Page 136 of Off Camera
These past few months, though, I’ve started to think I’ve found my place. The spot where I belong and where I’m most happy.
In all those shining moments, Reid is there. A constant pillar and the brightest star in the sky. It’s almost like I was waiting for him to show up, and my life is better because of it.
“Should we help them set the table?” I ask. “If we stay in here any longer, they’re going to start making sex jokes.”
“Trust me. The jokes have already started. After we eat, I have one more surprise for you,” he says.
“You’ve already done more than enough for me.”
“This is different. I know how important your dad was to you. I also know it’s not Christmas Day, and I know you’re not there in person to watch like you normally would, but I wanted to include a part of him today. I, uh, might have downloaded last year’s Orlando Blazers game so we can stream it later. It might be in a different language and it might ruin Dallas’s television, but I thought we could give it a try.”
“Y—you did that? For me?” I whisper.
“Yeah.” Reid smiles. “There’s no rule saying we can’t do both old and new traditions.”
A sob racks my shoulders. I throw my arms around him and hug him as tight as I can, afraid that if I ease up for even a second, he’ll disappear.
I’ve been scared to admit it, but now I know with absolute certainty. If I let myself fall, Reid is the one I’m going to fall for.
I think I’m already halfway there.
THIRTY-NINE
REID
“How are things going with Avery?”Maverick asks, leaning back on the couch in my living room and staring at the television. “Goddammit. Dallas. You need to go into the building on the left, not the fucking barn.”
“Don’t tell me what to do,” Dallas says, and he groans when the game ends. “That’s not my fault.”
“It’s not my fault. I was hiding behind a tree the whole time,” I say, tossing the controller onto the coffee table. “What do you mean how are things going with Avery?”
“It’s a pretty self-explanatory question, isn’t it? You two are still hooking up, aren’t you?”
I pull my glasses off my face and rub my eyes.
We are still hooking up. I had her twice last night.
Once again this morning before she had to leave for work.
Lately, though, it feels likehooking upisn’t the right word to define what’s happening between us.
The sex is still fantastic and the best of my fucking life.
We’re still egging each other on through social media.
But there’s something else under the surface too.
I felt it on Christmas Eve when she gave me my Millennium Falcon present. I wanted to hug her and not let her go. I wantedto tell her how much she means to me and how special she is. I needed to let her know her attention to detail is one of my favorite things about her.
Instead, I fucking teared up.
I couldn’t get the words out.
They got stuck in my throat, halfway between my heart and my mouth, and now I don’t know what to do.
Ilikeher.
A whole fucking lot.
