Page 85 of Her Football Star Ex

Emerson

“CanI walk you to your car?” Vincent asked after he’d helped me into my coat.

Derek and Kira had left in Derek’s truck a few minutes before, and the wedding party was leaving after the fun night.

The evening had been magical. There really wasn’t a better way to put it. Dinner was delicious, full of lots of flirtatious sideways glances, laughs, and a good amount of blushing from both of us. And after dinner, Vincent had taken me into his arms and we’d danced the night away.

It was amazing. If I had to name the top ten moments in my life, tonight would have made it on that list.

I really couldn’t remember being this happy before. It was like forgiving Vincent had given me the freedom I needed to open up myself again to what had been right for me all along.

I had been hurt and I was sure there would be more times in the future when I’d remember what he’d done and feel hurt all over again. But tonight I had chosen, once again, to let go of our past and just be with him—enjoy the feel of his strong arms around me as we’d danced. Savor the way his whispered comments in my ear sent chills racing across my skin. And revel at how the way he looked at me made my chest feel like it was bursting with sunshine.

I felt adored.

I felt cared for.

And even though he hadn’t said it, I felt loved.

I’d pinched myself several times throughout the night, just to make sure I wasn’t dreaming everything up, but so far, I hadn’t woken up.

I never wanted to wake up from this. If it really was all just a dream, I wanted to live in this perfect dream land forever.

We had most definitely attracted several stares from the people who knew us and our story. Chelsea’s eyes had practically bugged out of her skull when we’d walked past her hand in hand. Kira and Derek had glanced over at us with shock in their eyes when we’d joined them on the dance floor after their first dance. And Cole had just stood at the edge of the crowd with his arms folded across his chest, wearing the smuggest and most pleased look I’d ever seen him wear.

And even though it was fun to shock our friends and the entire Dragons family, I really didn’t care what they thought about what was going on between us. Because what they thought didn’t matter. All that mattered was how Vincent and I felt about each other. Whatever we decided to do after tonight would only depend on us.

So as I buttoned up my coat, I looked up at Vincent and said, “Yes. I’d love for you to walk me to my car.”

I’d also love for him to kiss me when he did it, but hopefully he could figure that out without me having to say so. Because after looking at his lips all night and feeling all the sparks igniting between us, Ineededto kiss him. I needed him to kiss me so he would know that I wouldn’t always react the way I had the last time. That it could have a happier ending tonight.

He finished buttoning his overcoat, took my hand in his big, strong one, and led me out into the beautiful February night. The sky was overcast with clouds, the night a bit warmer than the other nights we’d had recently.

“Tonight was really nice,” I said as we strolled down the sidewalk together.

“It was nice,” he said, shooting me a rueful kind of smile that made my insides jumble all together. He really did have a great smile. I’d missed seeing it over the past year.

“Are you picking up Jaxon from your mom’s?” I asked, curious what the rest of his evening looked like.

“No.” He shook his head. “She figured he’d be exhausted after all the fun she had planned for him today, so I’m going to pick him up in the morning.”

“That’s nice,” I said.

“Yeah. They called earlier this afternoon and it sounded like they were having a great time together.”

We walked quietly past a few cars and I tried to figure out what to say next. Would it be completely forward if I invited him to hang out again tonight?

We’d already spent more time together in the past twenty-four hours than we had in the last year, I didn’t want him to feel like I was smothering him.

But when we made it to my car, I ended up not needing to figure out what to say because he sighed and said, “Thanks again for the great evening, but I should probably let you get home and rest.”

Oh.

My heart sunk.

I managed to say, “Yeah, I guess it is getting late.”

You know, if you considered nine o’clock late. It was the same time as when we’d left the restaurant last night. But I wouldn’t bring it up.

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