Page 35 of Crossing the Lines for Love

She gasped as her eyes widened. “I did not!”

“You did. At first, I thought it was a fluke, but you kept saying it.”

“Niko, I don’t talk in my sleep.”

I picked up my phone and went to my videos. When I found the video I was looking for, I pressed play and gave it to her. The video was dark, but her voice was loud and clear.

“I really do love you, Niko.” Pause. “I love you so much.” Pause. “I would marry you in a heartbeat.”

She looked at me with surprise, then covered her face in embarrassment.

“This isn’t me. Did you use AI or something?”

“Why would I do that? Besides, you just confessed your love for me, so why deny it?”

“Do I talk in my sleep often?”

“Unfortunately, we haven’t spent enough nights together for me to answer that question.”

“No one else has ever mentioned it.”

“That means you’ve never been comfortable enough with another man to release all your inhibitions.”

“I’m sure that’s not a proven fact, but you can have it.”

“Back to our previous conversation.”

She sighed. “You don’t want to hold off until the end of the season?”

“It’s unnecessary.”

I patiently waited for her to give me the okay, even though, in my mind, it was a done deal.

“Okay. When do you want to do it?”

“Tomorrow night. My job can cater the dinner, and I can pick it up on the way home from our game.”

“You got it all planned out, which makes me feel like you’ve been thinking about this for a minute.”

“I have. Now that that’s settled, I’m ready for my dessert.”

That night, we never made it to the bedroom, making love on the couch before falling asleep wrapped in each other, only to wake up and do it again. When the alarm went off, it seemed like Aranda had just let me release my seeds down her throat.

I stood and stretched before finding my phone which had fallen to the floor during the night. We had to get up earlier because we were further away than usual but still didn’t have much time to spare.

“Baby, we gotta get moving.” I gently tapped her shoulder, and she rolled over.

“Please tell me we didn’t sleep on the couch. Oh my God! You’re probably stiff and sore.”

“I’m good, baby.”

“Are you sure? Oh God! I feel horrible. If you don’t play well, I’ll take all the blame.”

“Calm your pretty ass down, baby. I’ll be fine. Let’s shower before we’re late.”

“If I shower with you, we’ll definitely be late.”

“You right. You go first.”

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