Page 22 of Bae

I gasped. “It is not!”

His lips twitched. “I bet if I Googled it right now, I’d get a hit.”

I couldn’t help it. I laughed out loud. When my laughter died away, I noticed him watching me, his expression soft.

“What?” I prompted.

He twirled a finger in the length of my hair. “I love the sound of your laugh. I don’t hear it enough.”

A shard of pain pierced my chest. “Romeo…” I started softly, regret heavy in my tone.

“I saw the headline,” he spoke before I could say whatever I was going to say.

I glanced away. Gentle pressure wrapped around my chin and pulled my face back. “I just want to make something clear.”

I nodded.

“The onlybig Dyou’re getting from me is my dick.”

“Romeo!”

He wagged his eyebrows. “You like that? Maybe I should call the press and have them quote me.”

Oh my goodness, he was in rare form today! I pressed my lips together and shook my head quickly. Laughing would only encourage him.

“That’s one headline I’d like to read.” He gazed off into the distance as if he were in fact imagining a full news article about the impressive size of his… ah… man parts.

A giggle burst from between my lips, and he glanced down. Another leaked out, and before I knew it, I was full-on laughing again.

“Tell me about football,” I said when I could talk.

This was sort of our tradition when he came home from traveling for away games and training. He’d carry me upstairs, we’d go at each other like teenagers, and then we’d lie in bed and fill each other in on everything we missed.

Yeah, we talked every day when he was gone, but it wasn’t the same. It wasn’t the sound of his voice so close by or the expression of his features when he told me about something one of his teammates did.

I’d learned a lot about football this way, and I’d also learned all the team gossip. Who knew men talked so much in the locker room?

As he talked, I pressed my palm against his chest and took in everything about him. I’d seen him a thousand times; I knew every nuance of his face intimately. Even still, watching him was never boring. There was something about Romeo no one else had.

Some people might call it magic, and I supposed that could be true. To me, though, it was more. Not everyone believed in magic, but I’d never known anyone who didn’t believe in him.

After a while, his stomach grumbled. “Someone’s hungry.” I noted.

He made a sound and pulled me closer into him.

“Coffee?” I suggested, sort of in compromise. Coffee I could do without leaving this room.

“Sounds good.” He agreed, so I slipped out of bed. The cool air brushed over my bare skin, and I shivered.

My furry white slipper boots were on the floor, so I quickly shoved my feet in them before moving off the rug across the hardwood. We had a coffee bar built into our room, and I quickly put some on to brew.

As it did, I grabbed the shirt he’d been wearing when he got home and tugged it over my head, then dug around for my glasses.

My hair was pretty ridiculous, so I pulled it up into a sloppy bun without even looking in a mirror.

I’m sure it looked really fab.

After adding some flavored creamer from the mini fridge to our mugs, I carried them over to the bed where he was propped up against the headboard, watching me. He took both mugs while I climbed back into the bed and tucked my legs beneath me.

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