The Perfect First (Fulton U, #1)(88)

He stared at me like I was a stranger, which was exactly what I wanted him to be to me.

“Mom, I love you. I love you so much and I don’t want to see you unhappy. I don’t want you to have to walk on eggshells in your own home. Please, come with us. There’s nothing left for you here.” I held out my hand, tears welling in my eyes. The outline of her got blurry and the lump in my chest got heavier.

She looked to my dad. He pushed himself away from the clock.

“Helen.” The tone was no longer a warning, now a threat.

“Helen, we can do this together.” Aunt Sophie held out her hand beside mine.

Mom’s throat tightened and she took a half-step forward. My dad’s hand shot out and wrapped around her wrist.

“Arthur, I swear, I’ll shove my shoe so far up your ass you’ll be tasting hemp for the rest of your natural life. Get your hands off her.” I didn’t think I’d ever heard Aunt Sophie raise her voice, but liquid fire dripped from her every word.

My dad’s face blanched and he let go.

“What do you say, Wild One—ready for another adventure?” Aunt Sophie’s eyes and voice softened, and Mom took both our hands.

The tears cascaded down my cheeks at the whoosh of relief rushing through me.

We opened the front door and Reece stopped his pacing out on the brick sidewalk. His gaze shot to my tearful one and back through the open door. The muscles in his neck tightened. When Aunt Sophie and Mom came out after me, his entire body relaxed.

He wrapped his arm around me. “Do you need me to get anything from inside?”

Mom looked up at the house. “No, I’ve got the most important things I need right here.” She squeezed my hand and Aunt Sophie’s, and that was her new beginning. It was my new beginning too.

I’d never seen this side of her, but I loved getting to know her again as her own person.

“Honey.” She wrapped me up in a massive hug. Aunt Sophie joined in too, and anyone watching would’ve thought it had been years since we’d seen one another, not a single month.

I tried to ignore Berk flirting with my mom and aunt throughout dinner. Heads turned as laughter erupted from our table, and I didn’t mind one bit. Every eye in the place was on us, and how could they not be when one of the darlings of Philadelphia football was sitting at our table?

Dinner turned to after-dinner drinks, and we danced on the small dance floor in front of the band that was playing. Reece’s arm was wrapped around my waist, and his other hand held mine.

He’d had another heart-stopping game. Watching him out on the field, I didn’t know how he could have even entertained the idea of doing anything else.

“You’re stiff all of a sudden. What deep thoughts are you delving into?”

I opened my mouth but then snapped it shut. Maybe I didn’t want to know the answer.

“Spill it.” He spun me and pulled me toward him.

I licked my lips and took a deep breath. “After spending half the season in the pros, do you think you really could have given it up? Like if I lost my mind and told you I didn’t want you to play and wanted you to just follow me to wherever I wanted to do my PhD, would you really have done it?”

He ran his hand along the side of my face, cupping my cheek. “In a heartbeat. Football won’t last forever. We’re forever. You showed me that. And if I’d played without you, I’d have been empty. All I’d have was the game, and then one day that would go away and I’d know exactly what I’d lost. Putting a pro contract up against these hands…” He took my hand in his. “These lips…” Leaning in, he captured my lips with his, drinking down my kisses. “This brain…” He tickled the nape of my neck. “It’s no contest. You’re more than enough. You’re perfect.”





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Thank you so much for reading Reece and Seph’s story! It really meant to much to me in so many different ways. For an extra special day with them, you can check out their bonus epilogue HERE!





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Enemies to lovers has never felt so good!

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Everyone’s impressed, well except one person…

I can’t deny it. I want her. More than I ever thought I could want a woman. I’ve got one semester–only four months–to convince her everything she thought about me was wrong.

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Excerpt from Shameless King