Page 104 of Catch
My friends are watching, his teammates are watching, hell even Coach Banning is now staring at us. Suddenly I don’t give a shit. I don’t care about anyone else but Ethan.
“Ethan?”
“Are you okay?” he asks me, his voice hoarse, his breath choppy.
“Me? Why wouldn’t I be okay?” I smile back at him. “I’m so happy for you. That game was incredible.Youwere incredible.”
“Thanks, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I saw you and Renner at the end of intermission. I saw him yelling and then grabbing you and—” Ethan’s voice hitches. “Did he hurt you?”
Shit, Ethan saw all that? I shake my head, aware that he’s still holding on to my face and that the chatter in the hallway is almost silent.
“No,” I insist. “He ran his mouth off and then left when Archie and Hudson came back.”
“Fucking asshole. Something’s gotta be done about him.”
“He’s not worth thinking about,” I urge, staring deep intoEthan’s eyes. “Don’t ruin your moment by talking about him. This is about you and your teammates. What a game! You were amazing. An assist and a goal? Could you hear me screaming?”
Ethan licks his lips and nods. He steps even closer, his hot breath kissing my lips.
“What are you doing?” I whisper.
“Jett, baby, I don’t fucking know.” He sighs and closes his eyes for a brief second.
When he opens them again, there’s a mixture of joy and apprehension. It’s only then that I notice his hands are trembling.
“But I know that I want to do it with you. Since that soccer game, all I see, all I think about, all I want, is you. I need to be with you and no one else, and I don’t want to hide that. And I think you feel the same about me. You belong with me, don’t you, Jett?”
NowI’mthe one shaking.
“Are you asking me to be your boyfriend?”
“Clearly you’re better at this than I am,” he teases. “And yes, that’s exactly what I’m asking.”
My smile is so wide that my cheeks hurt.
“I want that too. Even though I was happy with the way things were.”
Ethan’s thumb runs over my lips.
“Were you? Be honest.”
I swallow hard and nod.
“At first, yes, I was.”
“But now?”
Ethan offers me a wicked grin, and I know I’m a goner because I can’t resist it.
“Now you’re mine.” I smirk. “You belong with me.”
Ethan pulls me in and takes my lips in a fierce kiss that says everything. He tastes like sweat, and sex, and happiness.
“But I have to ask,” I whisper. “What brought on this epiphany?”
“Epiphany?” Ethan grins. “God, I love it when you talk dirty, Sugar.”
“Ethan.”
