Page 62 of Winter Break Up

“Yeah, sure.” I hear Gen’s sarcastic voice. “Use a condom!”

“Ew! Gen, gross!” Charlie’s digested tone follows me up the basement stairs.

Giggles come out of my throat as Mercer drags me through the house, getting so impatient at one point that he picks me up so I’m straddling his waist.

“Sorry I was playing beer pong for so long.” His hand reaches up the back of my shirt as he takes the stairs to my bedroom two at a time.

“I have an idea how you can make it up to me.”

“Fuck, but I love you.” He growls, grinding against me as we make it to the landing of the second floor.

Turning expertly, Mercer barrels into my room as I suck on his neck, a groan filling the darkness.

Nearly throwing me, the boy I’ve always loved prowls over my body like I’m the most delicious snack he’s ever seen.

Except as his face becomes visible in the moonlight, his expression is more reverent than horny.

“God, you’re beautiful.” His hands run over my cheeks.

Inside my chest, my heart thumps. I can’t believe I almost lost him over how stupid and afraid I was. Our love is so large it feels tangible, like it’s another being in this room.

“How am I going to get through the next couple of months without you?” I murmur, inhaling his incredible scent.

“Lots of FaceTime sex.” His hands skate up under my sweater and goosebumps pebble my flesh.

“I’m serious. We only just got back together … how will we do this long distance thing?” It really worried me that I wouldn’t see him for an unknown period of time.

Mercer pulls back. “I know. I hate it, too. But it’s only six months tops. It’s not like it’s the full four years of college. We’re nearly done. And you can fly down to me once and a while, I’ll fly up here. We can meet in the middle for a weekend. We are going to do this; it won’t be easy, but it’s worth it. So worth it. I promise it’ll go by quickly.”

I nod, tears dotting the corners of my eyes.

“Plus, we’re going to be experts at phone sex by the end.” He cracks a joke and I chuckle.

“And after graduation?”

“Whatever you want to do, wherever you land, we’ll make it work.” He cups my face.

I decide to take the dive and ask the question I’ve been wondering about since we started hooking up again.

“And if I want to be in the same city as whatever team signs you?”

“Then we’re moving into an apartment before you can argue.” He smirks like he’s got it all figured out.

My heart soars. Teenage Emily would be over the moon at his answer; thinking about our grown up life had been one of my favorite daydream scenarios in high school. If I told her we were talking about moving in together in the near future, she’d probably jump on her bed all giddy and girly-like.

I have no argument, even now at his first proposal of this. Where I thought I’d be worried and afraid of next steps, it’s like my brain flipped a switch and I’m accepting of all these big moments to come in our future. I let my walls down, Mercer helped me to take them back down, and all I can see is clear skies for us.

“We’re really doing this. We’re fulfilling all the things we talked about when we were those little high schoolers making out in my basement.” I can’t help but blurt it out.

“Remember when we picked out our kid’s names?”

Did I remember it? I mooned over that memory often. Of course back then, we were just naive idiots who thought nothing could touch our love. But now … those things we’d daydreamed about were real possibilities.

“Of course I do.” I pull his shirt up his back, eager to feel him inside me even though this conversation is just as intimate as sex.

“What if we get started on getting really, really good at practicing for them?”

That should not get me wet. The idea of having children with Mercer should not turn me on. Him muttering weird dirty talk like having a baby together should not get me hot and bothered.

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