Page 72 of Fight for Me
“Jacob?” she asked, trying to regain his attention.
“Hmm?” he grunted, his eyes coming back to hers.
“If I’ve learned anything at all in the last few months, it’s that we can’t let other people make our choices for us,” she said softly. She watched his eyes as he seemed to drink her in. “You’re allowed to have dreams. You’re allowed to be talented, and you can’t let anyone hold you back from that. If Drew wants to be here, then thank him for it, but don’t let him make you feel like his choices were better than yours just because they were different.”
Lexie cut off suddenly as the wordsI love youdarted through her mind. She could taste them on her tongue, feel the shape of them in her mouth, but the idea of saying them out loud—ofmeaning themthe way she thought she might—made her pause.
Jake’s gaze stayed locked on her face for a long moment, like he was memorizing every detail of what he saw, before he threaded his hand into her hair and tugged her down to him. Lexie closed her eyes and let him kiss her like it might be the last time, and like it was the first time, and like they’d never stopped at all. She felt his grip tighten against the back of her neck as she shifted above him, hoping to make him understand all the things she didn’t know how to say.
“Jacob? Can you open this peanut butter for me? I’ve tried everything,” his mother called from down the hall, her voice breaking them apart with a gasp.
“She has radar,” Jake mumbled, his eyes still closed.
Lexie was surprised to realize she was barely touching the couch. She started to ease away from him, but Jake stopped her with a hand against her back.
“I didn’t say I wanted you to move,” he whispered against her ear, and Lexie felt the world shift beneath her when he rolled, flipping her onto her back as he stood up.
“Jacob? Where are you?” Kathleen called again, and he chuckled softly.
“Just a second, Mama!” he called before leaning down and pressing another hard kiss against Lexie’s mouth. “You’re a dangerous woman,” he muttered. Fire flashed in his eyes as he pulled away, watching her with an expression she rarely saw from him. He took a deep breath, rolled his shoulders and disappeared into the hall.
Lexie speared her fingers through her hair, raking it away from her face as she tried to breathe normally. What had she almost said? Where had it come from?
But even as she asked herself, she knew.
Real love had grown quietly, while she wasn’t looking, and she was pretty sure nothing would ever be the same again.
15
“Run, Jacob!” Lexiescreamed, her hands cupped around her mouth as she stood on the edge of an empty pasture and watched most of the Tanner men and a few of the neighbors play what was supposed to be touch football, though the younger cousins were doing a fair bit of roughhousing anyway. Lexie winced when Jake went down hard.
“That was a rough one,” Ashlyn said, taking a sip from her copper-colored thermos. “At least his team is winning, though. Tommy’s is down by three touchdowns,” she added, nodding toward the far side of the field where her boyfriend and his teammates stood discussing their next play.
“What do they get if they win?” Lexie asked as she settled into a camp chair beside Gomer the dog and scratched behind his ears.
“Well, there used to be a trophy,” Brooklyn answered, leaning over the arm of her chair, “but somebody either broke it or lostit a few years back, we aren’t sure which. Either way, it vanished. Now, they just get bragging rights.”
Lexie propped her sneakers on top of the drink cooler and made herself comfortable. The football game was a Thanksgiving tradition for the Tanners, and while everyone had been given the option to play, Ashlyn had convinced Lexie to sit with the girls instead. Hannah and her twin sister, Morgan, the two oldest of Jake’s cousins, completed their spectators’ circle.
“Who are you cheering for, Bee?” Hannah asked, her voice lilting up suspiciously.
Lexie watched Brooklyn turn a dark shade of pink as Ashlyn laughed and prodded her cousin with her foot.
“Shut up,” the youngest girl grumbled, sinking deeper into her purple sweatshirt and using the hood to hide her face.
Lexie leaned forward, eager to be part of the secret. “Which one?” she asked, scanning the makeshift football field for any unfamiliar faces.
“That one,” Hannah said, pointing to a tall young man wearing a Mason County Raiders football jersey. “Tommy’s brother, Jon. They’re biology lab partners, and Bee’s got itbad.”
“Oh, he’s cute,” Lexie said, watching as Brooklyn’s color changed again.
“I do not ‘have it bad,’” the girl grumbled, but Lexie could tell it was a half-hearted protest.
“Oh, so there’s no particular reason you disappeared into my bathroom the second he got here and came out with fresh curls and a full face of makeup?” Ashlyn asked with a smirk. “Just think, Bee! We could be cousinsandsisters-in-law!”
“Ugh, never mind. The last thing I need is to be related to youtwice,” Brooklyn retorted. She groaned and rolled her eyes while the other women laughed. Their affection for each other was almost a tangible force, and Lexie was overwhelmingly glad to be part of it.
“Speaking of people who’ve got it bad,” Hannah said, her gaze darting to Lexie with obvious meaning. “If I were putting money on which of us is head over heels, I’d pick Jake.”
