Page 134 of Only in Your Dreams

“I already did.”

She throws her head back in a laugh and I lift my head from between her tits just to soak it in. “You’re awfully confident tonight. Is it because I let you fly me out here at the drop of a hat, or the fact that I’m naked underneath you?”

“Neither. It’s the way you’re looking at me tonight.”

“I’m looking at you different?”

“You are. It’s the first time since you’ve been back where I haven’t seen it once. That look you give like you’re not sure about me.” I pause, assessing her. The way not one single part of her stunning face feels closed off. “Are you sure about me, Clover?”

She rolls her eyes, but they twinkle when they find me again.

“You don’t even need to say it,” I tell her. “I know you. I know what it looks like when you hate me. What it looks like when you’re trying to figure me out. You’re giving me none of that tonight.”

“You’re not about to tell me you’ve already named our kids, are you?”

Our kids.

The last time I brought up the idea of a family together, she looked at me like I was insane.

I shake my head. “You’re in with me, and that’s all I care about. The rest of it… I’ll throw in a counter offer here and there, because that’s what I’m supposed to do. But just so you know? You’ll get your way every time.”

“You’re in a sappy mood tonight, Porter.” She runs a hand down my bare chest, pushes me until I’m sitting, and crawls over to straddle me. “I’m not sappy. It’s just not me.”

“I’m well aware,” I say, pulling her closer.

She toys with the waistband of my boxer briefs, fingers grazing the tip of my cock. “And you still want to be with me?”

“Need, Clover. I’m so pastwantit’s unhealthy.”

She kisses my neck. “But I wouldn’t write you sonnets. And I’d probably never remember to light candles when I make you a nice dinner. In fact, I’m an awful cook. So, you’d have to do all of that, too.”

“We can make that happen.”

She nips my lip. “You’d never get me to serenade you.”

“I can live with that.”

She takes my face between her palms, stroking her thumb over the bruised side of my face. “I won’t ever be sappy. But I’ll always be willing to throw punches for you, in all my tiny-fisted glory. I’ll nurse you back to health every time you get sucker punched, take in as many college kids as you can care for, find you as many wide receivers as you need to win all the championships you deserve.”

It’s a whole surge of adrenaline, being so close to having everything you’ve always wanted. In football, it’s where you really show your worth. That Superbowl game where you either show up and perform, or fold under the pressure and lose it all.

In the moments where I dared to let myself dream of a time where I’d be right where I am now, I swore I’d never botch it. I’d make the most of the opportunity, leave it all on the field.

I need to tell her, in case it isn’t already painfully obvious. How desperately in love I am with her. How having her in my life again took the love I already had for her, turned it on its head. Propagated it, deepened it, making a damn mockery of the way I felt before.

You thought that was love? Let me show you what the real thing looks like.

Melody places a soft kiss to my lips, trails them along the bruised side of my face, down my neck, over my bare shoulder. My heart is beating a mile a minute. The words are ready to tumble out of my mouth.I love you, I’ve always loved you, I’ll never stop.

She rests her forehead on my shoulder and I run my fingers through her hair, feeling my heartbeat everywhere.

“Melody—”

“What is that?”

I frown, trying to figure out what she means, what she’s looking at.

And that’s when I remember I took my shirt off.

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