Page 32 of Off the Pitch

“You thinking of anything nice?” David said softly, squeezing my hand. I smiled at him, trying to remember what I’d been thinking about.

“Pierogi,” I said, my face flushing hot, undoubtably now the colour of raspberries. I looked at the pile of cards and quickly placed a yellow number seven on top of the blue seven beneath it.

“Pierogi?” David asked, his eyebrow quirking.

“Ugh, don’t get him started,” Lily interjected. “They’re Polish dumplings. Ever since Monika mentioned them, that’s all he’s wanted, but she says he has to wait because they aren’t healthy.”

“But they sound so good,” I whined. It was times like this I regretted telling Monika to be strict with my eating plan.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have bought you so many snacks at the cinema,” David said with a chuckle.

“You gave him the worst sugar high. He came home bouncing around like a small child,” Lily grumbled, adding a card to the pile. David smirked and shot me a tiny wink. It wasn’t just the slushie and the popcorn that had had me running circles that evening—it had also been the delicious time I’d had making out on David’s sofa. I’d come several times since then to the memories of his touches and kisses and the press of his erection against mine.

“I am an adult. I can choose my own snacks.”

“Yes, but you also asked me to cut up an apple for you yesterday so you could put peanut butter on it.”

“Last time I tried, I nearly cut my finger off.”

“Sweetheart, are you seriously telling me you can’t even cut up an apple?”

“He can’t even cook pasta. He burned it once, and Monika refuses to let him back in the kitchen,” Lily added with a casual shrug. “If you like your kitchen intact, I would suggest keeping Christian out of it.”

“That’s not fair! I’m not that bad.”

“Burnt. Pasta.”

“You’re so mean. Why didn’t I get a nice sister?”

“I am nice! Don’t you agree, David?”

There was a moment of silence where we all glared at David. Finally, he shrugged. “Sorry, Christian. I’m agreeing with Lily.”

“See. Told you,” she said, sticking her tongue out at me.

“But that’s not fair! You’re my boyfriend. You’re supposed to be on my side!” I huffed.

“Oh no, she scares me. Last time I was in Lily’s bad books, I ended up with one eyebrow. I’m siding with her.”

“I’ll take fear,” Lily said, casually sipping her glass of wine.

“And that’s what makes you so mean!”

“Uno.” We all turned, like a group of owls, to stare wide-eyed at Kit and his single remaining card.

“Oh, it’s on,” David declared. “There’s no way you’re allowed to win.”

The game descended into madness, and by the end of the night Kit had won all three rounds of Uno, and nobody was quite sure how…

“Did you know you called me your boyfriend?” David asked, as he pulled me into a tight hug by the front door. The two of us were stealing a quiet moment while Kit and Lily nattered on about the correlation between art and music. Neither David nor I quite understood, but they’d been deep in conversation for the last hour, so they had to be enjoying it. Secretly, I was pleased to see them getting along so well. I wanted them to like each other, especially because Lily was one of the most important people in my life, and despite his protesting, Kit was one of David’s too. It felt like the pieces of our relationship were slowly slotting into place.

“Yes,” I said, quietly, chewing on my lip. “I liked it.”

“Me too. I like being your boyfriend.” David smiled, stroking my jaw before kissing me so deeply that I melted into his arms. Every kiss he gave me made me weak at the knees, and despite all my fears, I wanted more from him. I wanted that talented mouth all over my body, taking me apart in the most delicious ways imaginable.

Now all I had to do was voice those wishes.

Chapter Fifteen

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