Page 99 of Off Limits: The Firsts

“Ahh, there comes that manipulative side of you.”

“Not manipulative.” I laugh as he takes a few steps toward me. “Just determined.”

“You’re sexy when you’re all business,” he says as he slides his arms around me and goes straight for my ass.

“Eww, you’re all sweaty.” I try to bat his hands away, but half-heartedly.

“You didn’t say that last night when I was all sweaty.” He leans in, and all my doubts disappear with the brush of his lips and the taste of his kiss.

“Well, that kind of sweaty is welcome,” I murmur and then physically remove his hands from my ass before they move to undo the zipper.

He laughs and swats me on the ass as I turn to put my makeup, curling iron, and dirty clothes into my overnight bag. When I turn around, Easton’s smile is still there, but he’s just staring at me with that look in his eyes like he had at Pet Haven.

My pulse speeds up.

“What?”

“You don’t have to do that, you know.”

“Do what?” I glance around like I don’t understand, but the sudden echo of panic within me tells me I do.

“Pack up your things.” He waits for a reaction, and when I don’t give one, other than not saying a word, he continues, “You can have a drawer here, Scout. You can have a whole side of the closet if you want. Better yet, why don’t you just stay with me. You’re in that temporary place with furniture that’s not even yours . . . when I have all this space.”

I just stare at him, eyelids blinking and panic slowly clawing its way in to squeeze my heart. “I . . . we . . . it’s not . . . how can . . .”

“Scout.” Easton says my name as he takes my hand in his and looks at me with those hazel eyes that are loaded with storm-cloud-gray today. “Don’t you get it?”

“Get what?”

“This is the next step for us. Some sort of permanence. We’re doing it anyway, so why not just admit to it?”

My chest constricts. It hurts to draw in air. The fear I thought I’d chased away is the weight making it hurt. “Easton.”

“No, uh-uh,” he says as he steps into me and frames my cheeks with his hands so that I’m forced to look up and into his eyes. “You don’t get to spook right now. You don’t get to hide from me.”

“But things are going to change.” I finally find my voice. “You’re going to start travelling. You’re going to leave.”

He shakes his head and smiles. “Just for a few nights at a time. And most nights you’ll be there, too, since you’ll have the team contract. It’s not that big of a deal, Scout. Me getting back on the roster doesn’t mean this has to stop between us.”

He leans forward and reinforces his words with his kiss. To try and combat the fear. To ease my anxiety.

When he ends the kiss, his eyes are back on mine. “We can make this work.”

And I see it before he says it.

Maybe I’ve been seeing it all along and have just been denying it.

But then he says it.

Out loud.

Concrete.

Can’t take it back.

“I’m falling in love with you, Scout.”

The elevator doors open, and I step to the side and stand there for a beat. I try to pretend I’m okay. I wave to the doorman. I smile at the college girl with the sorority sweatshirt on, doing her homework in the lobby chairs like she often is. And I concentrate on breathing.