Page 47 of Until Delilah

My dad doesn’t, however. He slips his arm off Ava and wraps me in a tight hug. “What’s got you upset?”

“I’m being stupid, that’s all. Ava already talked me down,” I murmur into his chest.

“She was thinking Max might change his mind about Beck and the baby once it comes and reality sets in. I told her blood doesn’t make a family, and he’s going to love them no matter what,” Ava says with pride in her voice.

“She’s right, baby girl. I’d disagree with her if I thought for even a minute that man out there isn’t head over heels for you, but I know he is. I see the way he looks at you and the way he’s doing everything in his power to protect you. If that’s not a devoted man, I don’t know what is.”

I jump when the metal fence tings, and Max is standing there with a worried look on his handsome but serious face. “Is everything okay? Are you feeling okay?”

“I’m fine just uncomfortable up on those bleachers today for some reason.” I smile at him, loving that he came over to make sure I’m okay. “The boys are doing great.”

Max chuckles and shakes his head. “We all know you have no clue about the game, but yes, they’re doing well.”

I shrug my shoulders because it’s true. “I’m trying though.” I giggle.

“I know.” He smiles fondly down at me. “Would you two give us a second before I have to get back out there?”

“Sure,” my dad says, wrapping his arm around Ava’s shoulders and steering her away.

Max hooks one finger through the fence. It’s not easy to hold hands this way, but I manage to get two fingers over his and my thumb underneath. “Now, what’s really going on over here?”

I look down, hating that he can so easily read me. I don’t want to tell him about how I don’t understand how he so easily accepted me, Beck, and the baby as his own. He doesn’t deserve my insecurities, so I go with my other problem.

“Some of the women and moms look at me like I got pregnant with your baby, so I could trap you. They don’t know how far along I am, and I’m sure to anyone who sees us together or knows how long I’ve been around, they presume the baby’s yours.”

“That’s fine with me. We know the truth and when this baby is born, I’ll be the only father he or she will ever know.” He takes his other hand and places it lower on the fence where my stomach is. “Are you excited that next week we’ll finally find out what’s growing inside you?”

I laugh at that. “You make it sound like it could be anything. Maybe it’s a watermelon, or maybe it’s an alien.”

His lips quirk up. “Poor choice of words, but whatever it is, it’s our baby. I’ll love him or her just like I love its mom.”

Sucking in a deep gasp, my breath gets caught in my chest. It takes several seconds before I can speak and when I do it comes out stuttered. “You love me?”

“I should have told you last night. I…I wanted to say things, but they came out wrong, and then you were upset.”

I was upset, and I didn’t want him to see me cry over the words he said. I was awake when he came to bed and pulled me into him. Once I was in his arms, I fell asleep instantly.

“I’m sorry I left you outside. I was upset. If you would have led with loving me…” I stop and smile thinking about Max loving me.

“I should have started with that. If you need me to prove it to you, I’ll show you later when we’re alone.” He winks.

“I don’t need you to prove it to me.” I press my body to the fence. “I’ve been waiting for the right moment to tell you, I feel the same, but I wanted you to believe me when I said the words.”

Max’s thumb caresses my cheek through the fence. “Why wouldn’t I believe you?”

“Because I’m a hormonal mess.” It comes out a mix between a laugh and a cry. “I didn’t want to say it after sex because you might think I said it in some blissed-out state and didn’t mean it.”

“Let me stop your right there, beauty. You can say those three words to me anytime you want and each time you say them to me, I’ll believe them. You can say them crying or after crying. During sex and after. Even when you’re mad at me. I don’t care when, but if you’re feeling them, I want to hear them.”

“Max,” I cry, “I need to kiss you.”

Even though we’re in the worst position possible, he doesn’t deny me. With a finger on each side of my face, Max positions his lips through the fence and kisses me in front of everyone. Even though it’s awkward as fuck, it’s the sweetest, hottest kiss ever.

The crowd cheers and claps and for a moment I think it’s for the game until my brain clears from its lust induced fog and I realize they’re clapping for us.

I pull away and I know my cheeks are as red as a cherry. I can feel the heat all the way to the tips of my ears. It’s then I remember I still haven’t said those three words to Max, and he deserves them more than any other man on the planet.

I push up onto my toes. My fingers curling around the metal fence and press a chaste kiss to his lips. When I break away, I make sure to catch his gaze as I say, “I love you, Max.”

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