Page 73 of The Game

"I negotiated for both of us."

"You did?"

"I did." He smirked that old flash of the Lion.

"And how did you know I would be interested in any inter-team relationships?" My eyes were shining with brimming tears, and I knew they would fall with one more blink.

"Because you love me, just as much as you love cricket."

He wasn't wrong. Him, Sammy, my family and cricket - they created the very person that I was, and inside me, I had room for all of them.

His face fell for a moment and my entire being tensed with what he could possibly say next. “Lyssi?”

“Yes?”

“I know you’re the girl. The one I said shouldn’t play, all those years ago.”

I shivered inwardly. “You were wrong though, right?”

“I’ve never been so happy to be wrong in my life,” his eyes held mine and I drowned in the deep blue depths. “I’ve never forgotten you.” He lifted his shirt and grazed his fingers over the tattoo on his ribs. I leant in and stared at the Roman numerals but they didn’t mean anything.

“The date I hit you with the cricket ball. So I’d never forget.”

“I can assure you I didn’t forget either.”

His fingers grazed the scar on my eyebrow, the scar that stemmed from blood that in a different life he’d caused and hadn’t helped me stop. A million lifetimes ago.

His fingers clung onto mine. “I’m going to spend forever making a better impression than that.”

I smiled. “You already have.” Tiptoeing, I placed my lips against his. “So what now?"

He flashed me a grin that made my insides flip. "Well, there's a shower just there." He laughed, the sound bouncing off the walls as he grabbed me up into his arms and dragged me towards the shower.

"Jonathan," I screamed, but it was too late, he'd hit the button and water cascaded over us.

He kissed me, warm water gushing between our mouths. "Have I told you how much I love it when you say my name?"

"Yes."

He kissed me again, wearing away at my soul as it collapsed under the onslaught of his touch and kiss. "Please, don't ever stop saying it," he whispered, and I clutched my hands into his drenched hair and kissed that Lancashire Lion for all that I was worth.

“These are great seats,” I wiggled down onto the plastic and threaded my hand through the crook of his arm. Popping a kiss onto my forehead and travelling his lips along the slope of my nose to my mouth he murmured, “Only the best for Mrs Willis.” He flashed a smile which spoke louder than words and I watched as those lines around his eyes scrunched and deepened.

I cocked an eyebrow. “You organized them did you?”

He ran a hand through his bronzed hair, which was now smattered with more than handful of grey. “Well, sort of.”

I nudged him hard in the ribs and we both chuckled, our shoulders knocking against one another. “You are such a liar.”

Turning his eyes for the cricket field centre of the stadium he rubbed his hands down his legs and searched for the dark-haired boy we were there to watch. “Lyssi, there he is.” He grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze, crunching my fingers in his strong grasp. When he let go, I gave them a little wiggle to make sure they weren’t broken. We didn’t have to lean far forward in our seats, they were VIP positioned, one of the perks of being the founders of the England National Cricket Academy.

My breath caught in my throat and this strangled tightening made it impossible to swallow. “Does he look nervous?” I squinted out at the players, all of them in white; navy caps shielding their faces from the sun.” I nudged him harder. “Seriously, Jonathan, does he look like he’s about to puke?”

The man at my side tilted my chin with his fingers, pulling my gaze away from the field and onto his face. “Have you ever known Sammy to be nervous about anything?”

I chewed on my bottom lip. “Well no, but there is always a first time and his first game for England is the time to do it.”

The former Lancashire Lion, now founding Chairman of the Youth Academy chuckled and kissed me full on the mouth. “Did you puke the first time you played for England, Lyssi.” The way he said my name made my insides squeeze. I’d never got tired of it and I knew I never would.