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Gabe put his hand around my waist, putting slight pressure there so I would scoot over until our sides were pressed up against each other. When I looked up at him shyly, all I saw were his luscious lips as they descended and greeted my own.
Sigh.
Maybe I needed to stop worrying about what happened out in the real world, and just enjoy my time in fantasyland.
Chapter Seventeen ~ Gabe
“You good?” I asked Zoey. She was lying on top of me, we were both naked, and my hand was drawing circles on her back.
After we had our fill of beer, s’mores, and the company of my cousins, we’d come back to her place, and this time, I took the lead. She’d been sweet, responsive, and sexy as hell, and now we were both working on evening out our breathing as we laid in the dark.
“Mmmm,” she responded drowsily. “Yeah, why?”
“You seemed a little off when you first got to the bonfire. I just wanted to make sure nothing happened.”
Zoey pushed against my chest with her hands, tucking her thick hair back so it flowed in a mass around her. Damn, but she was beautiful.
“I had a minor freak-out after we got back from the waterfall,” she admitted.
“What about?”
She chewed on her lip nervously and averted her eyes, then said to the wall, “I started thinking about how different we are. Not just in our career paths, but in our relationships … I realized that you’ve probably been with a lot of women.” She flinched when she said it, and my stomach clenched at her words. “Not that I’m insinuating anything. It’s just, I’m much less experienced.”
I grasped her chin gently and brought her face back to me.
“I’m not going to lie to you, but I’m not going to go into great detail either. Yes, I’ve been with my share of women. The first few years I was in the NFL, I was a little out of control. It was a lot to handle all at once … the money, the fame, the women, but after a while I realized I wasn’t living the life that I wanted, so I stopped.”
Her dark eyes were wide, but I didn’t see any judgment there, so I asked, “Is that the only thing you were freaking out about?”
“I’m worried that you’ll find me boring … once the shine wears off.”
The chuckle escaped before I could help it, causing Zoey’s face to grow tight.
“Hey,” she said as she slapped a hand on my chest. “I?
??m being serious.”
“I know, I’m sorry,” I replied, biting off my laughter. “But, Zoey … Babe … the last thing you could ever be is boring.”
“You say that now, but just wait until every time you see me I’m in pajamas or yoga pants, with my hair a mess, a coffee stain on my teeth, and a half-eaten Red Vine in my hand. Or, when you want to hang out, and all I want to do is catch up on The Walking Dead. I don’t have friends that I go out with. I don’t have an active social life. I’m just me … B-O-R-I-N-G Zoey.”
My chest was shaking, and it was nearly impossible not to laugh out loud as she ranted.
“Look, it’s early stages yet, but let me lay some stuff out for you,” I started, lifting to give her a quick kiss on the lips before going on. “I sometimes have to go to events, make appearances, and stuff like that. I’ll invite you, and you can come if you want. If not, no problem. I’m not going to make you do things you don’t want to do. I have friends, but mostly I have family. My family’s important to me, and yours is important to you. I may ask you to come meet the rest of my family, or join us for holidays, but I won’t expect you to be at my beck and call for all social outings. That work for you?”
She blinked, then nodded slowly.
“I like The Walking Dead, and I also have to catch up on the last season of Sons of Anarchy. Have you seen it?”
“Yes.”
“Well, it’s up to you whether you watch it with me or not. I like to watch sports. I already know that you don’t, but maybe while I’m watching sports, you can read, or write…”
“That sounds good,” she said softly, the fear starting to leave her face and her lips twitching.
“Do you want to have kids some day?”
At that, her eyes widened so much I feared they’d pop out of her head.
