Page 61 of The Baller

Kiss her. Feel her. Taste every single inch of her.

“Lux?”

My gaze slid up to meet hers. “Yeah?”

“Who was that?”

“Maddie, my youngest sister.”

She began twisting the hem of her workout shirt. “Who’s your girlfriend?”

“You heard that, huh?”

She nodded, and I wasn’t sure if the look on her face was confusion or annoyance. My face screwed up. The baby steps I’d been trying to take were about to become big giant leaps.

“I’m sorry, Goldilocks, she’s thirteen. All she cares about right now is boys and track.”

“She should stick with track,” she mumbled.

“Yeah, I’m working on it.”

She looked away, her teeth sinking into the corner of her bottom lip, and we’d spent enough time by now that I knew when she was getting anxious.

“Radley, what wrong?”

“Nothing… nothing. It’s just…” I reached and stilled her hands, but instead of letting go, her thumb brushed over my knuckles. Back and forth they moved, the pale pink of her nails catching the light as they did. “Was she talking about me?”

“About being my girlfriend?”

She nodded, her eyes flicking up to meet mine, bright and glistening.

“Yeah, but she’s thirteen. She asked who I was here with, and I said you. She didn’t mean anything.”

“Have you thought about it?” she asked quietly, “you know… me being your girlfriend? You can say no… I get it.”

I hated the nervousness coating her tone. I hated the way her body was almost shaking as she stuttered through her words. This woman deserved to ooze nothing but confidence, it should beam from her so everyone could see, and I was damn sure going to make it happen.

I shifted forward on the bench so my knees surrounded hers. “Do you remember the first time we met in Brown’s?”

“It was only a month ago.”

I chuckled. “Yeah. You turned around and I laid eyes on you for the first time. Would you believe me if I told you I remember every detail?”

I brushed a strand of damp hair away from her face, lifting up the ends of her sweaty ponytail which rested on her shoulder.

“Your hair was tied up with a pink scrunchie, and I remember thinking it looked like the color of Pepto-Bismol. You were wearing jeans, and a black hoodie with a little snail on… right here.” Her eyes tracked my finger as I pressed just above her heart. “But the best part, your Air Jordans… I haven’t told you about my love of Air Jordans have I?” Radley shook her head.“I love them, and the ones you were wearing was a pair I’d bought for my sisters last season. When you turned around and looked at me, I forgot everything. You were the most beautiful person I’d ever seen, and I would have stayed there all day staring at you if Special Agent America hadn’t interrupted. It’s why I ran after you from the bar – I didn’t think I’d get lucky a third time, and I needed to know your name. So, yeah, I’ve thought about you being my girlfriend. It’s almost all I think about.”

She blinked once, twice. “Oh.”

“Radley, I’m not rushing you, and I’m not going anywhere. We’ll go at your pace.”

“Willyoukissme?” she blurted out so quickly I wasn’t entirely sure what she’d said. I think I got it, but it could have been wishful thinking.

“Could you repeat that, but slower?”

She swallowed but her chin tipped up to me, almost defiantly, with a level of confidence I’d only seen from her the night I got my ass kicked. Gone was the girl who twisted her hands into knots. She was now assertive, self-assured, and sexy as fuck. “Will you kiss me?”

“Radley…”

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