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So instead, I redirect our conversation. “What about you?” I ask. “What’s something you can’t live without? Let me guess: football?”
“I hope you would know me better by now than to assume that’s my answer. I mean, I love the game, but if my career ended tomorrow, I’d know it was for a reason, and I’d find other ways to leave my mark on this world.”
“That’s a bold statement.”
“It’s the truth. Your career could be over at any time when you use your body for a living and get tackled to the ground multiple times a day. I just take each game one at a time and consider myself lucky to get to play the next one.”
His outlook is refreshing. “So besides football...”
“My family, of course, and definitely eighties music.”
“Oh my God, really?” I giggle.
“Yes. I’m not lying, Pen. I honestly feel like I grew up a decade too late. I love those beats. They completely change my mood, and life is too short to choose anything but joy.”
A twinge of pain radiates from my chest. It’s not that I haven’t felt happy in the past twelve years, but I definitely haven’t actively searched out joy, either.
“If I had you for the night, under me and next to me when we woke up in the morning, what would you want for breakfast?” His next question catches me off guard, particularly because of the way he deepens his voice, the gravel of it almost scraping across my nipples as they instantly grow hard and I remember what it was like to be under him last time.
“Seems to me you think that eventually will happen,” I tease.
“Oh, I know it will, which is why I want to plan ahead.”
“Hmm... not that I want to feed into this ego of yours, but my favorite breakfast would have to be a waffle with strawberries and whipped cream.”
“Really? I figured you for more of an omelet girl.”
“Nope. I love a sweet breakfast. I order one almost every time I go to brunch with my girls.”
“Aw, yes. The ladies who brunch...”
I sit up in bed, excited from his words. “Hey, I like that! We should get matching t-shirts.”
“Just like having jerseys.”
“Yes. I’ll be the QB since I’m usually the one calling the shots, Charlotte can be my tailback, Amelia would be the center, and Noelle can be the wide receiver.”
I can hear his laughter through the line. “Seems like you’ve put a lot of thought into this. And based on what you told me earlier about your girls, I think your position assignments are accurate.”
Yeah, I told Maddox all about my besties. I swear, he must think I’m a lesbian with how enamored I am of all of them. But if there were any women I would turn for, it would be them.
“Actually, I hadn’t thought about it, not until you just said it.”
“Penelope?”
“Yeah?”
“Have you realized we’ve been talking for almost four hours now?”
I glance at my alarm clock on my nightstand and see it’s almost midnight. “Holy shit.”
“See, babe? I can’t remember the last time I wanted to talk to a woman like this.”
“Well, I am pretty entertaining.”
He chuckles. “You are. And you’re funny, witty, smart, and complex—and every little detail I learn about you just makes me want to know you more.”
“You say things like that, and somehow they don’t sound cheesy...”
