Blindsided (Game On 2)

“Can I tell you something?”

“Of course.”

I felt him take a deep breath before he started to speak. I could tell that whatever he had to say would be big, and I wasn’t ready to look at him. Not until he was finished.

“We’ve been avoiding this serious conversation about what will happen when I go home. I know for sure that I want you in my life, Izzy, but I don’t know how we do that. I don’t know if we can be together, like, in a relationship, when we’re so far apart. The problem is, the idea of not being in a relationship with you is just … I can’t stand it. I don’t want anyone else. I don’t want you to be with anyone else, and I know that’s selfish of me, but it’s how I feel.”

The weight in my chest lifted a tiny bit. Not because I’d miss him any less because of his confession, but because he had been the first to tackle this complicated issue.

“That’s how I feel, too,” I said. “And I’ve tried to be logical about it. I’ve tried to think about all the reasons it can’t work. But I want to try anyway.”

“Really? Because next year, you’re going to be starting Uni, and there’ll be a whole bunch of new guys for you to meet there. I don’t want to stop you from doing anything. I don’t want you to feel like you don’t have a choice.”

I lifted my head, and shifted onto my side so I could see him. “I choose you.”

I loved the way his eyes sparkled when he smiled. It made butterflies flap around in my stomach, and knowing that it was a look he reserved just for me – that made it even more special.

“Well that conversation went better than I thought,” he said, letting out a slightly nervous laugh.

“Me too. I thought maybe you’d want something different.”

“Different than you?”

“Yes.”

He pressed his lips against my forehead. “Never.”

Perhaps I should have questioned him more. Should have asked why me, and not the girls back home. It wasn’t that I’d suddenly become completely sure that I was the best he could ever get, it was just a feeling. Something that told me I didn’t need to ask any more questions because we just knew. We were right together.

I snuggled in closer to him, trying not to think about the fact that with every passing second, he was a little bit closer to leaving. I just wanted to be in the moment with him.

“I know this is crazy soon,” he said. “But I’m pretty sure I’m in love with you.”

The butterflies flapped harder.

Nobody had ever said that to me before. Nobody other than my parents. It had seemed like something that was way off, or something that may never happen to me. Not because I was unlovable but because guys just didn’t seem to understand me. Not Jesse. He saw me. He saw me from the second he so gently asked to see my portfolio because he knew how personal my work was to me. He saw me the time nobody else knew I was uncomfortable in the dress Georgia picked out. He saw me the first time we kissed.

And I saw him.

“I love you too, Jesse.”

The words felt even more weird coming from my own lips, but I meant them completely. Jesse hooked his hand around the back of my neck and the world began to spin out of focus as he kissed me. Like we were drowning, and he needed my kisses to save him. We had just over five hours left together, and as he carefully rolled over on top of me, I knew it.

I knew I would save him.

Chapter Twenty One – Lucky

Jesse

Five a.m. I felt heavy. Heavy with the knowledge that I had to get up, get breakfast, and get ready for Janet and Andrew to take Hunter and I to the airport.

Then I saw her. My girl. She was fast asleep beside me, her hair like a messy blonde halo around her head. Her shoulders poked out from under the covers, and I had to fight the urge to kiss them. To kiss her lips, and her eyelids.

She’d made me promise to not wake her. She said she didn’t want to watch me leave. It was a reluctant promise on my part because after the night we spent together, I would have done just about anything to look into her eyes, and see her smile one more time before I had to go.

My one night with Isabelle meant more than all of the frenzied sex I’d had with Taylor. Isabelle was gentle, sweet, beautiful. She was nervous, but I’d let her take control, set the pace so she wouldn’t feel uncomfortable. Sure, it would have been better if my knee hadn’t been so painful, but I figured, it was already busted up, so having it in an uncomfortable position for a while wouldn’t make it much worse.

It was totally worth it.