Page 73 of Offsides

Everything that’s passed between us this morning has deepened what we have. In a way, I’m almost grateful to Luke for showing up like that, because it clarified everything, distilled us down to our essences, and now we both know where we stand with each other.

“I love you,” I murmur, grateful to be able to say it freely, holding her eyes while I move inside her.

She doesn’t shy away, a smile tipping up the corners of her mouth. “I love you too.”

It’s a dream come true. A fantasy I held close and barely dared consider.

She loves me.

She’s mine.

At last.

* * *

Grinning, I watch from the edge of the living room as Dani does her victory dance after beating Piper atSuper Mario Brothers.

We’re doing a series of throwbacks for game night and working our way through some of the old eight-bit video games from the original Nintendo system. It’s old school, but it’s fun. When I told my parents about it, they both waxed nostalgic about playing those games as kids.

Piper heckles Dani’s victory dance, but it’s all in good fun, and they both end up laughing.

“Alright, alright,” Autumn says, making shooing motions at them. “Dani, you advance. Piper, sorry, but you’re out for the rest of the night. Both of you clear out. Dylan and Charity need room for their turn!” She says the last sentence loud enough to carry through the room, and my buddy Dylan makes his way to the couch, a petite girl I don’t recognize joining him and trying to murder him with her eyes.

He doesn’t seem bothered by it, though, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her close before saying something I can’t hear and laughing.

She shoves him away, causing a round of, “Oooh,” to go up from the people around them.

I’m distracted from their antics by Dani arriving at my side and stealing my drink. Wrapping an arm around her waist, I pull her close and kiss her, quick and hard, not wanting to get too carried away in front of everyone.

This is our third game night since we got together, so people still watch us pretty avidly, and it embarrasses Dani when I do more than give her quick kisses.

I tilt my head toward the couch. “Do you know what that’s about?”

Eyes narrowed, she studies the pairing. I’m not sure if Dylan decided to let the girl go first or if they did rock-paper-scissors to decide—our usual way of deciding who’s player one or player two—but she’s currently playing as Mario. The objective is to get farther through the game than whoever’s playing Luigi in the three lives granted by the game.

As I’m watching she runs into a Little Goomba and dies. Furious, she turns and smacks Dylan on the arm, who just laughs.

“I don’t think they get along very well,” Dani muses next to me.

With a chuckle, I turn to her. “You think?”

“I made it all the way to World Three this time.” Her eyes are wide as she tells me this. “I can’t believe it.”

“Congrats, babe. It probably helps that you’re over here all the time playing all the vintage games to beat everyone at these things.”

She shrugs, dismissing my statement. “It’s not my fault that I make time to practice more than anyone else. And besides, it’s not like you and Jackson haven’t had that advantage since you started hosting these. It’s about time someone else got in on it.”

I hold up my hands in surrender. “I’m not criticizing.”

“That’s right you’re not,” she mutters, but it’s with a grin on her face, and she kisses me.

I sigh when she pulls away, placing her in front of me so she can lean against me. Wrapping my arms around her, I rest my chin on her shoulder. “Any way I can convince you to forfeit and go to your place like we did that one time?”

Her laughter resonates through my torso, and she shakes her head. “Not this time. We’ll have plenty of time after everyone’s gone. Plus, we’ll be spending the whole weekend together.”

“Fine, fine,” I grumble, but not seriously. I mean, I’d happily take her back to her place and spend the rest of game night playing hide the sausage, but I’m not upset about staying either, even if she did knock me out in the first round.

When I kiss her neck, she tilts her head, giving me access. So I take advantage, running my lips up and down the soft skin between the collar of her shirt and her jawbone. “I can’t wait to get you alone,” I whisper against her skin.

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