Page 168 of Face Off
Oh my god, he loves me.
I love him too.
I’ve loved him for so long.
Longer than I thought was possible or rational or believable, but I love him, I love him,I love him.
“Do you really?”
“I do, but don’t think you have to say it back. I just wanted you to know. If you go to Toronto, I’m going to be there every weekend. You’ll come here and we’ll make it work, Emmy, because that’s what two people who care about each other do.”
“I love you too,” I whisper. “I love you so much, Maverick. I didn’t mean what I said. I want to stay here. I want to be where you are. If that means commuting back and forth between Toronto and DC, so be it. I’ll do it. I’ll do it gladly because I love you, and I’d rather have you from a five hundred miles away than not have you at all.”
“Can you—” his throat bobs, and his hand trembles when he wraps his fingers around my thigh. “No one’s ever loved me before—not like this—and I would really like to hear you say it again.”
I put both of my palms on his cheeks. I stare into his eyes, and there’s so much hope there. “I love you, Maverick Miller. Ilove you so very much, and I’ll tell you as many times as you like.”
“Fucking hell.” He kisses me, and it’s nothing like the kisses we’ve had before. There are so many other words behind the press of his mouth and the gentle glide of his tongue. “I love you. I fucking love you, Emmy girl, and I’m going to say it every day. Probably a hundred times a day, because I don’t want to stop. I love you. I love you, baby.”
I laugh and wrap my arms around his neck. His skin is warm and soft, and I can’t wait to see what it feels like in fifty years. When there are wrinkles where his muscles are and after his hair turns gray.
“How long?” I ask. “How long have you known?”
“Your dad pointed it out to me.”
“Mydad? When?”
“When you stepped out of the suite to talk to the security guard in Detroit, he asked how long I had been in love with you. I thought it might be true, but when Coach told me about the potential trade, I spiraled. I imagined my life without you in it and I hated the idea of not having you around. I went to Dallas’s, and that’s where it all became clear. I think I’ve loved you for a long time, though. I just didn’t know how to say it.”
“When you told me you would drive with me to pick up my dad, that’s when I knew. I fought it off before, but in that moment, I knew you had my heart.” I touch his necklace and tug him closer. “I’m scared though, Maverick.”
“Scared of what? Talk to me. Tell me.”
“Of this. Of us. Of the distance and of falling so hard for you. I’ve done it before, and I don’t want to end up broken like that again. I’m not sure if I could put myself back together if that happened with you.”
“If you fall, I fall, baby. I’m so far gone for you, Emmy, and it’s okay to be scared. I’m scared shitless too, but there’s no oneI’d rather be scared with.” His hand settles on my stomach and his thumb traces my ribs. “We’ll come up with a plan. The season is almost over, and we’ll have all summer to do whatever the hell we want. We can take a trip. We can spend days in the apartment not doing a goddamn thing. We’ll go to Michigan and visit your dad. You can show me where you grew up, and it’s all going to be okay.”
I think my heart might crack in two.
I’ve heard this before—the promises. The pretty picture of a perfect future. There’s always been a hesitancy to believe it, but with Maverick, I really think it could come true.
“I’d like to do all those things,” I say, and his face brightens. I’ve never seen him look so happy, and even with so much uncertainty on the horizon, it makes me smile too. “I want to do everything with you.”
“Everything, huh?”
“I’m trying to be romantic for once in my life.”
“Sorry.” Maverick grins. “Tell me again how much you love me.”
“Nope. You lost your chance, buddy.”
“Come on.” He sticks out his bottom lip and I reach out, pulling it down with my thumb. “I’ll beg.”
“You know I like you on your knees.”
“I’ll go there whenever you?—”
His phone rings and cuts him off. He scrambles for it, yanking it out of his pocket and sighing in relief when he sees the name. “It’s just Dallas. I thought it might’ve been Coach.”
