AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Happy Thanksgiving.” She beams and steps aside to let me in.
“Happy Thanksgiving.” I kiss her cheek. Sooner or later, we have to grow comfortable with physical affection, but I’m not sure what she’s comfortable with yet, so I’m playing it safe.
“Come in. I have to get my side dish packed to go over. How was your flight?”
I follow her in, my eyes on her ass in a tight pair of jeans. “Too long.”
“Yeah, but you’ve got two days off.” She pulls a casserole of cheesy potatoes out of the oven where she was keeping it warm. It’s her specialty dish, the one she’s always responsible for at my family’s house.
I help her put it in the carrying case. “This is the first year, other than my rookie year, that I wish the season was over already.”
She bites her lip. “Why would that be?” The flirtatious glint in her eye says she knows exactly why.
“There’s this hot blonde I’ve been talking to. She lives in this small town far away and I can’t stop thinking of her.”
A blush rushes to her cheeks, and she shakes her head. “X.”
“I’m serious. It’s so hard to concentrate on the game when I only want to see you. I feel like we’re stalled until I come home for good.”
She zips up the carrying case and faces me. “We’re not. The phone conversations are doing us good. And your abundance of gifts tells me everything I need to know.” She looks over to her fireplace mantel, where all my flowers sit. “Which you don’t have to do anymore.”
“Yes, I do.” I step closer to her, and she inhales. Her back is against the counter, and I place my hand on her cheek, running my thumb over the apple of her cheek where her blush grows pinker. “Can I kiss you?”
Her eyes give me the answer I want, but I wait for the words. “You don’t have to ask.”
I lean forward and press my lips to hers. She moans and I press my lips firmer, my tongue seeking entrance. She willingly parts her lips and our tongues dance in a rhythm we haven’t yet perfected, but having her like this in my arms, with our lips locked… I never want to be away from her. I slowly close the kiss but don’t step back.
Her hands are spread on my chest. “We should go.”
“We should stay here and say screw my family.”
She tilts her head, giving me the expression that says that can’t happen. “Speaking of.”
“What?”
“Are we friends today?”
I hear the hitch in her voice. The unsteadiness that says she thinks I’ll say yes, and this past month meant nothing.
“I was going to talk to you about that.” I take her hands. “What are you comfortable with? Have you told anyone?”
“Just Presley,” she says, which I expected.
“I’ll leave it up to you. I’d like to be honest with them.”
She nods. “Okay, if you’re sure.”
“Clara.” I place my finger under her chin and urge her to look me in the eye. “I’m positive. I’m in this. One hundred percent.”
She nods enthusiastically as though she wasn’t doubting me, but it’s clear a mantel full of red roses won’t heal the wound I caused. “I know.”
“Do you?”
“I do. I’m just protecting myself still, I think, and I second-guess things.”
“Once I get back here after the season, I’ll prove it to you.” I kiss her one more time. This one is short and brief. “Come on. We’re about to make Marla’s day.”
She laughs and I pick up the carrying case, leading us out the front door.
