43. Sully
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
sully
THE NEXT COUPLE OF weeks passed in tones of red and gold, in passion and in steady calm. I began measuring time in the flicker of a smile or the gasp of a breath, usually hiccupping from Ellie’s throat right before she broke apart for me.
A part of me had forgotten that life could be like this.
Another part of me decided life had never really been like this at all.
I’d never lived with Eleanor. Never got to watch her wake so many mornings in a row.
Never got to study the way her mind worked from sunup to sundown.
Never got to cook her so many meals or make her into one on the kitchen table quite so often, with her legs hooked over my shoulders and my head buried between her legs.
She’d cut my hair, but it was still long enough for her to grab while she screamed my name.
She flitted around my childhood home with an ease and comfort that filled holes in my heart. Laptop in hand, she created different offices for her work every day—cocooned on the couch or the porch or beside me at the kitchen table, which did usually end in distraction.
I didn’t know how to stop touching her.
She didn’t seem to mind.
Today, my entire body buzzed like a live wire as I waited by the front door for her.
She’d called down the stairs a few minutes ago, saying she needed a little more time to get ready for Noah’s football game, and I told her to take as much as she needed, even though I felt like I might jump out of my skin while waiting.
All of my siblings were coming home for the game.
It was a rare event, having us all together.
It was even rarer that it was happening more than twice a year.
But everything had been wrong at Noah’s engagement party—for me, anyway.
Ellie had been uncomfortable and uncertain being around us all, a thing that never should have happened.
She never should have second-guessed whether she belonged there.
She belonged anywhere my family was, and she always would.
I jerked upright at the sound of the door closing at the top of the steps and then Ellie was there, walking down the stairs, looking like she was swimming in my Knights jersey.
She beamed at me with nervous excitement, and God, I couldn’t breathe.
I loved her so fucking much, and to see her smiling at me like that, like maybe she didn’t feel any pain today…
I didn’t know how to handle it. It made me so goddamn happy.
“Hey, Ellie baby,” I said before trying to clear the hoarseness from my throat.
I caught a glimpse of the flush on her face before she bent down to slip on her sneakers.
LONDON was spelled across her back, making my stomach do weird things.
Fuck if that wasn’t a thing of perfection.
A feeling of rightness settled inside me.
There was only one fucking thing, and a grunt sounded in my throat before I could stop it.
Ellie whipped up, her brows drawing together. “What?”
“Nothing.” I straightened. “I just think I need to start playing a sport. And you know how organized activities aren’t really my thing.”
She laughed, but the look of confusion hadn’t wiped off her face. “What are you talking about?”
Shoving my hands in my pockets to keep from grabbing her waist, hauling her over my shoulder, and carting her back upstairs, or maybe to the kitchen table, I rocked back on my heels. “You just look really fucking good with my name on your back.”
Ellie’s face cleared, and then a simmering smile took the place of her previous expression.
She slid her bottom lip between her teeth, biting down on it, and Jesus fucking Christ, I was so ready to bend her over something the way she deserved.
It had been damn near killing me not to, but we’d been taking our time sifting through our birth control options.
“I’m happy to wear this whenever you want,” she said, her eyes twinkling like she could read my mind.
I sighed. “As amazing as you look, Eleanor, I have to admit that it does taint it a bit when I remember that it is not, in fact, my jersey. It’s fucking Noah’s.”
She waved me off as she walked to the front door. “Details.”
I followed her outside and locked the door behind me, all while scowling. “That is one important goddamn detail, El.”
“How about we make our own team?” she asked, spinning around and walking backward toward the car.
I watched her feet carefully, making sure she wasn’t about to trip on the front walk.
“And our own jerseys. And I could wear yours. And it would be all mine. No one else would get to wear it but me.” Her lips pursed in thought. “Do you think it bothers Gemma?”
“What?” I was too distracted by her hazardous walking and how she said “all mine” like that.
“That there are other women out there wearing this jersey.”
“I don’t think you need to be worried,” I said. “She’s not going to care that you’re wearing it, if that’s what you mean.”
“I didn’t really mean me. I’m guessing she knows I have no interest in her fiancé.”
I scoffed. “You better not have any interest in her fiancé. I know he’s a famous fucking football player, but—”
“A famous fucking football player who is basically my brother.”
“Brother-in-law, soon enough,” I agreed with a shrug, my lips tilting to the side.
I had no actual concern about Ellie and any of my brothers, but I did like seeing her skin flush that pretty rosy color.
“I’m just saying,” she continued, all cute and flustered now. “I’m not sure I’d like it.”
“What?”
“Sharing you.”
My insides felt hot. Molten. She’d backed all the way up to the car, and now she was leaning against the side.
I walked right up to her, pressing her into the passenger door, placing my hand on the window to cage her in.
Her head tipped back, staring up at me. We were close enough now that I could see her pupils dilate from my proximity, feel the headiness that existed when we were this close.
“You don’t ever fucking have to,” I murmured. Leaning down, I brushed a kiss against her lips. “Let’s go annoy my siblings, yeah?”
“Yeah.” Her soft giggles made my insides turn to mush. “Let’s do that.”