Page 156 of Hometown Halftime

Mine. Fuck, I want her to be mine.

I look down to see Kinsey’s hair spread across my pillow while her fingers drift over my biceps, and the way she looks up at me nearly ruins my composure before we even start.

When I finally slide inside her, her forehead presses against mine while we breathe through the feeling together.

“Are you okay?” I whisper. “Is this position alright?”

“Yeah,” she breathes. “Please don’t stop.”

I kiss her again before moving slowly, reveling in the way she takes every inch of me. Every little sound she makes against my mouth goes straight through me. And fuck, it’s all so perfect.

Kinsey wraps herself tighter around me while our breathing turns uneven between kisses, and suddenly it feels impossible to tell where one of us ends and the other begins. Everything building between us over the last few months crashes together—the tension, the friendship, the fear, the feelings neither of us knows what to do with.

I slide my hand into her hair and hold her closer when her body trembles beneath me.

“I’ve got you,” I whisper against her mouth, and I mean it with every part of me.

Kinsey gasps against my mouth while pleasure tears through both of us at once. I can’t do anything except hold on to her while my vision goes white at the edges and her name falls out of me like something desperate.

Afterward, I cling to her, breathing hard against her neck, unwilling to put even an inch of distance between us yet because the thought feels unbearable. Kinsey stays wrapped around me, breathing hard while I press slow kisses against her temple and shoulder, trying to steady myself. Outside, rain taps softly against the windows while the room settles into quiet around us.

Eventually, I force myself to pull away and brush a kiss against her forehead.

“I’ll be right back,” I whisper, still trying to catch my breath.

She makes a sleepy sound of protest before I carefully slip out from beneath the sheets long enough to deal with the condom and wash up in the bathroom. When I walk back into the bedroom, Kinsey reaches for me without even opening her eyes.

I slide back beneath the blankets, and she curls against me again, one leg tangling with mine while I pull her fully against my chest. My fingers drift lazily through her hair while rain taps softly against the windows, and the room becomes quiet around us.

I close my eyes, listening to her breath slow. I kiss her hair and know I’m completely in love with her.

Chapter sixty-two

Kinsey

We feel the pressure of the playoff game the moment we step off the bus at Mountain Top High.

The stadium lights blaze against the cloud-covered December sky while crowds already fill the bleachers nearly forty minutes before kickoff. Parents wrapped in blankets and Cedar Falls hoodies stamp their feet against the cold while music blasts across the field.

There are way more people here than I expected for an away game, and judging by the looks on the girls’ faces when we step onto the sideline, they notice too.

“Holy shit,” Tara breathes beside me while staring up at the stands.

Even Riley looks caught off guard by the sight.

The visitor section is packed tonight. Knox and Brynn are already near the front beside Cam and Kate, while Ty and Levi stand a row higher, yelling loud enough that I can hear them from the field. It looks like half of Cedar Falls made the drive out here, and my heart swells at the thought that they would support us like this.

The girls buzz nervously around us while stretching near the sideline, their energy noticeably through the roof. And for the first time all season, fear creeps quietly around the edges of my excitement.

Because this team is good.

Their forwards are bigger. Their backs are faster. They move through warmups with the kind of confidence that only comes from years of experience, while our program still technically qualifies as organized rec players held together by athletic tape and stubbornness.

Riley must have noticed the look on my face because he bumps my shoulder lightly while we watch the other team run drills.

“Hey.”

I glance over at him as he keeps his eyes out on the field.