Perfect for You(25)

“Come on.” He slips his arm around my waist and picks up my book bag, which fell to the floor when I threw myself at him. “I think we may need to get you examined before practice today. You’re acting funny.”

“How about we skip practice and go somewhere? Just the two of us?”

He stops walking and faces me. “Meg, the first game is tomorrow and you want me to ditch practice? Coach would kill me.”

I sigh and grip the front of his shirt in my hands. “I want to be with you.” As I say it, I realize what I really mean. I do want to be with him. Be with him, be with him. I’m ready. Holy crap!

Ash knows what I’m talking about, too. “Are you trying to kill me?” He rests his forehead against mine.

“I’m sorry. That sort of slipped out.”

He raises his head and looks deep into my eyes. “So, that’s not how you feel?”

I reach for his face, cupping his cheek in my hand. “It definitely is how I feel, but I didn’t mean to say it out loud, now, here.”

Jackson runs up to Ash, slapping him on the shoulder. “Come on, man. We can’t practice without our star quarterback.” He eyes me, and it’s clear he hasn’t forgiven the whole Noah-showing-up-at-my-match incident. Ash ignores him, staring at me like I’m the only person on earth. I love that he can make me feel that way. “Okay, I obviously interrupted something,” Jackson says, and he claps Ash on the shoulder. “See you at practice.” As he turns, he narrows his brows at me. I smile at him, letting him know everything is fine. He’s only looking out for his best friend. I get that. I’m glad Ash has him. And I’m going to be a good girlfriend—from now on.

“You really should get to practice. I don’t want you getting in trouble because of me.” I lace my fingers through his and gently tug him toward the stairwell.

“You know I’m not going to get this mental image out of my head during practice.”

As wonderful as Ash is, he’s still a guy. I confessed I’m ready to sleep with him. I know exactly what mental image he has playing in 3-D and surround sound in his mind right now.

“Try not to picture my face on any of the linemen, okay?” I laugh and run my hand down his arm.

We push open the doors to the stairwell, and Ash pulls me behind them and into his arms. His lips are on mine, and his hands are tracing their way down my body.

“Ash.” We’re in public. He’s needs to get control of himself. The door opens, nearly hitting us on the swing.

“Sorry.” I don’t need to look to know who said it, but I do anyway. Noah.

Ash kisses my neck as I stare at Noah. I can’t breathe. If I pull away, Ash will know I have feelings for Noah. If I go back to kissing Ash, I might lose Noah for good.

I take a deep breath and gently raise Ash’s face. As his lips leave my neck, he stares into my eyes. I hesitate. Both guys are watching me. My world is in slow motion. My heart skips a beat as I press my lips to Ash’s.





Chapter Twelve


Ash welcomes the kiss. In fact, I don’t think he could be happier about it. I’m openly choosing him over Noah, and Ash is loving every second of it. Noah’s footsteps sound down the stairs. With each one, my heart pounds in my chest. I hate that I hurt him. He’s not a bad guy. He really does care about me, and here I am shoving my relationship with Ash in his face. I did it for Ash, because I had to prove I love him. I have so much to make up for. But does Noah deserve this? Sure, he made his feelings for me clear, even knowing I’m with Ash. Maybe he was wrong to do that, but he kept his promise of not forcing himself on me. He only did what I allowed him to do.

I hate myself right now. I hate that I put myself in this position. I hate that I hurt Ash by hanging out with Noah, and I hate that I’m hurting Noah now by kissing Ash. I don’t deserve either one of them.

I pull away, but Ash keeps his arms locked around my waist. “Where do you think you’re going?” His voice is playful, and he kisses my neck again.

“You need to get to practice and so do I.” I take his face in my hands so he can’t keep kissing my neck. “I’ll see you later.” I kiss his lips, a quick goodbye kiss.

“Wait, I’ll walk you to the locker room.” His hand is already in mine, not giving me the chance to argue.

When we get to the locker room, he pulls me into him. “Davidson!” Coach Larsen yells, making Ash and me both jump.

“Bye.” Ash lets go of me and races past his coach and into the locker room. Yeah, he’s about to get the beating of his life at practice. I hope the kiss in the stairwell was worth it to him.

All through practice, the only thing I can think about is Noah’s face when he caught me with Ash. He knows we’re together, but seeing us in action is a completely different story. I have to admit if I saw Noah kissing some girl, it would bother me. Not that it has a right to. I jog down to the football field after practice and see Ash running laps. Everyone else is heading home for the day. Even Coach Larsen is walking toward the building. I wait until he’s out of sight before I run over to Ash, falling in step with him.

“How many laps do you have to run?”

“Twenty. More.” He’s out of breath, and I have to wonder if he’s already run twenty laps.