The Winner Takes All (Complete Collection)

31. The Green Thong of Truth

31

THE GREEN THONG OF TRUTH

Tanner

I’m seeing things.

That’s the only explanation for the nearly buck naked man in my doorway. Questions bounce around my brain: Why is he here? Have his abs always been that tight? And did I look that ridiculous in a thong too?

I rub my eyes in case I’m hallucinating. I part my lips to ask why he’s here. But Luke’s faster at the draw.

He’s always been faster with his mouth. “I screwed up a few weeks ago when you knocked on the door, looking like this,” he says, glancing down at his outrageous get-up, then back to meet my gaze. His green eyes flicker with a vulnerability I haven’t seen in them before. I’m not sure what to make of it either. “I should have told you then about the contract. I should have told you I was upset about it. And I should have told you that even though I was bummed about work, I was not bummed about you. Not in the least. Not at all,” he says, imploring me there at the end, like he desperately wants me to let him in.

But I arch a doubtful brow. I don’t want to get hurt again, and I don’t know where he’s going with this apology. “Okay,” I say cautiously. I stay at the door. I don’t let him in yet.

“I have a lot to say if you’ll let me,” Luke continues, his voice tinged with, I think, hope.

The sound tugs on my heart. Starts to open it again for him. That’s terribly risky, but I’ve always chosen to take risks with him. “Go ahead.”

With intensity in his eyes, but also something soft, something tender, he says, “I was an idiot, and I was selfish, because all I was thinking about were my own frustrations. And I let fear and insecurity determine my choices. I know you don’t get a lot of do-overs in life, but I desperately want one. With you, Tanner . Because there was something else I wanted to say to you that night.”

Oh, hell.

The jerk is already melting me.

I’m so hopeless with him.

I cross my arms and I try to be steel as I say, “And what is that?”

“What I wanted to ask you that night when you came back to the room, and what I still want is this—I want to take the best man to his brother’s wedding in this McLaren I rented.”

I blink, trying to puzzle together his meaning. Except. Shit. Wait. What if this is just a friend apology? A buddy olive branch. I’m not going to put my heart on the line again. “You mean as friends? Since, well, I offered you my heart, and you gave me a towel.”

He frowns, but nods, taking that on the chin. “That’s why I’m here. You put your heart on the line and I stomped on it, but I really hope you’ll give me a second chance rather than some terrycloth.”

My heart is already speeding terrifyingly fast at the possibility. I want that so much.

“What kind of second chance?” I ask, needing to be sure this time around.

“I want it all with you, Tanner. I’m in love with you. And I was so scared I was falling in love with my best friend, and I might lose my edge or something, that I let you get away. But I want you so much and I love you so much that I’m done waiting for things to happen with work, and I’m done thinking my choices are football or love. I want us to happen. For real. I hope you’ll let me try again. Starting tomorrow. That’s what the key is for. I want to take you to the wedding as your date.”

I can’t stop smiling. I can’t stop feeling. I can’t stop wanting everything with him. Even as I shake my head.

“No?” he asks, frowning.

“No, as in starting tonight,” I say declaratively, then I grab his face and kiss the man in the lime-green thong.

My man .

His kiss lights up my soul. And wakes up all my tired parts. Every single one of them. I pull him against me in the door, pouring my love for him into this kiss.

When I let go, Luke’s smiling dopily at me. I expect him to fire off a zinger, but he says, “Really?”

There’s a time and a place for trash talk. And a time and a place to speak from the heart. I speak from mine as I say, “Yes, really. I can’t stay mad at you.” Especially when he looks like that . In that ludicrous outfit. “You rented us a McLaren and showed up in a thong. Get in here. You’re spending the night.”

“Damn right I am,” he says, then struts into my home, tugging at the waistband of his thong. “But I’m taking this off.”

“Yes. You are,” I say.

A few minutes later, we reconnect in the best of ways. In bed, tangled up together, skin hot, breath coming fast, lips touching.

Bodies grinding.

We come together again, and after we’re cleaned up, we get back in bed. “Come here,” I say. “There’s something I need to tell you too.”

He moves closer to me, eyes wide and eager. “Yeah? What is it?”

I cup his cheek and meet his gaze, marveling at the contentedness I see in his eyes. Maybe this was what Luke needed after all—someone to love him whether he has a contract or not. Well, he found it. “I love you,” I say, my heart expanding with all the possibilities of us. There’s so much I want to give him.

“I love you too,” he says, then he presses a firm, confident kiss to my lips. “You’re my best friend and now you’re really stuck with me.”

Tonight is the start of a whole new kind of friendship with him. I’m so ready for what’s next for us.