Page 72 of The Secret Play

I couldn’t let myself get carried away. “What about my job?”

“I know your connection to the team has helped your career,” he said, his voice softening. “But you’re amazing, Gemma. You don’t need me or the Fire to prove that. I’m sure your boss knows that, too, and if he doesn’t, then he’s an idiot and you should quit.”

I shook my head, tears welling up in my eyes. I laughed behind my hand. It was all so easy when he put it that way, and nothing was easy in life. “It isn’t that simple, Casey. It’s not just about us. It’s about Winnie, and our families, and?—”

“And I want to figure it out, but I want to figure it out with you,” he said, stepping closer. “I think that’s where I kept screwing this up. I thought I had to figure out a plan without you. That’s what I do.”

“I don’t understand.”

“At work, I make the plays, I make the calls. All the planning is on me. I make plans without my players, alone. So, I think when it came to us, I tried to make the plan alone, because that’s what I do.”

I shook my head. “That doesn’t work in a relationship, Casey.”

“Exactly the problem. I don’t have all the answers, but I’m willing to find them with you.”

I took a quick breath, trying not to get my hopes up. “Do you know how to let me in like that?”

“Not yet. But I want to learn. Just like, I didn’t know if you were a flowers, chocolates, or wine-as-an-apology type of woman, so I brought all three. I want to learn everything about you, Gemma. I want to know what you love, what you hate, what makes you laugh, what makes you cry. I want us to work this out. And if you’re willing to give me a chance, I’ll spend the rest of my life proving that I’m worth it.”

I stared at him, my heart breaking and healing all at once, again and again. The words came out in a whisper. “You’re serious about this?”

“Without a doubt.”

“What’s changed?” I asked, my voice trembling. “You said I didn’t think you were worth being a father back then, and you were so angry about that. So what’s changed?”

“Everything,” he said simply. “You. Winnie. Me. I’ve changed, Gemma. And I don’t want to miss out on another moment with either of you. I know I was angry, and part of me still is, but I refuse to let that anger stand in the way of me and my family being together.”

I bit my lip, the tears spilling over despite my best efforts. “I love you,” I whispered.

His face softened, and he stepped closer, pulling me into his arms. “I love you, too.”

The words hung between us, weighty and light all at once, and when he kissed me again, it felt like the beginning of something new. We moved together slowly, deliberately, as if we were trying to rebuild what had been broken with every touch, every kiss, every whispered word.

There was no hesitation this time, no doubt. As our clothes fell away and our lips met, I had the strangest sinking and floating sensations come over me. I didn’t recognize it at first, but for once in my life, love had come for me, too.

I backed toward my bedroom with Casey following me, his eyes never leaving mine. What did it mean to give things a real shot with him? Where would we move? My place or his? Or would we get a new place together? We’d have to get Winnie to a new daycare, and that would be a hard?—

“Where did you go?” he asked with a smile.

“Hmm?”

We stood in my bedroom near the foot of my bed, naked and smiley, like two lunatics in love. But he was right. I had gone somewhere else. I didn’t want to admit it.

But if we were doing this, I had to be honest with him. “I think…this is big for me, Casey. I’ve never had a guy say the l-word back and mean it, and I think my brain panicked and made me focus on the logistics of being with you instead of the emotional stuff, because that is much bigger and scarier than logistics. I can’t wrap my head around this, and now I’m rambling, please say something to stop me.”

His smile had fallen the longer I rambled. “No one has ever said it back?”

“No. If they ever said—and most didn’t—they weren’t serious about it. They just said it to get what they wanted from me. It was never real.”

His fingers brushed along my cheek. “I love you, Gemma Grimaldi. With everything I am, I love you.”

I couldn’t stop the tear that fell. But he kissed it away, and I turned to take his lips for the next kiss. There was something about the way he held me, so tender and so supportive that I fell in love with him all over again every time his grip changed. How had I survived without this?

I backed onto my bed, and he followed. I had thought he meant to jump me, but instead, he took his time. We laid on our sides, kissing and touching and exploring this new love like we had all the time in the world.

His rough palms on my breasts shot sensation through me, urging me to hook my leg over his narrow hip. From that angle, I pressed myself against his cock, slicking him with my wetness as I ground on him, but not close enough to take him inside of me. We moaned together, two voices in sync with one another. Two souls, the same.

Casey grabbed my ass and rolled onto his back, pulling me on top of him. He laced his fingers with mine as I slowly sank onto his cock while he watched from the flat of his back. But he couldn’t take it for long. He sat up and closed his arms around me as we kissed with him fully seated inside.

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