He took a step forward. “Are you sure?”
She closed the distance and wrapped her arms around his sweaty waist. “To be honest, you already have it. I think you have for a while now.”
He pulled her tight and crushed her to him.
She breathed in, not caring about the ripe undertones not masked by deodorant. She wanted to experience him. All of him. The good and the bad. The old and the new. “Seth,” she murmured.
Leaning back, he peered down into her eyes.
She licked her dry lips, a thrill shooting through her middle as his gaze darted down to follow the movement across her mouth.
See what happens.
“You know how you said I didn’t need to experience everything everyone else did in order for me to relate to others?”
He dragged his gaze back up to meet hers, one brow rising as he tried to follow her thought process.
“Well…” She pushed up on her toes, bringing their faces closer together. Her hands wove over his shoulders and clasped behind his neck. “There is one thing I’d like to experience.”
His breath hitched then fanned warm over her face. “What’s that?”
By degrees she leaned in. “My first kiss.”
His hand lifted to cup the side of her face, his thumb brushing across her bottom lip. “You are so beautiful. From the moment we met, I was captivated. But I’d never want to rush you or do anything that would make you uncomfortable.”
“Stop being a monk and kiss her already, you blighter!”
The wretched curse of her fair complexion caused her cheeks to heat, but she grinned in spite of the reminder of an audience. “You heard him. Kiss me, you blighter.”
“As you Southerners say, yes, ma’am.” His head lowered and her eyes slid shut just as his lips softly brushed against hers.
Nothing could have prepared her for that moment. For the electric shock that zapped through her body. The warmth pooling in her center. The sense of rightness and completeness the mere touching of their lips created.
Tentatively at first, and then with conviction, she moved her mouth against his. Testing. Tasting. Giving. Receiving. With her lips, but without words, she confessed her love and sealed it with the promise of things to come.
A cheer erupted around them, bringing her back to the present. They both grinned, their mouths reluctant to separate. With more effort than she thought would be necessary, she pulled back and shyly smiled up at Seth.
“In case you didn’t get the message, I love you too,” she said.
He settled her against his chest and pressed a kiss against her temple. “Thank you for not making me wait too long, luv.” Then he leaned back and winked. “But remember who said it first and therefore scored the opening point.”
She pulled out of his arms and twisted her lips into a saucy smirk. Walking past him, she stopped at the ball that had rolled a few feet away. With the tip of her toes, she rocked it back and scooped it up onto the top of her foot. She volleyed the ball into the air and kept it from hitting the ground by bouncing it off one knee and then the other. She vaulted it higher in the air. Right before the ball hit the ground, she kicked it into a perfect arc toward the net.
Turning, she met Seth’s gaze with a grin. “Game on.”
Epilogue
England, One Month Later
“That’s Seth Marshall.”
Amber understood the awe laced in that pronouncement. She wasn’t sure she’d ever get over the sense of wonderment at the thought that the man beside her loved her. It was everything she’d ever read in books or heard from other girls. Butterflies in the stomach. Weak in the knees. And when they kissed? More fireworks than the Fourth of July.
She understood his public life, but fandom didn’t give other people rights to Seth. Plus, Hawkins knew better. She’d given all the guys at Rivendall fair warning and threats to be on their best behavior.
She glared over her shoulder at the infantry veteran suffering from a traumatic brain injury, forcing her lips to not tip up at the little boy hero worship in his gaze. What was it with Brits and soccer? Although, to be fair, she probably looked at Seth that way too. “Eyes in your head, Hawkins.”
Hawkins just grinned back unabashed.
