Overnight Sensation(98)
“You still carry her picture around in your gym bag,” I point out.
He winces. “Yeah, I think it’s time I put that in a drawer.”
“Not for my sake, though.”
“No,” he agrees quickly. “For mine. You proved to me that it’s time to move on. And I want to. With you. Because I love you.”
I take a deep breath and try to take that in. “You didn’t plan on loving me.”
“Nope!” he says cheerfully. “‘I love you against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be.’”
Do not cry, I order myself. But who could resist a man who says things like that? “Is that Shakespeare?”
“Dickens,” he says. “The man was good at telling it to you straight. And he knew that the scary stuff was just the other side of the happiness coin.” He kisses my eyebrow. “I believe him now.”
“Well…” My tummy flutters. “I didn’t plan on loving you, either. But I do. You’re basically irresistible, except when you’re telling me what to do.”
He smiles at me, and his brown eyes look as warm and beautiful as ever. “Sometimes you don’t mind that.”
“True,” I admit. “It depends on whether we’re wearing clothes. But when we’re fully dressed, I need you to see me as an adult. Not a flighty child.”
“I do,” he says, kissing my ear. “I swear. Except when I think you’re in danger. But I’m working on that, okay? I promise. You can call me on it, too. And I’ll listen. We can start by calling this thing by what it is—a relationship.”
“Wow,” I say. “All right.” I nuzzle his warm cheek. “Does this mean we can keep having dirty, filthy sex?”
“You bet.” He kisses me then. And—jeez—his kisses are even better than his hugs. I’m leaning in for more when someone clears her throat.
I startle and find Georgia standing over us.
Whoops.
“I called us a car,” she says cheerfully. “So maybe you two want to take it down a notch until after tonight’s game?”
Jason chuckles while I turn red.
“Actually,” I say, as I stand up. “I have to find a hotel room. My flight home is tomorrow at eight in the morning.”
“You can bunk with me,” he says. “Georgia won’t rat us out to Coach, right?”
The publicist shrugs. “Leo and I aren’t saints, either. So I guess it would be hypocritical to turn you in. Let’s go, kids. I think that’s our car.”
Jason takes my hand as we stand up, and he holds it all the way to the hotel.
39
Heidi
That night I watch Brooklyn beat Minnesota. And then I sneak into Jason’s hotel room so the two of us can stay up half the night making out and talking.
“Will you please come home with me tomorrow?” he asks. “It’s not the same without you there.”
“I need to pay some rent,” I insist. “It’s not fair to Silas if I don’t.”
“Fine. We’ll work something out,” he says, kissing my neck. Then he rolls on top of me, and I forget all about paying rent.
Now I know how it feels to get everything I want.
No—wait. My wish list is still full of small and large dreams, some of them sparkly and expensive and some merely impractical. Wanting things is what keeps me alive and optimistic.
But now I know how it feels to get everything I actually need. I have a job (of sorts) with the possibility of a better one. And I have the love of a man who makes my heart go pitter-patter. Beyond his smoking-hot exterior, there’s a whole lot of good stuff in there. He’s loyal and passionate. And he quotes literature really well.
I’m so gone for him. As we stand at the luggage carousel the next day, waiting for our bags, I can’t keep my eyes off him. I’m like a cartoon character with hearts in its eyes.
Jason’s phone rings, and he answers it. “Hello?” As I watch, he frowns. Then he glances right at me. He covers the phone with his hand. “This is the weirdest call. This woman claims she’s calling from Belle Pepper’s Delivery Service.”
“Oh, she is!” I explain. “That’s my call center in India. I had to do some outsourcing so I could take this trip.”
“I got the same call a couple minutes ago,” Silas says, pulling his suitcase off the carousel.
Jason’s eyes soften. “Have I ever told you how formidable you are?”
“Not lately,” I say in a teasing voice. “Tell me now.”
“Jesus,” Silas complains. “I’m going to need my own cab home, aren’t I? Can you two keep it PG-rated for another half hour?”
“No,” Jason says, just at the same moment that I say, “Yes.”
“But I have to go to Manhattan,” I confess. “I took all my stuff to my dad’s condo. I didn’t know where else to go.”
Jason plucks my bag off the conveyor belt and then puts a hand over his eyes. “I’m sorry. It’s my fault that you packed up and left.”
“It’s okay,” I assure him, stepping in to hug him. “You can make it up to me tonight.”