Page 49 of Halftime

Seb was heavy on me, but I didn’t care. The aftershocks were still working through my body, and I lay with my eyes closed, focusing on simply breathing in and out. I wanted to feel like this always.

Seb drew in a long breath and exhaled against my neck, tickling me and making me squirm. He braced himself back up on his arms and withdrew. My body was reluctant to let him go, and he flopped down on the bed beside me. He reached out, his hand searching for mine, and he turned his head. I saw his expression change, concern creasing his forehead. I pushed my face forward and traced a gentle kiss on his lips. The frown vanished, a smile chasing it away.

“You’re good?” His voice was still raspy. When I ran a finger down his chest, he shivered.

“Very good. You?”

“Incredible.”

I smiled, a smug smile. But damn it, thathadbeen incredible, and I’d been part of it. Team effort.

Seb squeezed my hand. “Be back in a moment.” He grabbed the condom and left for the en suite bathroom.

Not gonna lie, I watched that tight ass walk away and kept smiling. Because that was mine now. Right? Maybe I should clarify just what we were now.

I pushed myself up, so I missed some of the Seb show as he walked back in. There must have been something on my face, because he paused for a fraction of a second, and the worried look returned to his face.

“What is it, Faith?”

I didn’t want to worry him. I just wanted to know where we stood before I invested too much of myself. Though I wasn’t sure I could pull back without a lot of hurt.

“What are we exactly? We talked about being back together, but what does that mean?”

Seb sat on the bed, watching my face closely. “Well, if we’re back, it will be like it was before, right?”

I twisted a piece of hair that had fallen into my face.

“Before like we’ve been this semester on campus, only maybe with sex, or before you left for Moo U when we were totally together?”

He didn’t answer right away. “What do you want?”

I wanted him to tell me what he wanted first. But I’d been the one to cut things off last year, and I’d been the one to freak out and ghost him again here after we had sex. Yeah, he had reason to worry about what I wanted after that. I needed to push out of my crease and make my move.

“I want us to be friends.” He dropped his gaze from me. “Because you’re the best friend I’ve ever had. And I want us to have sex.”

That brought his gaze back.

“Lots and lots of sex, because you’re also the best I’ve had that way. And I want us to be exclusive, and…I want you to love me again.”

That was the scary part. Seb hadn’t said he loved me since he’d left Toronto.

He nodded, and I got braver about the things I wanted. He moved to lie beside me, and then his hand was in my hair, pulling me forward, and his lips were on mine. I met him kiss for kiss, tongue for tongue, and those nerves, the fears, they were gone. It was us again, and I couldn’t remember what I’d been worried about.

Finally, Seb pulled back. “Yes, to all of that. And I do love you, Faith. I’m not sure I really stopped.”

I ran my fingers over his face, across the thick brows over those deep-brown eyes, the cheekbones, the nose with the bump from a stick he’d taken to the face in a street hockey game, his soft lips that promised me all I’d asked for.

“I tried to stop,” I admitted, not wanting to hurt him but needing to be honest. “After what I thought happened last year, I knew I had to, because I couldn’t be like my mom. But there was never anyone else who could replace you.”

He growled and grabbed my hand, rolling me onto my back. “I plan to make sure there never will be.”

His mouth moved over my neck, using all the things he’d learned about me to make me soften, then shiver, and then move against him. His tongue circled my nipples, his hands tracing patterns on my ribs as he kept moving down, licking, biting, kissing, bringing me back to the edge.

“Seb, please,” I begged.

“Say it,” he growled, breath harsh.

I ran my hand over his head, brushing over his cheekbones, then his lips. “I love you.”

---