“I’m supposed to be wining and dining you tonight, not the other way around,” I say as I turn to find a vase to put the flowers in. They smell amazing.
“Can’t let you have all the fun,” he whispers in my ear, sending a shiver down my spine.
Wrapping his arms around my waist, Jace kisses a path from my ear to my collarbone.
Getting lost in the moment, I close my eyes and lean back against his firm body. As he holds me tightly, we stand like that for a few minutes before he releases me, taking the vase from my hands and then filling it with water.
While we wait for dinner to finish cooking, Jace helps me set the bar top with place settings. I’m listening to him tell me about his morning with the guys at the pool, but my focus is still on the text from last night.
“Can I ask you something?” I interrupt, not wanting to lose the nerve to ask him. When he nods, I open my mouth to speak, but nothing comes out.
“Presley.” He reaches his hand toward me, but I can’t bring myself to place my palm in his. “What’s wrong? I’ve never seen you so hesitant.”
“Did you mean it?” I finally ask, my voice barely above a whisper as I look down at my feet.
“Did I mean what?”
“The text.”
“Yes. All of it. I meant every word.”
Jace’s shoes appear in my line of vision, and then he slowly lifts my chin.
“Every. Single. Word.” Each word is punctuated with a kiss.
“You can’t. It’s too soon, right?”
“To start falling in love with you? No. I’m pretty sure I’ve been looking for you my entire life, Presley. I’m just glad I finally found you.”
“But we barely know each other,” I protest.
“You’re right. I have no idea what you like on your pizza. Or if you’re a bad driver. I don’t know what you’re like when you’re angry or what sets you off. What I do know is that you have a huge heart. You treat people with respect even when they don’t deserve it. You give everyone a chance before writing them off. And when you smile, you light up an entire room.
“There’s a lot we don’t know about each other, and that’s okay. There’s still time. That doesn’t mean that I can’t love the person I’ve gotten to know. That I won’t love the rest of you when you finally let me in. Because as far as I can tell, Presley, the important things about a person are not the things they tell you about themselves with words. It’s their actions that speak to the kind of person they are.”
Staring up into Jace’s eyes, the words are on the tip of my tongue when the timer on the oven goes off, ruining the moment. Still, neither of us moves. Neither of us looks away. It’s not until I smell the garlic toast burning that I spring into action.
It’s too late to save the bread, though.
“I’m sorry if I freaked you out,” Jace says after we’re seated.
“It’s not that. I just...”
What, Presley? You just want to be able to say it back and are scared shitless.
You chose him!
Over Lennon. Over the other guys.
You want to be with him. Only him. Today and next week. After the game is over.
When you step back into the real world, you want him by your side. You want to make this work.
Yet you can’t even be honest with him about why you’re freaking out.
“You don’t have to explain. I don’t want you to think I’m pressuring you, because I’m not. That’s the last thing I want to do, but that also doesn’t mean I didn’t mean what I wrote. I meant every word. And yes, maybe it is a little too soon, a little fast. There are a lot of things we don’t know about each other, things I still want to tell you about me that I haven’t told anyone here. Things that I’ve kept a secret for a reason. And I plan to tell you, but there are only so many places the cameras aren’t and to be honest, this isn’t a conversation I want to have in the bathroom.”
I want to laugh, but he has a point. The only place there isn’t a camera pointed at us would be in the bathroom, and it doesn’t seem right to have such an important conversation next to the toilet.