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“You little liar.” Leaning closer, he cupped my cheek with his big hand and pressed his forehead to mine. “I can read you like a book.”

“Yeah,” I admitted. “Kind of.”

“Well, you’re wrong.” His breath fanned my face as he spoke, making me feel light-headed. “I want you because you drive me fucking crazy. And yeah, I’m not going to lie, I feel sorry for you,” he added gruffly. “I’d be a coldhearted bastard if I didn’t, but that’s got nothing to do with why I want to be with you. I’m sticking around because I need you.”

My heart beat so fast I feared it would burst. “You need me?”

“You think it’s the other way around, but it’s not,” he told me. “I need you, too, because you calm something inside of me. You make me feelgood. Like I don’t have to…” His voice trailed off for a moment as he clearly pondered what he was trying to say. “You make me feel like I’m enough as I am,” he finally admitted. “Like if this is the furthest I go, if I don’t make the squad, then it’s okay.”

“Youareenough,” I breathed, wrapping my hand around his neck. “Just as you are right now.” Desperate to comfort him, I hitched a leg over his and scrambled onto his lap, knowing I shouldn’t, he was still healing, but not having the self-control to stop. “You’re so good,” I told him, knotting my fingers in his hair and pulling him closer to me. “You’re such agoodperson, Johnny Kavanagh, and you don’t even know it. You don’t see how little rugby has to do with how special you are. But I do. I see it, and I know.”

“See?” He clamped his hands on my hips and exhaled shakily. “You say it and I believe you.”

“Because it’strue,” I choked out, breathing hard and fast. “I just… God, you have no idea how lovely you are.”

“What do you need from me, Shannon?” he croaked out, voice thick and husky. “I’ll give you anything you need, baby.” Shaking his head, he groaned like he was in pain. “I just…I want to make you happy.”

“You,” I whispered. “All of you.”

“I’m already yours,” he groaned, before covering my lips with his.

My heart hammered hard in my chest and my body ached and pulsed. It was a deep aching inside of me that only he could sate. In fact, I was fairly sure I would never sate the need I had to justbewith him. Closing my eyes, I held on to his arms and kissed him back, drowning in the sensations ripping through me.

Maybe Darren was right and I was in too deep, but I couldn’t find it in my heart to care.

Everything inside of me was swept up in him, and I couldn’t see beyond it. I couldn’t think beyond the surge of feelings I had for him. Even my brain, the part of me that was supposed to heed caution, was encouraging me to be reckless with my heart, to throw it all in with this boy and trust him not to break me.

And I was all in.

21

Tears, Threats, and Teapots

Johnny

I knew I was in trouble before I even opened an eyelid.

The tone of my mother’s voice as she screamed my name from the rooftops was proof of that. “Jonathan Kavanagh!” Her voice cut through the silence, followed by high heels clicking on tiles. “You better come out from wherever you’re hiding and explain what the hell is going on!”

Startled, I sprang up, still half-asleep, and blinked rapidly as I tried to process what the fuck was happening.

“There you are!” Mam barked. “What are you doing sleeping in the sitting room?”

I was in the sitting room?

Resting an arm on the back of the couch, I looked over at her, feeling at a loss. “I, ah…” I yawned loudly and rolled the kinks from my shoulders. “Huh?”

“Do you have any idea why Marie Lynch left a message on your father’s phone first thing this morning looking for her daughter?” Mam demanded, standing in the doorway with her hands on her hips.

“What?” Scratching my chest, I asked, “Marie who?”

“Marie Lynch!” Mam snapped. “Shannon’s mother.”

Oh shite.

“Well? I’m waiting for an explanation here, Johnny!”

The small ball of heat pressed to my side began to stir and a pair of midnight-blue eyes peeked out from under the blanket.

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