Page 74 of Fear of Love
“Yeah, but your best features are down here.” I purposely kept my eyes on his chest.
“Then you won’t be mad when I stare at your ass all day,” he responded back. I met his eyes as he smirked down at me.
“You can stare but that doesn’t mean I’ll let you touch afterward.” I smirked right on back. There was nothing I liked more than bantering with Landon.
Needing to finish getting ready, I turned on my heel. A hard smack landed on my ass before I even made it a step. I turned my head to glare at him over my shoulder, but Landon just smirked, his expression smug as hell. He had a habit of smacking my ass whenever my back was turned.
“Give me another minute and I’ll be good to go,” I called over my shoulder, feeling his eyes glued to my ass.
I quickly laced up my other shoe. I already knew traffic was going to be insane so we needed to leave.
With my bag in hand, I did one last check to make sure I had everything. Stepping into my living room, I found Landon sitting on the edge of the couch as he flipped through the magazine layouts I left out on the coffee table.
“Are you changing the magazine?” he asked as soon as he saw me.
“Not necessarily. I just thought it might be a good idea to switch up the layout from what we currently have. Move some things around.”
While looking at next month’s issue last week, it occurred to me that we’ve had the same layout this entire time. The first few pages were images of local places, then articles about events coming up before there were more photos and articles about events that took place the month before.
It flowed nicely, but I thought why not move the articles about upcoming events to the middle so readers would have to flip through to get there. In doing so, they’d see other articles and highlighted shops. Most readers opened to the first five pages to read about what was going on that month and that was it.If we released two issues a month, it would be nice to change it up.
“Switching things up is always smart,” Landon agreed. “I like it.”
“Thanks.” I felt my cheeks warm at his compliment.
“Ready to go?” I cleared my throat, switching the subject.
“Yeah.” With a hand on my lower back, the two of us left the apartment.
“Excited for the game?” I asked later as we sat in Landon’s truck, music playing softly in the background as we headed to the football stadium.
“Yeah.” His tone didn’t sound all that convincing. With the way his hands gripped the steering wheel and the tension that was present in his shoulders, I knew he was nervous.
“Don’t worry, Mateo is going to do great.” Reaching across the console, I squeezed his arm. He gave me a small nod in return. “Hey, talk to me.”
“I’m fine.”
“Yeah, I don’t believe that for one second.” I turned the music off and twisted in my seat. “Tell me what’s going through your head.” I might not be as adept at Tasha in situations like this, but I was a good listener.
Landon was quiet for another minute, eyes straight ahead.
“It’s huge,” he finally said. I kept quiet, knowing he needed to do this at his own pace. “It’s a championship game, and it may not be at pro level, but if Mateo wins tonight it’s a step toward that.” Landon took a deep breath.
“Mateo is good. God, he’s so fucking good at football. He’s going to make it to the pros, but when he does…” Landon gripped the steering wheel even tighter. “It’s just all happening so fast.” He said the last part so softly.
My chest tightened at his words. He practically raised Mateo. He was the father Wyatt and Mateo never had, so it made sense that all of this stirred certain emotions. Mateo was becomingan adult, and when he did start playing professional football, it wouldn’t be here in Toronto.
“Lan,” I squeezed his arm. “It’s okay to be worried about Mateo and his future. This gameisimportant for his career, but he still has a few years left before any of that. You, your mom, and Wyatt have done an incredible job raising him. He has a great head on his shoulders.”
“I just don’t want to see him fail and get hurt.”
“It’s going to happen whether you want it or not.” I kept my voice soft as I spoke. “Mateo will fail but like you, like Wyatt, like your mother, he will get right back up and go again. You Boone’s never give up. It’s kind of annoying,” I joked. Landon’s lip twitched so I continued.
“You’ve given him the space to make his own decisions while knowing he can come to you no matter what.Whenthe time comes for him to go to the pros, you’ll be right there beside him the whole way.” I squeezed his arm again. “So, we’re going to go to the game, watch Mateo kick ass, and then go celebrate.”
I watched as Landon took a deep breath, the tension in his shoulders easing as he nodded. Landon took on so much when it came to his family. The way he would go to the ends of the earth for them made my chest ache, wishing I had someone who would do that for me.
“Sound good?”
