Holding You (Love Wanted in Texas #3)(39)

Lauren’s face dropped and I started laughing. Holding up my hands I said, “Sorry! Shit! I’m nervous as hell and I was trying to make a joke.”

Giving me a dirty look, Lauren walked closer to me but stopped just short of my reach. “That was a very bad joke, Mr. Mathews.”

Lacing her arms around my neck, my eyes traveled all over her body. “Very bad,” I mumbled.

Lauren gave me a seductive look. “Do you know what today is?”

Walking up to her, I placed my hands on her hips and pulled her to me. Making sure I pressed my hard dick into her stomach. Lauren closed her eyes as she dropped her mouth open slightly and let out a deep breath. “Today marks one month since we’ve been together.”

Lauren’s eyes danced with happiness as a beautiful little crooked smile moved across her face. “You totally just redeemed yourself from the bad joke.”

Tossing my head back, I laughed.

Lauren’s hands moved to my jeans as she quickly began to unbutton them and tried to push them down. “Colt, I can’t take it any longer. I need to feel you.”

Grabbing her hands, I smiled. “I have something else to give you first before we go there.”

Lifting her eyebrows, she asked, “What?”

Dropping my one hand, I reached into my pocket and pulled out the small velvet bag. Lauren looked down at it and smiled. “Colt,” she whispered as I dropped her other hand and opened up the bag.

Before I took the ring out, I looked into Lauren’s eyes. “I wasn’t sure how you’d feel about me giving you this since we just started dating, but I want everyone to know you’re mine, Lauren.”

Her eyes widened as she wore a shocked expression on her face. Opening the bag I took the ring out and held it up for her.

Her mouth fell open and she let out a small chuckle. “The ring I wanted.”

Almost three years ago we had all been in Austin shopping and Lauren had pointed to a belt buckle ring that she wanted. When we all walked out of the store and headed to lunch, I doubled-back and bought it for her.

Swallowing hard, I said, “I bought it that day. The day you looked at it in James Avery.”

Placing her hands over her mouth, Lauren slowly shook her head. “You’ve had it this whole time?”

Letting out a gruff laugh, I said, “Yeah, I know it was stupid but—”

Lauren’s eyes gleamed as she threw herself into my body and kissed me. Wrapping my arms around her, I deepened the kiss until we were completely lost in it . . . again.

Lauren barely pulled back as she talked against my lips. “You’ll never know how special you make me feel, Colt Mathews. I’ve never felt so loved and desired in my entire life.”

Breaking our contact, I took a step back and reached for Lauren’s hand and slipped the ring onto her left ring finger. “I’m yours forever, Lauren. No matter what, I’ll never leave your side.”

“Forever,” Lauren whispered.

Reaching out, Lauren pushed my pants down as I pulled them off of my feet and tossed them to the side. “I know you want to try what you learned tonight, but right now, sweetheart, I just want to hold you.”

Placing her hand on my chest, Lauren’s face beamed with happiness. “That sounds perfect.”

Pulling my T-shirt off my chest and throwing it onto the floor, I reached and picked Lauren up. Carrying her over to her bed, I pulled back the covers and gently set her down. Crawling over her, I slid in next to her and pulled her body up against mine. “I love you, Colt.”

Kissing the back of her head, I pulled her closer. “I love you more, Lauren.”

Everything in this moment felt perfect. It felt right.

“Never stop holding me, Colt.”

“Never,” I whispered.



FOOTBALL PRACTICE IN the spring was closed to the public, but players’ girlfriends were allowed to attend the practices, as long as they were not a distraction. Glancing over to the stands, I saw Lauren with her nose buried in a book. She had a huge test she had been studying for.

Lining up, I got ready for the play. Roger seemed to have moved on since he found out how serious Lauren and I were. We’d been dating over two months and I couldn’t believe how amazing things still were between us.

Roger called hike and I took off running. Roger threw and I jumped and caught the ball and took off down the field. Making the touchdown, everyone ran up and gave me a high five.

Coach nodded his approval and told the team to huddle up.

“Great practice. This was our last spring practice. We have a scrimmage this weekend and I expect a repeat of what I saw on the field today.”

Everyone hooted and hollered. “Now go shower up and get out of here.”

Walking toward the locker room, I turned to find Lauren. She was talking to a girl I’d never seen before. She must have sensed me watching her because she looked up and smiled at me. Smiling, I gave her a wave and then held up both hands telling her to give me ten minutes.

Nodding her head, she blew me a kiss. Laughing, I turned and headed into the locker room. After taking a quick shower I got dressed and was about to head out to meet up with Lauren.

“Good catch, Mathews,” Roger said as he walked over to me with a towel still wrapped around his waist.

“Thanks. Good throw.”

Roger smirked. “Now that everything seems to be settled between us, friends?” Roger stuck his hand out for me to shake it. Grabbing his hand tightly, we shook. I didn’t trust the look in his eyes. Lauren had told me about Marie stopping to talk to her and how Roger had been digging for information and using Marie to gather it all up. What a dick.