Chapter Twenty-Three
Ryan
Sofia really loves everythingI created in the field. I was worried. I hadn’t ever done something like this for a girl. When I asked my mom to help me last night, she was all for it, but I was still nervous. Sofia isn’t like most girls. She’s driven and knows what she wants. I worried that I would have to do something more to impress her, but that wasn’t the case.
She loves it.
Her eyes have been sparkling the whole time, and boy, they’re breathtaking. Looking into her eyes, feeling her hand in mine, I feel as if I’m taking a billion pucks to the chest. She blows me away. I thought when I spilled my guts earlier she’d run the other way, but she comforted me. Like she did after the game, something else I hadn’t expected. Usually, I have to call Shea or my mom for reassurance, but Sofia had me.
It’s so easy with her. I don’t have to choose my words or overthink anything. I just am with her. It’s an amazing feeling, and I can’t get enough. I don’t want to be anywhere but with her, and the thought that we can’t spend every waking moment together has me on edge. I knew it going in, but finding out she has feelings she can’t ignore changes everything. I’ve had the same feelings and thoughts for a while now. I just didn’t know how to tell her.
I stroke my fingers along her arm, and she lies in the nook between my chest and arm, breathing evenly. As I feel her heartbeat, her breath against my neck, my body shivers with want for her. I’ve never wanted a girl the way I want her. I move my head, looking down at her as she looks up at me, a small grin pulling at her lips. “What time do you need to be back?”
She shrugs. “I don’t want to think about it right now.”
I eye her. “You’ve already checked the time?”
She fights back a grin. “Yeah, I have an hour before we need to leave. I have my math class at three, and then I gotta be at the bus by six.”
I glide my hand along her cheek, pushing her curls out of her eyes. “Are you excited?”
“I am,” she answers with an exhale. “Gotta beat my scores from last time.”
I scoff. “How do you beat a ten?”
“Get another one,” she says with a wink, and I grin down at her.
“Only you can do it.”
She shakes her head. “Amelia could.”
My heart clenches. “I’d probably faint if she did.”
“She will. I believe in her.”
God, Sofia’s amazing. I search her eyes as I move my thumb along her jaw. “Thanks for being so good to my sister.”
She shakes her head, her lips pursed. “Ryan, that girl saved me. I owe her my life.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I didn’t want to be her friend. I just wanted to get done and kick ass, but she wouldn’t leave me alone. Now that I have her, I can’t picture my life without her.”
I smile affectionately. “She’s pretty great.”
“She is, but then so are you,” she whispers, leaning into my hand. “You Justice people don’t play when you want something, huh?”
I laugh softly. “Nope, not at all. It’s not in our blood to fail.”
“I love that,” she says, her eyes darkening. “Because if you hadn’t persisted, I don’t think I would be this happy.”
I grin. “So, you’re happy?”
“I am. Scared out of my mind but happy.”
“Scared?”
She gives me a sheepish grin. “Amelia said if I hurt you, she’ll break my kneecaps.”
Of course she did. I snort with laughter as she giggles along with me. “She’s insane.”
“I don’t know if she was joking.”
“She wasn’t. She’s a nut,” I laugh, shaking my head. “But you know what?”
“What?”
“I’m not the least bit worried, and you shouldn’t be either.”
“No?”
“No, ’cause I’d never hurt you, and we both know going into this what could happen.”
She blinks, looking every bit confused.
“I’m going into the draft, and I’ll have to leave,” I explain, and she nods.
“And we’d break up.”
Her words sound so sad, smashing my heart to pieces. “I don’t know. I don’t want to think about that,” I say. “I never said that. Jeez.”
She grins, her eyes burning into mine, but her smile doesn’t reach her eyes. “You brought it up.”
“I did. I suck,” I decide. The thought of leaving her just hurts. How in the hell that happened is beyond me, but thinking about it sucks. When she purses her lips at me, her eyes so dark, I can’t handle it. I move my lips and press them ever so softly to hers as my heart pounds in my chest. Moving my hand into her hair, I tangle my fingers the way I’ve been dreaming they would, leaving me tight everywhere. Turning to my side, I wrap my arm around her, holding her to my chest as I kiss her sweet mouth. Drawing the kisses out of her and needing so damn much more.
When she pulls back, her eyes are hooded as she gazes into mine. I can feel her heart beating in time to mine, but I feel so much more. I don’t know what that is, but the fact that I only have an hour left with this girl before she leaves for her meet and then works all weekend has me battling with myself to beg her not to do any of it.
To stay with me.
But that would be selfish.
Problem is, she makes me want to be just that.