Page 122 of Play Maker

“Open it.”

He opened the bag and pulled out a box.

“Red laces?” he stared at me. “You noticed?”

“Your first team, right?”

Axel nodded.

“I got a pair for you, and one for me. For game day. That way you know, no matter what, I’m thinking of you.”

“Thank you.”

He blinked quickly, then looked away, staring down at the box in his hand. Suddenly I wondered if I’d done something wrong.

“Or, I can take them back? I just thought?—”

Axel placed the box back in the bag and put it in his coat pocket.

“It’s the best gift I’ve ever received,” he said quietly, taking my hands.

“I doubt that.”

It was probably the cheapest gift he’d ever been given.

He leaned in, brushing his lips against my ear.

“It’s true, Jace. It means everything.”

I turned my head, teasing his jaw with my lips.

“Baby.”

“And you already gave me a gift,” he added, letting go of my hands and reaching for my hips. “Turn around so I can see it.”

I turned in his arms, showing him the back of the jersey.

“It’s way hotter in person,” he confessed and then pulled me tight to his body until his hips collided with my ass, his facenuzzling my neck. “But it’s going to look even better when you’re wearing my jersey and nothing else.”

I pictured Axel bending me over my desk, him fully dressed and me naked, except for that jersey, as he railed me hard. Oh God, that was hot.

“We’re never going to leave my room,” I groaned.

“Save that for later,” Axel replied and teased my neck with kisses. “Dinner first, then a walk around town, and maybe a movie. I want everyone to know that you’re mine.”

“Are you sure?”

Instead of replying, Axel stepped back.

“Ax?”

I turned around to face him and he was picking up my jacket, holding it open for me.

I slipped it on, and he squeezed my shoulders, then let go. We stepped out of my room, and I locked the door, pausing against it for a moment as we stood in the hallway and stared at each other.

Axel offered me his hand, and I looked at it, then up at his deep blues.

I heard a nearby door open, didn’t know whose, didn’t care. The dorm was busy tonight, students getting ready to go out. Familiar faces walked by me, by us, but I didn’t see them.

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