Page 53 of The Lucky One

“You’re not wasting kisses with me,” he murmurs, brushing his lips against mine.

Oh my gosh.

It’s such a line. But it’s thebestline.

It’s also a promise.

I won’t hurt you.

When his lips finally meet mine, it’s like drinking water after a day in the summer Texas sun. There’s not enough.

The anticipation of what it would finally be like explodes like fireworks, stealing my breath. His fingers press into the skin on the back of my neck, tugging me even closer so I have to holdonto him. Which is fine, because otherwise I might drown in this moment.

This is not like the kiss at the farm, a quick meeting of hurried lips. Emotions crash over me in waves, fueling my desire to match the tempo of my wildly beating heart. We’re in a public place, so I’m trying to be mindful of my behavior but Weston’s lips are whispering sweet promises against my own that I desperately want him to fulfill.

Thisis what I’ve been missing.

The tingle racing up my spine, the shifts of gentle pressure as he moves his hands to bring me closer, the tenderness that steals my breath away. Weston makes me feel like I’m the only person in his world.

After practically living on the sidelines, I’m in his spotlight.

And I never want to leave.

nineteen

WESTON

MARCH17

Last spring when Cade told us he was going to marry Holly, we all gave him a ton of grief.

“There’s no way you could know already!”

“That’s infatuation, not love.”

“You’re crazy!”

I admit, we weren’t very nice to him.

And being the Prince Charming that he is, he took it from all of us with a smile. Then married her and made us all look like jerks.

In my defense, I didn’t know they’d known each other before or what love actually looked like. But the idea that he could’veknownalmost as soon as they reconnected, blew my mind.

“People need time to know if they can spend the rest of their life with someone, don’t they?” I asked him. “That’s not something you can figure out in a week.”

Cade just smiled at me, patted my shoulder and said, “When you know, you know.”

He’s right.

It’s hard to concentrate as we walk around the last day of the festival, because we haven’t talked about what comes next. There’s no plans.

As much as I enjoy experiencing life as it comes—save my ACL tear—I’m hating the idea of not seeing Bridget after tomorrow. In a short time, she’s become a routine.

She’s home.

I’ve actually been really mean to people about how stupid I think instalove is, and how unbelievable it is. It actually kept me up late last night because I’m struggling to accept that I feel the way I do about Bridget. But there arescoresof people telling similar stories on the internet about how quickly they fell in love with someone, and some of them have been married for decades.

Longer than most football careers.

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