Page 152 of Off Camera
“I couldn’t hate you if I tried.” He rubs my arm and his smile is full of hope. “I took you to that shitty sports bar, Avery, because I… I don’t want you to go on dates with anyone else. I don’t want you to give your attention to anyone else. I’ve never, ever taken anything for myself, but with you, I want to. I’m greedy. I want more, and I’m going to keep being greedy for as long as you’ll let me.”
“You don’t have to be greedy,” I say, and he hangs on to my every word. “I’m giving you all that I have. Willingly. I want you to have it. I want you to have all of it.”
The three blistering words remain unsaid, but I’m close to blurting them out. I’m close toscreamingthem.
But maybe tonight isn’t about that. Maybe tonight is about sharing everything else. The smaller things that make up the big declaration. Like the way he kisses my forehead. How he pulls me into his lap, rocking me in his arms while whispering in my ear how beautiful I am and how lucky he is to be here with me.
When he takes me home and stands in the entrance of my apartment, his hand slipping under my dress and a tremble to his touch. I drag him to my bedroom and straddle him, desperate to feel him.
I fumble with his zipper and he struggles with my dress. When I sink onto him, nothing between us but the night sky outside the windows and the stars, I know this is different.
This isn’t fucking.
This isn’t strangers who don’t know a thing about each other.
It’s two people who know each other like the back of their hands.
Tender and quiet, a shift from normal.
Patient and slow, neither wanting to rush to be the first to finish.
It’s indulgent and soul-crushing.
It’s love, and when he cradles my cheek against his palm, the softest look of adoration in his eyes, I know I’ll never be the same.
FORTY-THREE
REID
I wakeup the morning of our playoff game against the Thunderhawks and the end of our bet with Avery wrapped around me.
Her hair is in my mouth. Her hands are on my waist. Her face is buried in my chest and I’ve never loved her more.
My eyes fly open.
Love.
Fuck, I love her.
This isn’t a crush that’s going to go away in a few weeks. This isn’t something I can expect to fade away when the football season ends.
It’s an all-in thing. It’s big and important, and I can’t ignore it anymore.
She stares in my arms and opens her eyes. She blinks and lifts her chin to look up at me, a smile curving on her mouth.
“Hi,” she says around a yawn. “What time is it?”
“Late,” I tell her. “You looked too comfortable to wake up.”
“Why are you staring at me?” She sits up and stretches her arms above her head. The T-shirt she’s wearing slips down her shoulder, and I see the bite marks I left on her neck last night. “You’re looking at me like I have two heads.”
“Sorry.” I reach for my glasses and slide them up my nose. “You’re really pretty in the morning.”
Her smile melts into one that’s beautiful and soft, and she kisses my cheek with a gentle press of her lips. “Are you being nice to me so it’ll lessen the blow if the Thunderhawks lose today?”
“If I was going to do that, I would’ve called you gorgeous,” I say, and she pokes her finger into my ribs. I laugh and bat her hands away, grabbing her wrists. “We’ve got the game and the bet to cover this afternoon. It’s a big day.”
“Promise you’ll still like me after all of it?” Avery asks, her lips falling into a cute little pout. “Even if you lose?”
