Page 32 of Stalked By the Recruiter

And I did.

Andres was a lot of things.

Older and wiser, I felt I saw people more clearly than I did when I’d been younger. No longer wearing rose-colored glasses, I saw Andres for who he was. Warts and all. I knew him, and he knew me. It was crazy to think how confident I felt considering everything between us was pretty new and well, nutty. Stalking each other? Who would have guessed that worked? But for us, it did.

Andres could be arrogant and cocky. Stubborn and obsessive. He’d made his own mistakes in the past and owned up to them. But he was also kind and sweet. Thoughtful.

And like me, he had been working on mending not just himself but his relationship with his sister as well. We had both been through our share of highs and lows, each different and difficult, but they’d shaped us into who we were. And because of that, it helped us see what was in front of us and not want to waste time playing stupid games.

“I love you, Andres.” His eyes went melty, and I knew in my heart he was it for me. Everything I’d gone through happened so it would lead us to right where we were. “And if you’re up for it, maybe you wanna fly to meet my family in two weeks?”

If you had told me a month ago I’d be asking a man to meet my family, I would have laughed in your face. But that was the funny part about life. You just never knew how much it could change from one moment to another.

“I’d love to.” He smiled and dipped so that our lips touched in a brief but sweet kiss. “Maybe you wanna come with me to LA and meet Betty?”

“You really want me to meet her?” He nodded, and I smiled, happy he’d asked.

“I told her about you.” The smile on my face grew so much I was shocked it didn’t hurt.

“You did?” I giggled before pressing my face into his chest. I loved the way we fit. Like two pieces of a puzzle that finally found one another after being stuck in different corners of a box.

“I did. I told her I met the girl I was going to stalk for the rest of my life.” This made me snort. Knowing Andres, he probably had worded it exactly that way, and his sister probably shrugged it off.

“Oh, boy,” I mumbled with a smile and glanced up at him. “Is it okay if this girl you wanna stalk for the rest of her life wants to stalk you back?”

“That would be the best, actually.” He chuckled as he stroked my hair and tucked the loose strands behind my ear. “She wants to meet you, too.”

“Okay, I’d like that.” Then, because I felt fearless, I suggested, “Maybe later, we can video chat my parents so they can meet you?”

“Later?” A knowing brow rose, and heat hit not only my face but my entire body. He knew exactly what I meant by that.

“Yeah…” I pulled away just enough to reach for the hem of my oversized sleeping shirt and slide it up and over my head. Leaving me naked in front of him. I’d never been the kind of woman who enjoyed walking around naked, or at least I hadn’t been before Andres. I loved the way he looked at me. Like he couldn’t believe I was real. His eyes on my skin felt like a caress I couldn’t get enough of. My fingers stroked his bare chest, and I loved the way his muscles twitched beneath my touch. “Much, much later.” I grinned.

But I didn’t get to say or see much after that. Not when my sexy stalker of a man bent and pulled me over his shoulder before he stomped his way to my bedroom, and in fact, it wasn’t until much later, the next day actually, that we FaceTimed with my parents.

CHAPTER 12

ANDRES

“I met someone,”she said, and the grin on my face grew. I was a son of a bitch.

A lucky one, but one, nonetheless.

Carmen knew it all. I couldn’t lie and say I didn’t worry when I returned to my office after an unexpected meeting. The season was about to start, and meetings popped up. It turned out I didn’t need to be on the field or even part of that end of it to still have football and the love I had for it in my life.

But Carmen was more important to me than anything the pigskin could bring me.

When I’d found her at my desk, about to shut my laptop, I’d known I’d been caught. Big time. But I wasn’t going to apologize. It had been a relief that she’d figured it out. I hadn’t been sure how she would take what I’d done, but even in the best-case scenarios couldn’t I have imagined the way it turned out.

Now there were no secrets between us.

The last week hadn’t tempered our need for one another, either. Whether I was at her place or she was at mine. No matter what, we ended and started our days together. Not to mention the way we kept watching each other. Sneaking into each other’s places and leaving each other little clues of where we had been.

It was exciting, and fuck me, I knew the rest of our lives would be like this. I wasn’t a fortune teller, but I knew, because I’d be by her side and she’d be by mine for the long haul. She was my forever.

“And I’m really sorry, but I don’t think I can go to dinner. I don’t feel like it would be right. I hope you understand,” Carmen explained. It was the night before the date her mom had set her up on. She would have called earlier, but after telling each other how we felt once everything came out, we’d been inseparable.

“Oh, okay, no worries,” the deep voice rumbled on the other end of the line. Yeah, the call was on speaker. But then again, it had to be since I was the one holding her phone between us.

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