Page 77 of Playing for Keeps
Jade continues to stare at me, no words forming as we walk back into the bedroom.
“This is a disaster,” she whispers, hands roaming through her hair, which clearly looks like it’s been smoothed out while I’ve been gone. It did not look like that when I left to answer the door. “I can’t believe they’re even up this damned early! I mean, what are the chances they’d come looking for us!”
“Obviously pretty damned high.” I hold my face in my hands for a second while I think and take a seat, dropping to the edge of the bed. It dips with my weight and I rest my elbows on my thighs. “I just fucking lied to a three-year-old little boy and my best friend!”
Okay, technically I didn’t lie to Luca, I said Jade must be around here somewhere, and that she likes to get up early, and technically, both things are true.
“Well, what were you supposed to say? Come on in, she’s upstairs in bed with me? I knew I jinxed it before even talking about them coming knocking.”
I blow out a breath and scrunch my hair in my hands while I think, not that it’s going to do me any good. “The good news is, no one saw you and we’re okay for now.”
She plops down beside me and I inch my arm around her shoulders, pulling her to my side. “For now?”
“We just gotta get through this wedding. Though how the fuck am I supposed to keep my hands off you in public? We took fucking dance lessons!”
She rocks me with a nudge of her body, I barely move but it’s cute all the same. “Well, it could be a good chance at restraint, or maybe a littleyou can’t touch meforeplay. I think it’s going to be fun, at the very least.”
I turn my head to look at her slowly. “Foreplay?”
That sweet little giggle is doing things to me again. My god of thunder gives me a nudge to let me know, like I’m not already aware. “It could be fun trying to keep our hands off each other, knowing that no one can know,” she says.
“I’m not sure that sounds like so much fun.” I raise a brow, surprised by her calm and collected approach, but she is a yogi after all. “Do you like that idea?”
“It’s kind of sexy, until we figure out what the hell we’re going to tell Tanner, and when.”
“I don’t know if right before the wedding is a good idea to confess our sins, but I felt like such an asshole down there. Especially with Luca asking where you were.”
“I guess we have to figure out what we are first, before we go running our mouths off to our families.”
I stare at her for a long moment, taking in the sweet little pink glow to her cheeks. Her skin is like butter, so soft and smooth. “Figure out what we are?”
She mashes her lips together, not looking at me, but I feel the depth of her shoulders sag and her eyes drop.
“Babe, we’re a thing,” I clarify. “If you want to be, that is.”
She parts her lips. “It’s just — I didn’t think — I have no idea how to navigate this.”
“Well, we can talk about it later. We don’t have to have it all mapped out right this second.”
Her head bobs and I realize she’s nodding thoughtfully. “I have a spa day later with Deb and two of her friends after yoga and lunch, you have training and the game tonight.”
“We’ll talk,” I assure her. “One way or the other later tonight, or tomorrow. We’ve got this whole weekend, and a few days after.”
“Okay.” She lets out another breath.
“There’s nothing to worry about.” I try to sound as positive as I can, because realistically I don’t know how her parents are going to react, or what she wants to do from here. But we will work it out. I want her. Not being with her these past few weeks was torture, not something I want to repeat. But there’s a lot to discuss and work out if we’re going to be together. Would she base herself in Seattle for me? Could that fit in with the life she’s trying to create with her new business?
There’s no way I can do what Ashton does with long distance, I mean, I would if it were the only option right now. But having to say goodbye all the time would kill me.
Despite this, my body buzzes with excitement over the prospect of us being in the same city, being together, because I realize I don’t want anyone else. There’s only her in my sights.
She pushes up off the bed, but before she gets all the way up to standing, I grab her around the middle and she falls back toward me, resting her knee on the bed so she doesn’t tumble down. “Jay!” she squeals in that way I love.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“Umm, Tanner and Luca are on the prowl looking for us, they’ve already been over here once!”
“Well, they went back to the room. Surely we got time for a quickie?”
