“I did.”
“Is that all of it?” Her chest rose and fell heavily with every breath she took.
“That’s all of it,” I admitted, dipping my head down, letting my nose brush against her temple then her jaw.
“You sure?” she whimpered, squirming against me. I breathed in just as my nose moved to her collarbone. She smelled so good. Like her body mist and arousal and mine.
“I promised I wouldn’t lie to you, Sadie,” I reminded her.
“A-are you… are you going to stop?” Her voice cracked, her gaze glassy yet slightly weary. “Now that we’re together?”
“Now that we’re together,” I repeated with relief. She wasn’t ending it. She wasn’t going to try and run away from me to kick me to the curb. “No. I’m not going to stop, little bird.” Her grip on my shirt tightened.
Our eyes locked, and for a moment, the world stood still. It was just her and me and this monumental moment. Whatever she did next would define the rest of our lives.
“Sadie—“ I couldn’t say anything other than her name because she took me by surprise when that unreadable mask broke into a smile that lit her up from the inside out.
“Why do I like that?” she blurted. Tears of relief stung the back of my eyes.
“Because we’re made for each other. You’re my other half,” I replied without thinking. I’d never thought of myself as poetic, but I guess there was some truth about speaking from the heart.
“Made for each other,” she repeated, lifting her body to the tips of her toes, not that she had to go too far with the way I was leaning over her, caging her small, delicate body against the wall of the dugout. “I like that, too.” She sighed.
“Yeah? What else do you like? Me perhaps?” I flirted, trying to lighten the mood.
“No,” she answered directly, her eyes trained on mine.
“You don’t like me?” I repeated with a huskiness in my tone I didn’t recognize.
“No.” Sadie shook her head, but the way her eyes glittered at me with amusement made me relax. “I don’t like you, Jason. I love you,” she said the words I hadn’t known I had been waiting for. “It’s crazy fast. I’m not sure when it happened—“ She kept speaking, but all I could here wasI love you.
I love you.
I love you.
Without hesitation, I picked her up, and she wrapped her sweet legs around my waist. I pinned her against the wall.
“Say it again.”
“It was fast?”
“No,” I growled.
“I’m not sure when?—“
“Sadie,” I warned, and her hands cupped my face. Warmth bloomed beneath her touch, making every fucking droplet of blood inside my body travel southbound while I leaned into her caress. I’d thought I’d been hard that first time with her, but that was nothing compared to my cock feeling like a goddamn sledgehammer between my legs.
“Sadie,” I repeated her name, pleading to hear those sweet three little words once again.
To know I hadn’t imagined them in the delirium of my obsession when it came to her. Her gaze softened, and there was something about the way she looked at me that made me lock my knees before they gave out beneath my weight. The awe and wonder, love and respect fucking fueled something inside of me despite how unhinged I felt. I wanted to be a good man for her. The best kind. The type of man who would deserve her, who had the privilege of standing beside her no matter what kind of storm life brought our way. One who would put her and any other family we created as his priority. Not because he was obligated by duty but because it was an honor.
“I love you, Jason Lucas. I think… I think I fell in love with you when I held that elevator open for you and saw you for the first time.”
“Fuck,” I cursed. My forehead pressed against hers. My lips hovered over hers as we shared the same warm air.
“Little bird,” I groaned, feeling the silky-smooth skin of her thighs as my palms slid beneath the flimsy material of hersundress. “I need you,” I rasped. I didn’t think it was possible to get drunk off someone, but here I was, drunk with lust and need that coursed through me like a fucking Mack truck, an undeniable need rushing through my veins to take her right here and now.
“I’m yours,” she answered fiercely.
