Page 55 of Made For You

“I want a team that has my back,” he finally says. “I want a team that will be okay with me talking about not being okay. I want a team that is willing to be open about mental health and all its struggles.” His voice trails off. “I want a team that I can be proud to be a part of.” He puts his hand on top of mine. “I want to help people who are suffering the same things I’m suffering but are afraid to speak out.”

“So let’s make it happen,” I tell him, smiling.

“Just like that,” he says, and all I can do is nod at him.

“Just like that,” I repeat, moving my head close to him, closing the distance as I kiss his lips. “If anyone can do this, it’s you,” I reassure him.

He shakes his head. “It’s amazing how much faith you have in me.”

“I wish you could see how amazing you are through my eyes.” I smile at him.

I stare into his eyes when he says the words. “I love you, Vivienne,” he says softly, his forehead touching mine. “I am in love with you.” My heart that I thought was beating a mile a minute before picks up even more. “This is not the way I wanted to tell you how I feel.” He kisses my lips softly. “Although I must have told you about fifty times that I love you without you knowing.” I chuckle, the nerves from not long ago gone.

“That doesn’t count.” I laugh finally without the pressure on my chest. “The only thing that counts is I said it first.” He pulls me up and turns me to sit on his lap. My arms go around his neck as my head rests on his shoulder. His arms hug me tight around my waist.

“I’m sorry,” he says softly as I kiss his neck, “for being a dick.”

“You weren’t a dick,” I reply, then laugh. “I mean, you were a little bit of a dick, and you scared the hell out of me.” His hand rubs my back. “But it’s fine.”

“Nico wants me to meet with him,” he shares, and I sit up right away, looking at him. “He came up to me last night, wondered if the rumors were true about me looking to get back into the game.”

“And?” I question, and he smiles at me.

“Look at you prying into my business,” he jokes while I glare at him. “He wants to sit down with me tomorrow.”

“Are you going to do it?” I can’t even try not to ask the question.

“I am,” he confirms. “I would like to talk to your dad about it.”

“Well.” I tap his shoulder with one hand. “No time like the present.” I kiss his lips. “Family lunch is in one hour.” I get up off his lap. “Which means makeup sex has to last no more than ten minutes since it takes forty minutes to get there.” I hold out my hand to him, and he gets up, holding my hand.

“I think you need to text your father and tell him we are going to be late,” he suggests at the same time he throws me over his shoulder and slaps my ass. “We might be really, really late.”

CHAPTER32

XAVIER

“With a minute to spare,”Vivienne says from the passenger seat as I pull up to her parents’ house and shut off the car. “And you thought we would be late.” She laughs, putting her hand on the door handle.

“Nothing says get off my daughter like your father calling you while I’m in you.” I shake my head, getting out of the car. Taking a deep breath, I walk over to the sidewalk and slip my hand into hers. “You look beautiful.” I bend to kiss her lips.

“You aren’t so bad yourself.” She gets on her tippy-toes and kisses my lips.

“Dad!” we hear Cooper yelling from the open door of her parents’ house. “Vivienne is making out with Xavier in the middle of the sidewalk. The neighbors are watching.” I can’t help but laugh at him teasing Vivienne, who flips him the bird.

“There are so many cars here,” I note, seeing both sides of the street are lined with cars, and even the driveway is packed.

“Everyone is in town, so that means chaos with the family,” she states as we walk toward the door where Cooper stands.

“I could hear the voices from the street,” Vivienne says when we walk into the house. I look up, seeing a couple of kids running through the rooms and then disappearing.

“If you think it’s loud from the front of the house, you should hear the backyard,” Cooper says to us before he turns and walks back into the house.

“Here we go,” Vivienne encourages from beside me. “Don’t forget you love me.” She smiles up at me. “You can’t take it back.”

“Never,” I tell her, feeling the flutter in my stomach as we walk into the kitchen, and she was not fucking kidding. Every single corner is filled with people. I follow her as we make our way through the crowd saying hello to everyone as if we didn’t see them yesterday.

“This,” she coos when she gets to Franny, who holds her daughter in her arms, “is Stella Bella.” Vivienne grabs Stella from Franny. “And she loves me the most.”

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