Page 65 of The Linebacker

She sighed. “That you were ending things between us. I wasn’t ready for it to end.” She drew a circle around her face with her finger. “Hence the tears.”

He stared at her. “I wasn’t ending things. I was telling you how I feel. Which, apparently, I should be doing more of, even if it does scare people away. But it’s better than getting ejected from the game for fighting.”

“Definitely better than getting ejected for fighting.” She paused. “So you weren’t ending things?”

“I was literally telling you I wanted more, Diana.”

“I know, but when I asked you to slow down, you basically said take it or leave it.”

He swiped his hand over his face. “I didn’t mean it that way. I just wanted you to know how I feel. I want…”

“More. From me.”

She sat on the bench. Patted the space next to her and waited for him to join her.

“I’m starting to think I have more control over this curse than I originally thought,” she said.

“Oh yeah?”

She nodded. Didn’t look at him. Was afraid to, if she were being honest.

Which she ought to start doing more often.

Being honest.

With herself.

“You can stay in my condo as long as you’d like.”

“In your bed?”

She cleared her throat. “That’s actually part of the agreement. You can stay only if you share my bed.”

She didn’t need to glance over to know the man was grinning. That his eyes were dancing.

“Can we also take baths together on the regular? Because I gotta say, it’s freaking hot.”

She snorted out a laugh. “It really is.”

He slid his hand across the bench. Flipped it over. Waited.

She dropped her hand into his. Squeezed.

He tugged, and she climbed into his lap, straddled him, crossed her ankles behind his back.

“I can’t believe I turned you down last night,” he said, staring into her eyes.

“Me neither,” she admitted. “But it was for the best. I could have gone on forever in limbo if you’d let me.”

“Hmm. I was hoping you’d say that I need to make it up to you.”

She arched her brows. “I mean, you do. I expect you to make it up to me. Tonight.”

“Excellent.” He grinned.

She kissed him. Gently, at first. But as was usual when she was with Amil, she quickly lost control, deepening the kiss, curling herself around him as tightly as she could get, until they finally broke apart, both panting.

“I think it would be frowned upon if we had sex in here,” he said, sounding hugely disappointed.