Page 93 of Shot Taker

“I want your brightness to rub off on me… and maybe some of your goodness too. It’s not fair to ask that of you, but what I can promise you in return is that I’ll care about you. I’ll put you first. I’m not used to that, so I’m going to screw it up, but I want to do it.”

I look down at my chest, at the words he wrote carefully on my skin.

I love you

CW

It doesn’t feel like fireworks. More like balloons lifting off from the ground, drawing me weightlessly up with them.

There’s never been a time I wasn’t drawn to Clay, from the very first moment when we argued over a seat on a plane I didn’t want to take.

He believed in me when no one else did. His quiet confidence taught me how to believe in myself.

My heart has cracked open, sprouted new buds and blossoms thanks to him.

“Okay,” I say.

“Okay? What the hell does that mean,” he growls.

“It means I love you too.”

His eyes work back and forth over mine, his jaw clenching.

Clay’s hands fist at his sides. “You’re serious.”

The silence between us is buzzing. Or maybe it’s the blood pounding in my ears as we stare at each other.

I smile so wide it hurts. “Way serious. Now can I please come in?”

He grabs the back of my neck and hauls me towards him.

23

CLAY

“Won’t everyone know?” Nova says as I tug her inside.

“You got Michael into Miles’s room. I can get you into mine.”

She laughs as she surveys my room, lifting the lid of the silver pail on the fridge. “Huh. There’s even ice in the bucket.”

There could be a groundhog living in the thing and I wouldn’t blink.

Nova loves me.

The woman I’ve been falling for since the moment she crashed into my life just said she feels the same.

After holding everyone at a distance for my entire life, now, my chest might explode.

Nova opens the drapes and peers outside. “Remember the last time we did this?”

“I told Rookie if he came to my balcony tonight, I’d push him off.” I come up behind her, and her body warms me. I place my hands on either side of her, my groin pressing against her back.

Her head turns, her profile sheer temptation. “I thought you’d forgotten about that.”

“Not for a second,” I murmur before claiming her lips from behind.

I need her alone. The words were like breaking through a dam. I can’t settle for telling her I love her. I want to show her. To prove it with every touch.

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