Page 44 of The Interception
“You didn’t make any, which begs the question, what’s for dessert? That was amazing, but now I want something sweet.” He leans on the door frame while I load the dishwasher. I’m glad a nap and some food seem to have brightened his mood, but now that he’s turned his focus on taunting me, I’m not so sure offering those things was a good idea for me.
“Unfortunately for you, I did not make anything for dessert. I had some chocolate bars but I ate them.” I shrug and shut the dishwasher door with no time to processanythingelse before Ender grasps my wrist and pulls me toward him.
“You’ll do,” he says a breath before he kisses me.
This was a planned and coordinated attack. Iknowit was because the man just finished eating a garlic butter chicken sandwich, and yet his breath smells of peppermint. His lips brush over mine, and mine tingle immediately with the sting of mint. Yet it’s warmth and sweetness and spice all in a soft, gentle kiss.
Ender dips my head back to give himself better access and hugs me close. I’ve never been kissed this way. So calmly, with calculation, as if he’s memorizing exactly what every movement feels like. Burning it into his mind one precious second at a time.
Now I know what it means to have his full attention, his dedication, focus…everything. I follow him down into the moment, ignoring everything else, every thought and distraction until it’s only him. Let him guide me into the most amazing kiss of my entire life, one I’m almost positive cannot be outdone.
He was right. This was worth waiting for.
Ender is worth waiting for, and if I have to be patient through everything he and his family are dealing with right now, then I will. I’ll be patient. I’ll wait, because now I understand what made my brother go completely insane after he met Lottie.
When you find the one, you know. It’s a decade of knowing each other compressed into days or weeks. It’s every emotion you didn’t know you had to share, exploding forth in a kiss that can only be so amazing between the two of you alone. No one else. Just him.
He cups my face and slowly, reluctantly pulls back.
Silence falls between us, but it’s comfortable. It’scomforting.
Being wrapped in his arms feels more like home than anything ever has, and the terrible reality that I’ll have to decide comes crashing back. No, not to decide. I’ve already decided. If he asks me to stay, I will. But he has to ask me. I’m not going to intrude on his life in ways he’s not ready. I can’t possibly imagine distracting him from what he needs to do right now, so in my heart I’ve already agreed…to moving to Charleston…to opening my restaurant here…to falling in love with him. To anything, everything.
He just has to ask me first.
In his time.
Chapter Twenty
Ender
Thinking about anything otherthan that kiss with Layne has been impossible. I left shortly after because of an early practice, but all I’ve been able to focus on since leaving is seeing her again and trying to figure out where we stand moving forward. I need to talk to my sister about it, too. Even though my brain tells me this is between Layne and me, I still can’t shake the guilt I feel when I think about being happy while she’s…not.
On the sidelines of a game is probably the worst place to be thinking about all of this. We’re down with ten minutes still on the clock, inching ever closer to the competition.
“Your head in the game or somewhere else, Langley?” Coach Holmes asks. He agreed to let me drive on my own and leave after the game, but only after agreeing that I wouldn’t play like junk. So far, I’ve been on the ball.
“Yes, sir.”
Leo nudges me and smirks. “That was a lie. I know what you’re thinking about. Don’t get pummeled because you’re recreating that kiss in your head.”
“Shut up, dude.” It was a mistake telling him I kissed Layne, but I had to tell someone. I needed advice, and Leo is full of it.
“I’m happy for you. I told you she was interested. Have you told Sarah Beth?” He sways back and forth, keeping his eye on the game while we chat.
“Not yet. I will as soon as I get a chance, but I’m pretty sure she’s going to be excited about it. Still hard to shake the guilt, you know?” I’m about to be sent in. I need to refocus.
“You are allowed to be happy even if she’s not. Talk to her, but for now, get your head in the game for real. I don’t want to ride to the hospital with you because you got your head taken off.”
A smirk tugs at my lips. “You’re supposed to defend me, remember?”
“Yeah, but you don’t make it easy when Layne is on your brain.”
We’re both sent in as Coach hollers at us to hustle. We’re up by seven, but with this much time left in the game, anything can happen. I settle in beside Lucas at the line of scrimmage and prepare to get pummeled. He won’t risk losing a game to take me out, but he won’t make it easy on me either. Not after I embarrassed him the other night in front of Layne.
I’m prepared for one play, the one that makes the most sense, but Lucas calls off something completely different. At the snap, he moves to throw the ball, then pulls a draw and hands it off to me. I’m covered in two seconds flat, but Leo blocks enough for me to squeeze through the defense. Lucas’s junk move gets him leveled, but I can’t celebrate. I only make it twenty yards before a bulldozer flattens me, too. At the whistle, I hop up and glare at Lucas.
With the way Coach yells, Lucas ought to know what kind of hot water he’s in.
