Page 23 of Second Down Scrooge

I laugh out loud.

Me:On my way.

She wasn’t lying. When she opens the door, she’s in pink reindeer pants and a matching shirt. “What’s going on?” She leans on the doorframe as I stand on her front porch, the outdoor light beside her front door shining in my eye like a spotlight and making me feel like I’m on some sort of stage.

I stare at her as I realize…I have no plan.

There’s noreasonI’m here other than the fact that I wanted to see her. And so, in the same vein as proving I’m not the sameimmature asshole who hurt the people she loves, I decide to go for honesty.

“I wanted to see you.”

She looks a little taken aback by that. “Oh. Why?”

I clear my throat, and I nod to her front hall. “Can I come in?”

She pushes off the door frame and holds out an arm. “You did great today, Austin. That play in the second quarter, it was—”

I cut her off as I loop an arm around her waist and haul her into me. I stare down at her as I try to figure out my next move.

“The baby’s already asleep,” she says quietly. “What are you doing here?”

“I told you. I wanted to see you.”

Her breath hitches as her eyes search mine, and I can’t help myself. I lean down and press my lips to hers for just a brief moment, and then I lift her into my arms and twirl her into a circle.

She laughs as I set her down. “What’s gotten into you?”

“I’m in love with you, Kelly.” The words just fall out of me unexpectedly, but I don’t regret them.

In fact, far from it. I’mgladI said it. I’ve been thinking it for weeks, maybe even months, and it feels like a weight off my shoulders to voice the words aloud.

A soft gasp falls from her lips.

“I haven’t stopped thinking about you since the last time I saw you. I don’t want to only see you once a week. I don’t want to be two passing ships. I don’t want to only get time with our daughter when I’m picking her up and dropping her off. I want you. I want a life with you. Both of you. I want you to see how hard I’m working to be a man who’s worthy of you even though I know I’ll never deserve you or that sweet little girl. I—”

My last sentence is swallowed as her lips slam to mine. She presses her body fully against me, and I walk with her in my arms until her back is against the wall. I open my mouth to hers,and our tongues battle together in this expression of feelings that I’ve been burying for far, far too long. She moans as she sinks into me, and that’s it. That’s the signal.

We’ve been together enough times for me to know what that little moan means. She wants this, too. She’s as tired of fighting it as I am.

I’m not here to fight anymore. I’m here to finally,finallyget back on the same page with her.

She links her arms around my neck, her fingertips reaching into my hair as I deepen our kiss, my tongue exploring her mouth as if I’ve never explored it before—as if my cock hasn’t been in her mouth, in her cunt, in her ass.

I want to take every part of her again, and I want us to be free of all the shit that’s been hanging over us for two years.

And just when I think it’s going to happen, she pulls back. Her eyes are hazy with lust, but she seems to come to a decision in the moment.

“Austin, I—I can’t. You know where I am on us.”

“I know,” I say softly. I lean my forehead down to hers as I draw in a deep breath. “I know. I just…I guess I was hoping you could get to where I am.”

“Which is where?” she asks.

I pull back a little, but not out of her arms. “With you. Figuring out a way we can be together—for us. For her.” I lift a shoulder as I nod into the house toward Mia’s room, the vulnerability not at all like me.

She glances down the hall, and I can see her resolve cracking.

I shake my head, and this time I do back up out of her arms. “It’s okay. I don’t want to pressure you into something you don’t want—or something you’re not ready for. But I’m here, Kel. I’m ready. I’ve been waiting six long, long months, and if I have to wait six more, or a year beyond that…I’ll do whatever it takes to prove to you that I’m not the same guy I was.”

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