I stare at the number twelve on the front until she turns around and pulls her long hair over one shoulder, making sure I have the perfect view of the last name stitched across the back.
FLETCHER
Myold jersey.
I’d always seen Ainsley in her own jersey. She wasn’t mine to claim, didn’t watch my games with my name on her back for everyone to see. And I’d never asked. Not until I won our bet from our first date.
Seeing her like this now, knowing she’s completely bare underneath the jersey displaying my last name...
It was worth the wait.
My dick hardens as I rise from the bed and stalk over to her. “You look good wearing my name.”
She bites her bottom lip as I come up behind her and slide my hands underneath the hem of the jersey, roaming over her smooth skin. My palms slide over her nipples, and they harden as she shivers.
“It belongs to you now.” My eyes flick to the mirror across the room as I sink my teeth into her neck. “You look like mine.”
Her eyes meet mine in the reflection. “Feeling possessive, are we?”
“When it comes to you?” I slip my fingers between her thighs and coat my fingers in her wetness. “Always.”
Her head falls back against my shoulder as she moans, but she doesn’t take her eyes off mine through the mirror. “Make love to me, Landon.”
Love.
My heart slams into my chest, begging to be set free. “As much as I love the way you look in this jersey, it’s going to have to come off.”
She lifts her arms overhead, and I peel it off her in a slow, torturous pull, and then drop it to the floor. I scoop her up in myarms and carry her over to the bed. After I lay her down, I tear out of my clothes. My dick grows under the hungry look in her eyes, as she rubs her thighs together.
I pull out a condom from her nightstand and sheath myself before climbing on top of her. I tease her entrance, coating myself in her arousal while she spreads her legs wide.
“God, you’re beautiful, baby.” I caress her face and lean down to capture her lips.
I slide myself inside her, inch by inch, using every ounce of strength I have to keep from plunging into her, hard and fast.
Ainsley clings to me, those sexy legs wrapped around my waist like a vice. My hands trail along her soft skin until I reach her plump ass. I grip it tight, and pull myself out of her before thrusting back inside.
Ainsley holds the pieces of my broken past in her hands, and protects them; keeps them safe for me so I can experience the incredible future we’re going to have without fear of judgment or pain. She sees the man I am now, and appreciates all I’ve been through to get here. She cares for me. She sees me. Gazing into her hazel eyes, I can’t help but tell her exactly that.
“I love you, Ainsley. You know that, don’t you?”
She clutches my face and pulls me in for a kiss that’s passionate and filled with every emotion I’m feeling inside. “I love you, Landon. You took my heart with you when you left for college that day.”
Tears prick at the backs of my eyes, and I blink through my watery vision to see her. “I’ll never leave you again, baby. I promise. Not until something takes me from this earth, and even then, my soul will keep searching until I find you again.”
Tears streak down her face, and I kiss them away. “I love you, Ainsley. I love you.”
“I love you,” she whispers.
There aren’t many things certain in life. Not a job, not marriage, not health. It can all be gone in an instant.
But love lasts for eternity. It transcends time and space. It changes everything and turns it into something new.
It heals.
And it brings two rivals together.
Chapter 39
