Page 38 of Broken Saint
Giving a gentle tug on her hand, I back her up against the side of my truck. She stares up at me with wide, glittering golden eyes as I close in on her.
She’s so tiny compared to my hulking frame. I always used to worry that I’d break her. But she soon proved that she could more than handle me.
While having my hand in hers might be nice, my need to touch her gets the better of me and I wrap my hand around the side of her neck, tucking my thumb under her chin and tilting her head back farther.
Shaking my head, my eyes alternate between hers and her lips.
Fuck, I want to taste her so fucking bad. I want to know if she’s as sweet as back then or if she’s changed. Knowing my luck, like her curves, it’s probably only gotten better. More addictive.
“I didn’t get it the day I signed,” I confess, blown away that she remembers a random comment I made one day about how I’d celebrate my first big step into the NFL.“But it was the first thing I did when I got here. Picked it up about two weeks later. I figured it was big enough to live in for a while if I couldn’t find a place to live.”
“For me, maybe,” she teases. “It suits you.”
I know something that suits me more, I think, but by some miracle, I manage to swallow those words.
“Ready for what lies ahead?” I ask teasingly.
She studies me, her eyes bouncing between mine as if she’s trying to find any changes in me since the last time we were face to face.
Good fucking luck with that, Bombshell. I have no idea what’s going on right now. The only thing that makes any kind of sense is touching you.
“Show me what you’ve got, playboy. Make my night in Seattle one I’ll never forget.”
“You’ve never been to Seattle before?” I ask in disbelief.
I know she didn’t have a reason to visit me; the way we ended at her graduation more than sealed our fate. But Letty has been here for over a year now, and Luca and Peyton, for three. I’d have thought?—
“I’ve visited before, yeah. But something tells me that this time is going to be very different.”
“They didn’t tell me,” I whisper, stepping closer until the heat of her body burns into mine.
“I told them not to,” she says flatly.
I nod, swallowing roughly.
“I can understand that. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry for how things ended at your graduation.”
Holding her eyes, I let her see everything I usually hold back from the outside world.
This girl…this woman is the only one who’s seen me, the real me since I was a kid. It’s just a shame that she deserves so much more than a fucked-up playboy.
“I blamed you for a long time,” she says, her voice rough with emotion. “But it wasn’t just you who agreed that day. I also said things that I regret.”
“I’m sorry,” I breathe, finally closing the last inch between us. I barely manage to tamp down the groan of delight that wants to rumble from the depths of my throat, feeling her soft curves against me.
“I’m sorry too,” she says honestly. “Maybe we can…I don’t know. Start over?” Hope shines bright in her eyes. “Forget all that and just, I don’t know…it’s stupid.”
“Hey,” I say, capturing her cheek and forcing her to look up at me. “It’s not stupid. But it’s also not something I think I can do.”
A deep line forms between her brows as sadness darkens her eyes.
“Oh, yeah. Okay, sure. Maybe this was a bad idea,” she says, pressing her hands against my chest as if she has any chance of pushing me away.
“Ella,” I growl, making her stop in an instant. “I don’t want to forget. I can’t forget.”
She sucks in a sharp breath as my thumb brushes over her full bottom lip, my mind conjuring up images of all the times I’ve kissed this mouth, got lost in these lips and this girl.
Closing my eyes, I lean in, only I don’t take what I want. Instead, for once, I do the right thing. Resting my brow against hers, I say some of the truest words I think I’ve ever spoken. "Even if I tried, really really hard, I’d never be able to forget a second with you, Ella.”