Page 138 of Breakaway Hearts

“Callie, you willneverbe my second choice.” I speak slowly, every word vibrating with intensity. “Never. You’ll always be my first. It’s always been you. Even at Bear Creek Camp, it was you. I was just too young and stupid to realize it. And after that, I was too afraid to lose you as a friend. I tried to keep myself from looking at you that way, because I was such a coward that I decided I’d rather hang on to what we had than risk trying for anything more.”

I take a deep breath. Fuck, this is the most nervous I’ve ever been. Even before my first professional hockey game, I wasn’t this terrified about what might happen.

“I don’t want to be a coward anymore,” I say, meeting her gaze and holding it. “I don’t want to settle for just a little bit of you. I don’t want to just be friends. Maybe it makes me a selfish asshole, but I want all of you. I want to be your friend and your lover and your protector and your confidant. I want to spend every minute I can with you, because I know those are the moments I’ll look back on and treasure when I’m old and gray. Every single one of them. Because no one makes me feel the way you do.”

Callie sucks in a little breath of air, dragging her lower lip between her teeth as she listens. I plow ahead, determined to get this all out. No matter what happens, I know I have to do what Violet said—I have to put it all on the line.

I have to be the loudest voice in Callie’s head, drowning out all of the negative words and the doubts.

Slowly, with my gaze still locked with hers, I set the bag I’m carrying down on her kitchen table.

“My lucky color is green because of you,” I admit, the corner of my lip twitching into a shaky half smile. “Because of your eyes. That’s why I wear something green to every game. When you came to my first game, I scored, and I knew it was because you were there. You’re my lucky charm, Firefly, and you always have been. I wear green on the ice so that I’ll always feel like you’re out there with me.”

I take a single step closer to her, and I swear I can feel her body heat even from across the space that still separates us. I could almost reach out and touch her, but I don’t. Not yet.

“You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met. Inside and out.” I shake my head, hoping she can read the awe and sincerity in my face. “You’re brilliant, way smarter than I’ll ever be, and you teach me something new every day. You’re sexy as hell, and your laugh is like music to me. In fact, I have categories for each one of your laughs. I could name every single one of them, and the proudest moments of my life are when I get you to do my favorite one. And I hate olives.”

Callie blinks, her face scrunching up at that last part. “What? No you don’t. You’ve been eating olives off my plate for years.”

“I know.” I grimace slightly, chuckling. “But you hate them too, so whenever you got something with olives on it, I ate them for you. Because I want to take care of you. I want to make you happy. And if that means eating olives off your plate? Fuck, I’ll do it every damn day of the week.”

Her eyes widen. “Reese…”

“Do you remember when we were at camp, and we made those charm bracelets with the kids? You were so much better at it than me.” I chuckle. “Which was unsurprising, honestly. But after you helped all of them, you tried to help me, and we made this stupidly messy bracelet that looked like it’d been constructed by a five-year-old. But I kept it. I never got rid of it, not when I moved out of the dorms and not when I bought a house. It always moved with me, and I still have it in my bedroom. I didn’t even know why I kept it back then, but I’m positive now that it’s because some part of me knew I’d met the girl I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. And I wanted to keep something to remember our first summer together.”

My eyes burn with tears, and I swipe at them with the back of my hand. Callie’s lower lip trembles as she watches me, her green eyes glistening.

Swallowing hard, I take a deep breath and drop to my knees.

“I’ll beg if that’s what it takes, Firefly,” I whisper, peeling back every single layer that I can and baring my soul. “I’ll do anything for a second chance. Because I want you. Justyou. What happened between us—it wasn’t fake to me, and I’m definitely not pretending now. Fuck, I love you, Callie. I love you so much, and I always will. My heart knew it belonged to you long before my mind caught up.”

I finally run out of words, and silence fills the little kitchen as I stop talking. I feel like I can’t catch my breath, my heart racing in my chest as if I just played the hardest game of my life on the ice.

Callie gazes down at me, a million emotions passing through her expression so fast that I can’t track or identify them all.

Then she lets out a quiet gasp, the tears in her eyes slipping over her lids to trail down her cheeks. She wipes them away and gives me the most beautiful smile I’ve ever seen in my life.

“Kiss me, you idiot.”

The knot of tension in my stomach breaks, and I’m moving before I even think about it. I surge to my feet, close the distance between us in a few long strides, and crush my lips against hers.

And suddenly, I’m home.

Chapter48

Callie

Reese’s strong arms band around me, pinning me against his body as his mouth claims mine. I can feel the hunger and desperation in the kiss, and I wrap my arms around him, getting swept up in it.

Everything he said, both in his post-game interview and here at my apartment, bounces around inside my head, filling my chest with so much emotion that I feel like it might burst.

“I’m sorry, baby,” he mutters in between kisses, barely pulling his lips away from mine long enough to speak. “I’m so fucking sorry if I ever made you doubt how I feel about you.”

I shake my head, tears welling in my eyes. “It wasn’t you, Reese. It was me. I let my own insecurities get in the way.”

He kisses the tears away as they slip down my cheeks, pressing his lips to my cheeks, my forehead, my chin, my nose, as if he’s trying to imprint a mark on every part of me. “I should’ve fought harder for us.”

I swallow, a knot of emotion welling in my throat. “But you came. You’re here. You’re fighting for us now.”

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