Page 114 of Hail Marry
“And at naptimes.”
“Hmm. This sounds like the full-time job I’ve been looking for.” She kisses my neck, sending a rush of electricity through me. “Does it come with benefits?”
“I can think of a few…” I pull back to tip my head down, but she stops me.
“Gum first.”
I chuckle and turn over to grab a stick from the drawer of my bedside table.
“I talked to Preston yesterday,” she says.
“What’d he say?” I rip the stick of gum in half and pop some in her mouth, then mine.
She chews but shakes her head. “That the visit we got isn’t a good sign, which we kind of knew. But the fact that it didn’t go well means we should expect an interview.”
“Didn’t we already do that?”
“Apparently not.” She uses her hands to push herself up in bed so that she’s almost sitting, back against the headboard. “He called this one a ‘Stokes interview.’ He said they’ll question us separately, and if our stories don’t match…”
My eyes search her face. She doesn’t have to finish. I know the stakes here. At this moment, they feel higher than ever.
“I basically hung up on him so I wouldn’t lose it on the phone,” she says.
I frown and sit up too. “Why didn’t you call me?”
She lifts a shoulder. “I wanted you to be able to enjoy the game without that stress hanging over you, without the weight of knowing everything you’ve worked for is in jeopardy.” She scoots closer to me, exuding sudden uncertainty. “Maybe that was wrong of me, though. Maybe that’s why Ishould’vetold you—so you could appreciate the game knowing it might be one of your last?”
I search her face, wondering if she really thinks that’s the main thing worrying me right now. Even after last night.
“Tori,” I say, “you’re more important than anything to me. I always want you to call me when you need to talk. Okay?”
She smiles and presses her lips to mine.
There’s no way to describe how good this feels—kissing her whenever the impulse comes. My new problem will be trying to do anythingbutkiss her.
“Another thing,” she says as she pulls back. “I told my family.”
My brows go up. Is that what she meant when she said she called Siena? I probably should’ve thought about that. Why would Siena tell her to confess her real feelings if Siena didn’t know the real reason behind our marriage?
“I really needed to talk to somebody,” Tori hurries to say, “and I hate lying to them.”
“Tori.” I smile slightly and brush some of her bedhead hair out of her face. “I thought you should tell them from the beginning. What’d they say?”
Tori shifts,then lies down across my lap so her head rests on my thighs. “Siena recommended we abscond to Belize together.”
I frown consideringly. “Belize sounds nice. Is that our plan, then?”
Tori smiles up at me, and I know it more surely than ever right then: I can never lose that smile or those teasing eyes or that wild hair.
“Anything else?” I’m absurdly anxious to hear what her family thinks of me now that they know we’ve been lying to them.
Tori’s eyes soften as she looks up at me. “They love you, Luca. You’re one of us. For real. Whether you like it or not.”
I can’t speak. My throat is thick, and my heart…it’s overwhelmed with gratitude for Tori and her family. All of this is more than I could’ve ever dreamed.
Tori lifts her hand to my cheek and lets her fingers graze the hair. Then she raises herself up and presses her lips to mine, and all of our cares fall away again.
“That’s insane,”Zach says, his voice pumping through my phone’s speaker as I drive to the stadium.
