Page 17 of The Love Playbook

“Right.” I return her smile, though mine I’m sure looks a lot closer to a grimace than the sunny expression on her face.

With a chuckle, she starts walking, and I follow suit, adjusting my pace to hers. With my long legs, I’m used to moving quickly. But Autumn only reaches my shoulder—a little higher with the heeled sandals she’s wearing—and I’d end up dragging her along at my usual pace.

The sun has set already, only a hint of lighter blue on the horizon to mark where it went down, and there’s a coolness to the late August evening that was missing just a couple weeks ago. Fall is on its way, even if the daytime temperatures don’t reflect that yet. I’m looking forward to it getting cooler in the next few weeks, though. Two-a-day practices in ninety plus degree weather suuuucks. Add in the hazy days from the annual wildfires … some rain and cooler weather will be a welcome relief.

Though I have to admit that I’ll be a little sad when Autumn’s not wearing the short flirty skirts like she has on tonight and those sandals with the straps that wrap around her calves. Something about that is incredibly hot. Leggings and boots are a close second, though.

I let Autumn lead the way to her car, slowing as we approach, and she pulls her arm from mine to retrieve her keys from her purse. She smiles up at me and steps in close. “Thank you for dinner, Jackson. I had a lovely time.”

My hands go in my pockets to keep them from running through my hair or scratching the back of my neck. But that does nothing to stop the nerves churning in my belly, making me regret eating as much as I just did.Get it together, man, I command myself silently.You know she wants you to kiss her.

Swallowing hard, I force my lips into what I hope is a smile and not a grimace. “I had a nice time too. When should we do this again?”

Her eyes sparkle under the streetlamp, her brows raising. “I don’t have any evening classes this semester, so I can do any evening. Are you guys away next weekend?”

“Yeah.” I mentally scroll through my schedule, debating which day to suggest. Tomorrow seems too soon, Thursday is our weekly game night, and then we’re gone through Sunday. Which leaves Wednesday or next week, and I don’t want to wait until next week. “Wednesday?”

She grins. “I can do Wednesday. Text me the time and place.”

“I can do that.” Somehow her easy agreement helps me relax. Not a lot, but enough that I don’t feel like I might puke.

Her arms go out in a silent request for a hug, and I realize I’m about to lose my chance to kiss her if I don’t do it. Like now. Right fucking now.

Pulling my hands out of my pockets, I close the distance between us, and bend down to hug her. Her arms go around my neck, and mine wrap around her torso. Closing my eyes, I enjoy the sensation of her boobs pushing into my chest. This is it. This is my moment. It’s do or die. If I don’t kiss her right now, I’ll lose my opportunity, and then she’ll text me later and ask me what happened, and I’ll have to explain how I chickened out. And then I won’t get another chance for two days. And it’s possible that if I make this happen now, tonight, we’ll get to do … other things in two days. Which has my heart rate kicking up, a combination of anxiety and excitement that I normally only feel about football. Like when Coach Reese declared me the starter this year, I got this same feeling. And I had it again before our first game of the season this weekend.

But it’s getting better the more we practice, and I don’t have that feeling about our next game. Not yet, anyway, and I did at this point in the week last week.

So maybe if I just do it and get it over with, I can start working past this feeling with Autumn too.

She starts to pull away, her arms slipping from around my shoulders, but I don’t let her go. Not completely. I only pull back enough so I can line my face up with hers. I stare at her for a moment, taking in her brown eyes, catching the feathery flecks of green I can’t see from farther away. Her pupils dilate as I look at her, her lips parting.

Zeroing in on her pink lips, I slowly lower my head until my lips touch hers. It’s barely a whisper of a touch to start with, and I feel the tension in her body, which makes me half expect her to surge against me and take over. I kinda hope she does.

Instead, she holds herself still, letting me lead this kiss. I press my lips against hers again, more firmly, enjoying the softness of her mouth. When she lets out a sigh, I grow a little bolder, tracing my tongue along her lower lip.

She jerks back in shock, her eyes wide as she looks at me, her smile wider.

“Was that bad?” I ask, suddenly worried I’ve done something wrong. I mean, I’ve never done that to anyone before, but people do things like that, right? I’ve seen people making out at parties and there was always a lot of tongue involved from what I could tell.

“No,” she reassures me quickly. “No, I just didn’t expect you to do that.” Her lips curve in a delighted smile. “Do it again.”

Chuckling, I let her pull my mouth back to hers, kiss her again, and once more trace her lower lip with the tip of my tongue. Her lips part, and her tongue meets mine. She presses herself against me more as she invites my tongue into her mouth.

It’s … strange, but not in a bad way. She sucks on my tongue, sliding hers against it, tangling them together in a way that sends my blood rushing south.

An engine revving somewhere behind me has me lifting my head, wanting to make sure we’re in no danger of getting hit by some idiot charging through the parking lot. Instinctively, I back her toward her car, looking over my shoulder to make sure we’re safe.

When I look down at her again, she pats my chest with her hand, still smiling. “Mmmm. This is gonna be a lot of fun, Jackson. Just you wait.”

And with that, she steps away from me, opens her door and climbs in. “Text me later!” she calls through the sliver of space where she left her windows slightly open.

Stepping around to the front of her car so she can safely back out, I lift my hand in a wave. I’ll definitely be texting her later.

I have to agree that if we’ll be doing more of that, this is going to be a lot of fun.

I wonder what kind of fun she has planned for next time?

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