AllFreeNovel
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"I know you wouldn't," he said. "You care about people, not likes. Or follows. Or whatever it is now."
"I try to," I said. "People are more important than money."
"That's true," he said. "You're more important to me than anything."
I almost teasingly asked if I was more important to him than football, but I wasn't the kind of girl who would make a guy choose. There was a place in his life for both of us, if he was willing to try.
"You're important to me too." I locked my eyes on his and smiled. "Are you ready to give this a try? Really ready?"
He hesitated for a moment. "Yes," he said firmly. "I've been ready since we met, I just didn't realise it at the time." He cupped my cheek with his hand. "I used to watch you with Kris, the couple of times we all went out. I wondered what you saw in him. He always seemed so, I don't know, boring? I thought you could do better."
"Like you?" I asked, half teasing.
He grinned. "Exactly."
Before I could roll my eyes, or sock him, he leaned in and pressed his mouth to mine. Just soft at first, but gradually deeper until everything disappeared around me but the feel of his mouth and his hand on my neck.
He broke off long enough to say, "I love you."
"I love you too," I said softly. I rose and offered him my hand.
He took it and we walked the handful of steps to my bedroom.
Our clothes lay here and there, all over the floor in a matter of moments. I winced at the bruises on his body. Some were already blue, others were still patches of red.
"Do they hurt?" I asked, trailing my finger lightly down his arm and over his stomach.
Chase glanced down and shrugged. "I'm used to it. They're battle wounds. They show how big a badass I am."
I snorted and tugged him over to my bed. With that other guy, any other guy, I'd have pulled the covers aside and dove under to hide myself. With Chase, I didn't want to hide. With just a glance, he made me feel beautiful. Even sexy. No one ever made me feel that way before. I wanted to share my everything with him. No secrets, no lies, nothing hidden.
Open, honest, naked, real.
I pulled him down onto the covers and wound myself around him. The world melted away, leaving only us, our arms, our bodies, our love.
EPILOGUE
CHASE
"Hey, are you ready?" Ashley looked adorable with her hair tied back, dressed in black jeans and the leather jacket I gave her for her birthday. It was part of her present, along with the brand new motorcycle she stood beside, and the helmet in her hand.
She was scared to learn to ride, at first, but she took to it better than I had. Once I convinced her she really could accept an expensive present like that. She was frugal, and probably always would be, and that was okay. I wasn't. We balanced each other out. I'd never stop giving her expensive presents. She deserved all the good things, and more.
"I think so," she said. "Where is this place again?"
I grinned. "It's a couple of hours from here. You'll love it. One hundred acres of fields and forests. There's a flat spot beside a lake to build on."
I'd had my eye on the land for years, in the hope it would come up for sale some day. Now it was, it was the perfect time to snap it up. I wouldn't play football forever. I wanted to look past that. This land would be the start of all of that.
Our forever home.
"I'll follow you." She jammed her helmet over her hair and swung her leg over her bike.
I'd never not find that as sexy as hell.
"Let's do it." I pushed my own helmet down, mounted my bike and revved the engine so the whole neighbourhood could enjoy the sound.
I glanced back over my shoulder to make sure she was following, then pointed the bike toward the freeway.
Toward our future.
