Page 104 of Spring Awakening

Ezra looks at her, and she has no idea what he’s thinking, because she never has any idea what he’s thinking. She should be scared of him, because he’s terrifying and he’s looking at her like he’s trying to figure out how to take her brain out without making a mess, but she trusts him. He leans forwards, and she frowns until kisses her on the temple.

“Thank you.”

She smiles at him as she gets up, and she smiles at him until he’s no longer in her view. She smiles at him as she watches Cam’s eyes light up when he goes over.

Mali looks to find Zach. He’s already looking right at her.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Zach waits the fewseconds it takes for Mali to come over to him. Her eyes roam his body, and it almost takes him out at the knees. She’s been a tease all night, and he wants to take her home, but they’re here to celebrate her success. The entire team came out, and she worked so hard for it. So, he’ll stay, and he’ll watch her dance in her tiny red dress and matching wig and ignore the way he picked out a shirt just to match her.

He can’t kiss her here because they haven’t discussed if they can. If they want the team to know they’re dating when he hasn’t asked her to be his girlfriend yet. She is—he knows in his heart she’s already his wife—but he had to look up romantic ways to ask her. Mali wants storybook romance, and he needed at least seven minutes with Google to figure that out. He’d kiss her right now, just to tell everyone on the team to fuck off. To show them she wants him. But he’ll keep his lips to himself.

“Hey,” she says, and Zach smiles.

“Hi.” Mali keeps her eyes on his lips, and he groans. “Stop it.”

She looks up at him. “I’m not doing anything.”

“You’re being a brat,” he says, his hand against her waist.

“I know,” she whispers, taking a step closer. Her body touches his from her shoulders to her toes. She hooks her finger over his collar. “Kiss me anyway.” Zach smiles, his hand behind her head as he pulls her towards him. She slips her tongue into his mouth the moment he makes contact, and the bar erupts seconds later.

“They’re so embarrassing,” Mali says, turning to bury her face against his neck. Zach rubs her back. He flips everyone off, but before he can kiss Mali again, Frankie speaks.

“Announcements time!” Frankie starts. “The most important one that I know everyone has been waiting for…” Mali turns, leaning against him. Zach hopes it’s something good for her. When she went through the player applications with him, she had her heart set on the junior league, but he thinks that’s because she knew it was his.

“…Mali and Zach finally kissed.”

“Oh my God,” Mali groans, and she spins again, tucking herself into Zach’s side. He laughs, pulling her closer.

“Whoever won the bet owes us a gift,” he shouts. “And talk about my girl in the locker room one more time and see what happens.”

“No one won. We all picked you’d have kissed about seven weeks ago.”

“Then we should get the winnings,” Mali says. She turns to face Frankie again, but tucks her arms around Zach’s waist. He wraps his arm around her, and she rests her face against his shoulder.

“At least our first kiss was just for us,” he whispers, and she looks up at him with a smile. “Suckers.” She laughs, kissing him again.

“Okay,” Frankie says. “Mali the greatest thing ever and got us the Goliath sponsorship, so we can fund three player projectsandupgrade the building.” The players cheer, and Mali waves her arms in the air.

“First, we have the yet to be named but probably something to do withOkeye lifelong fan tickets fund.”

“What?!” Zach had thought this was a possibility, and he’s so happy for her. It’s all she talks about, and she forgot to even put a proposal in.

Frankie shrugs. “On Mal’s first day, she called us all twats for outpricing the regular, lifelong loyal fans.”

“I did not!” Mali replies, her hand tight against his waist. He looks down at her with a smile on his face. He thinks it’s how he always looks at her. No wonder everyone knew he loved her before he’d even admitted it to himself. He moves his arm to rest over her shoulder, his other linking with her fingers against his waist.

Frankie laughs. “Nah, she didn’t, but she would have been right. So, finer details aside, if you know anyone that’s struggling, get them to apply. Two—”

“That’s so cool,” Mali whispers. She reaches up, linking her free hand with his hanging over her shoulder. They’re wrapped together like a pretzel. Kai takes a photo, but Zach doesn’t mind. He thinks it might be the only photo of him with a woman where he wants to touch her. He might print it out and put it on the fridge.

“You’re so cool,” he mutters quietly, so he can still hear Frankie. Mali rests against him some more.

“The Tiny Titans Junior League! We have enough funding for at least a five-year program. More info and deets to come, of course, but right now, invite your kids!”

Zach smiles, even though he’ll miss most of the first seasons. It was his whole proposal. But it doesn’t matter he won’t be there; he only wants them to have a better chance than he had.

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