Page 71 of Stealing Home

“Do you still want to watch a movie or do you want me to walk you home?” I ask her.

I don’t want her to feel like she has to stay if she doesn’t want to. If talking about her parents and Toby was too much for her and she’s just done for the day, I would understand that. Making sure she knows she always has a choice and her opinions matter is something I want her to know from the start.

I need A to know that I will listen and can meet her in the middle.

“You still want to watch a movie with me?” She asks with a shocked look.

“I do. I think we both could use a little time to just be and relax a little and it’d be nice to do that with you. But, I understand if you want to go back to your place. We can always watch a movie another night.” I tell her.

“Okay, Casanova. What are we watching?”

“You’ll see.”

I grab the remote from behind me where I had stashed it while Adriana was in the bathroom. I told her I would watch all the Harry Potter movies with her when we were in Colorado and I meant it. We got through the first two and so I thought I’d surprise her with us watching the third one tonight.

“I need you to close your eyes for me. So you don’t see what I’m putting on.”

“Really?” Adriana laughs. “Okay.” she says and closes her eyes.

“No peeking.” I tell her.

As I turn the screen on, she shakes her head in agreement not to peek while her eyes are still closed. I go to the app that has the movie to stream and select it.

“Okay, you can open your eyes now.”

Just as she opens her eyes, the movie plays and the iconic instrumental song starts. Adriana pulls her head back and looks at me.

“You remembered which movie we needed to watch next?” she asks.

“I told you I would watch them with you. They aren’t that bad.” I confess.

“Told you! I’m so going to get you to read the books at some point.”

“That might be pushing it.” I laugh.

Adriana joins in to laugh with me. The mood has shifted away from sadness. Who knew a movie and book talk could do that?

Adriana stops laughing, gives me a quick kiss on the cheek and moves to turn her body.

She now has the front of her body facing the screen. She moves back until her back is almost touching my front.

Fuck, this isn’t going to be good.

She lays her head on my right arm that is stretched out on the couch seat so I move my left arm so that my hand rests on her hip. It’s a comfortable feeling just being here with her like this. It's like we’ve been doing this for a while.

I don’t have to feel that I live up to a name or thought of who I am because I’m a professional baseball player. This is what I was missing with Layla. She never wanted to stay home; she always wanted to be out and about. Adriana is at the other end of the spectrum. She was happy we were staying in.

I don’t want to hide her, but I also want to make sure we are on solid ground. When we go public and I get asked who she is I want to be able to say this is my girlfriend. I just need to get us there because I’d really like to have her as my date for the gala.

As we keep watching the movie, I feel her move back further into me.Do not get turned on, Cole. Have some restraint. Adriana wiggles a little to fix her t-shirt so that she was more comfortable and I let out a small groan.

“Sorry.” Adriana says as she yawns.

“You’re good. You want to stop here and I can get you home?”

“Not unless you need to get to bed for tomorrow or just want some alone time.”

I chuckle at her words. I guess that groan might have been louder than I thought.

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