Page 53 of The Captain

“To tell everyone how I feel? Absolutely.”

I don’t think she was expecting that kind of bold statement from me, and I waited with bated breath to see what her response would be. I expected a snappy comeback and would have been fine with that, but after a couple minutes of her silence, I turned to see her staring at me with a slight smile on her face.

“What?” I asked nervously.

“You’d want me to wear your jersey?”

I stilled, swallowing hard, and sat up a little more against the headboard so I could look at her.

“Yes,” I replied firmly, taking her hand with mine and interlacing our fingers. “I would.”

Her small, soft smile turned wider. “Okay.”

The easy acceptance of it turned my head upside down. I’d thought she would have fought, would have said no, would have begged me to keep my feelings a secret. But no, she was in.

She was in.

“Sunshine,” I started, but she leaned closer to me, pressing her lips to mine and taking the words from me without me having to say them.

She knew this was a big moment for us and a huge step forward in our relationship. The fact that we both were in and wanting this to move forward after all the hate and animosity meant that she’d forgiven everything from before.

Cassie Grayson didn’t hate me anymore, and it felt fucking amazing.

I threaded my fingers into her hair, pulling her tightly to me, careful not to hit anything on the bed.

It was probably a good thing it had been there in the way of the two of us, because as much as I wanted to flip Cassie onto her back and explore every inch of her body, I knew in my heart she deserved better than that. She deserved everything.

And I was going to give it to her.

SEVENTEEN

Cassie

Four Months Ago

Nerves rioted in my stomach all day, to the point where I’d nearly lost my breakfast once and hadn’t been able to eat lunch at all.

I paced the space in the apartment, smoothing down my form-fitting dark blue dress, staring at my heels, and wondering if they were a good idea. I shook my head at myself, knowing better, and ran to my room quickly to slip on some black sneakers.

There. Much better.

I took a moment to look in the mirror. My hair was curled in big curls over my shoulders, my makeup was done with a precise hand, and my jacket and purse were on one of the breakfast stools waiting for me to pick them up.

Lincoln was set to arrive any minute.

After the night before and our very romantic hang out date, Lincoln had stayed the night, cuddling me close and making my stomach dance with butterflies so much that it had almost been hard to sleep.

That morning, when he was getting ready to leave, he had asked me out on a real date.

I didn’t need time to think and didn’t hesitate at all when I said yes, putting no good use to any advice I’d gotten from Teen Queen magazine when I was fifteen and it had said to not act too eager around the boys who liked you.

I don’t know why that bit of advice stuck with me, but it did.

The Teen Queen editors would be so disappointed.

But I hadn’t needed time to think because something, my heart or brain or both, had said that this situation was right, it felt good, I felt happy, and for the first time in my life, I was going for it without hesitation.

Throwing caution to the wind and letting myself fall for this man who proved he wanted to be with me was more freeing than anything I’d ever done.

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