Chapter 42
Billie
It’s late before we get home since I had to close, but I feel brighter, as if I was stumbling around in the darkness and someone finally turned on the lights.
I’m not stupid, I understand there’s a lot we need to figure out, but he has to trust me—and our love for each other—enough to know that we’ll find a way.
I have so many options, the world is literally mine for the taking.
It’s just going to be a matter of discovering which option will work best for us as a couple.
“I need to touch you, Billie,” he says the moment we’re inside.
“Hold that thought,” I reply, leading him to the guest room. “I smell like old corndogs, stale apple pie, and burned oil. I need a shower. And you should wait for me—” I point at the bed. “—right there.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He grins and starts peeling off his clothes.
I take the world’s fastest shower, put my wet hair up in a towel, and brush my teeth. Then I pad into the bedroom stark naked. Rome’s lying on the bed, also naked, and he crooks a finger at me.
“Come here, beautiful.”
“Remember that night when you got hurt?” I ask, shaking out my hair and tossing the towel before crawling over the bed toward him.
“I’ll never forget it. That was the first time you sucked me.”
“I couldn’t believe we were finally alone. It felt like there was never to be an opportunity for me to tell you I liked you.”
“I couldn’t believe the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever met wanted to suck my dick.”
I nestle into his chest and slide my legs between his. “Always. You know that’s my favorite thing.”
“I am the luckiest man on earth.”
For a few minutes there doesn’t seem to be anything to say.
But there is.
We have to talk about the elephant in the room.
“Are you getting traded?” I ask, bracing myself.
“I don’t know, babe. There are no trades until our season is over, and then this summer is the expansion draft.”
“They won’t protect you.”
It’s not a question because that’s basically a given. Even I know they’re going to protect superstars and the guys with no-trade clauses in their contracts.
“No.”
“Ugh. Atlanta. It’s so humid .”
“They’re not taking me,” he says quietly. “Of all the things for us to worry about, that’s not it.”
“Has your agent been putting out feelers?” Bodi has never been in demand like that, but I know the basics of how the process works.
“I told him not to,” he says after a slight hesitation.
Confusion washes over me. I know he wants to play one more year.
He needs to play one more year, to pay off his ex and his cabin.
“Why?” I ask softly.
“Because it would mean being away from you. And I don’t want to. Not after the last couple of weeks. I couldn’t stand being apart.”
“We could survive the long-distance thing for nine months,” I whisper. “You need to pay off Denise and?—”
“That’s done.”
“It is?” I lift my head, even more confused than before. “How?”
“I sold my cabin.”
“You sold…” I can’t wrap my head around what he’s saying. “But why would you do that?”
“Because now that I have you, I don’t need a safety net.
And that’s all it was. You’re way more important than a place to live.
You’re more important than anything, baby.
So Denise is paid off and the money that’s left will buy us a franchise of the diner, so we can live anywhere you want.
” He pauses. “Even here, if this is where you want to be.”
“ Rome .” There’s a roaring in my ears, the kind that means I’m overwhelmed with surprise and gratitude and… love. A kind of love I never imagined.
“You’re not going to cry again, are you?”
“No, but…you sold your cabin?” I’m still struggling to believe it.
“It’s just a building with absolutely no meaning. At the time it represented freedom. From a bad marriage and a lifetime of mistakes. As someone very wisely pointed out, it was where I could go lick my wounds. The thing is, you healed them all.”
I kiss him with what I hope is everything I’m feeling. Because it’s a lot.
“I want to get married,” I whisper between kisses.
“Okay.” He rubs his hands down my back.
“But I don’t know if I want babies,” I murmur, nuzzling the underside of his jaw.
“I’m not sure either.”
“You and Bodi have to try to get along.” I stop kissing him and make sure he’s looking at me. “Can you do that?”
“I can do anything you need me to do.” He brushes my hair back from my face. “I love you, Billie. The only thing I care about is making you happy.”
“It will make me happy if you don’t try to make decisions for me. Make them with me, even when things get tough.”
“The next year will probably be tough,” he whispers. “But I’m going to try to love you so hard and so well that you won’t notice.”
“Should I take that literally?” I tease, even though my heart feels like it’s swelled to twice its normal size—it’s so full right now.
“Literally and figuratively. My love for you is literal, figurative, and infinite.”
God, I love this man.
“Show me,” I whisper.
With his lips fused to mine, he rolls over so he’s on top of me. He nudges my entrance and then slides in with one firm but gentle thrust. Then he pauses, looking down at me. Leaning on one elbow, he uses his other hand to brush my damp hair out of my face.
“I will never get tired of looking at you,” he says in that gruff, baritone I love so much. “Touching you. Loving you. Every single day.”
“And I’ll never get tired of looking into your eyes. You know I can see straight into your soul, right?”
He smiles. “I do now.”
“It shows me everything I need to know, even when you have trouble saying the words.”
His lips find mine again, and our bodies blend into an exquisite tangle of kisses and passion and…love. So much love. If there’s such a thing as love personified, it’s this. Us .
My orgasm comes on gradually, a gentle detonation that’s no less pleasurable because he’s right there with me. Bodies and souls become one as we move together until the last waves pass and then he collapses against me, lips against my throat, fingers buried in my hair.
“You’re my world, beautiful girl.”
“Are you still afraid I’m going to wreck you?”
“Terrified.” He chuckles. “But I’m still coming back for more.”
“You’d better.”
“What about you?” He stares into my face, and I smile.
“I’ve been waiting my whole life for you.”