my lower lip. “You… told me to keep kissing you. While Kane was there.”
Jesse paused for a moment, then nodded. “I see.”
“Kane was distracted, but… I don’t think he’s going to just forget about that one. Didn’t want you to be blindsided.”
He hummed. “Nothing good happens when I’m blindsided.”
A few minutes later we had toweled off, put on soft pairs of shorts, and tucked into bed. When I shut off the lights, I turned over to immediately feel Jesse’s arms coming out, pulling me close to him in bed.
My heart beat a little quicker inside me.
This was what I’d been avoiding when I left his frat house that night. What I’d been so goddamn afraid of.
“Jesse,” I whispered against my pillow as he draped his arms around me, like a tight hug from behind.
“Mason.”
I swallowed. “It wasn’t always just about Kane.”
He was silent for a moment.
I swore my heart was beating so hard he must have felt it, having me so close up against his body.
“No?”
“No.”
He pressed a kiss against the back of my head, nuzzling into my hair. “Then why’d you run, babe?”
I practically groaned hearing the sweet sound of the pet name, the one I’d never felt like I quite deserved.
“I was afraid to fall for you,” I whispered. “I’ve been afraid of falling for you since we met, Jesse.”
My throat felt tight.
“I didn’t even know what it felt like to really fall for someone until now,” Jesse said after a moment.
“I really like being with you.”
I didn’t know what the hell else to say when my body felt like it was flooded with butterflies.
“Well,” he said, gently pressing a kiss to the side of my neck. “I think I’m off the market again. Because I really just want to date you.”
I exhaled, turning over to catch him in a kiss again. If I didn’t, I was pretty sure I would dissolve right into the atmosphere. It had never made sense to me before—why I’d been searching and searching, for so long, not knowing what I was looking for.
This was what I was looking for.
I couldn’t have found it unless I took a leap. Unless I broke out of the chaos my life had been for the past year and finally let someone see me.
Let someone know me.
And that tug?
That tug had been leading me there, all along.
All I had to do was stop doubting it.
18
JESSE
“Knees bent. Bent,” I said, reaching out to hold Mason’s legs, putting him into position.
“We aren’t even on the ice yet,” he protested, but he followed suit, bending his legs.
“There you go,” I said. “You ready for the ice?”
“No, but I’ll do it anyway,” he said, looking out over the rink.
It was free skate time, and I’d brought Mason in early before the rink would be packed full of kids and teenagers on summer vacation. Right now, the only people out there were a couple of grey-haired women, gossiping while they skated, and an ambitious figure skater girl who showed up to every free skate I’d ever been to.
In other words, it was the perfect condition to teach Mason the basics.
I turned back to him, and he was still practically crab-walking in his skates on the rubber just outside the rink.
“You look adorable in skates,” I told him.
“When you said you’d teach me, I didn’t think it would be this hard. You make it look easy.”
“Wait ‘til you’re on the ice. It’ll all click in a couple of minutes. Let’s go.”
“Oh, fuck,” he said, trepidatious as I hopped out onto the ice, reaching out my hand to grab his.
“You’re the one who has been skydiving and you’re afraid to ice skate?” I teased him.
“Skydiving doesn’t involve strapping knives to your feet.”
I snickered. “Knives. Perfect for cutting up a chocolate cupcake puck, huh?”
He smiled, pulling in a breath.
I leaned over, kissing him, then moved out a couple inches more onto the ice.
“You’re pulling me,” he protested.
“That’s the idea.”
Finally he stepped out, his skates awkwardly sliding a little as he made it onto the rink. I went as slowly as possible, positioning us away from the other skaters, showing Mason that nothing bad was going to happen.
“Whoa,” he said.
“Knees. Bend ‘em.”
“Jesse, if you want me to bend over, at least take me to the supply closet—oh God—”
He wavered a little as I pulled him forward, but as he bent his knees a little lower, he found stability. A smile played at his lips again as we finally made it to a steady forward skate.