Page 53 of Rule 5: Never Crush on the Captain
“You wouldn’t mind if the team knows?”
“I wouldn’t mind if the world knows.”
“You mean that?” My voice trembles. Maybe I’m wrong about this. Maybe this is actually a dream. Maybe I’ll wake up, and I’ll be back in my bedroom, surrounded by torn up tissues and sadness.
“I love you, Evan,” he says softly. “I love you so much.”
“I had no idea.”
“That was sort of the point,” he says. “Guess I’m good at pretending too. Sorry.”
I elbow him, and he yelps out a laugh, and suddenly, we’re on the bed. We’re side by side, and he pulls me toward him, but I’m no longer worried that he doesn’t want to be here.
I let myself be drawn into his arms, and when I flick my gaze up to him his head draws closer and closer. And then we’re kissing.
His lips are on mine, just like they’re supposed to be. Just how they always should have been, even though I had no idea.
He pulls back. “I should ask you the same question. Would you mind if people knew?”
I wonder if I’ll feel my blood pressure rise and rise until I wish Vinnie away.
But the idea is absurd.
“I was pretty sad when you stopped coming around,” I say instead.
He hesitates a moment. “How about I promise to still stop by even if you say no to a relationship?”
“You would do that?”
“I mean, Stella is pretty cool.”
I elbow him, even though my heart is swelling. Because, let’s face it, that’s just what I want to hear about my kid.
I giggle against him, conscious of the way his hard muscles move up and down, as his baritone voice joins me.
“I didn’t think you were well, anything but straight,” I admit. “I didn’t let my mind think about you in that way. Well, not excessively.”
“Not excessively?
“Don’t tell me your fancy Seaport condo doesn’t have mirrors.”
He gives a startled laugh, and I use that time to roll on top of him.
“I like your shoulders,” I say.
He quirks up his brow. “That’s where you’re going to start?”
“I mean, they are pretty wide.”
“All the better to defend you,” he says, dropping his voice into a seductive tone.
I laugh again. Because Vinnie and I were first friends. And we’re going to be friends again. And we’re going to be so much more.
“Maybe you should just kiss me.”
“Well, I gotta listen to my captain.”
And then his lips are on mine.
