Everly and I will be back in about an hour. Can we talk?
“He’s going to break up with me,” I say after I read the text from Tyler. My heart drops into my stomach.
“What?” Scarlett’s eyes widen.
“He wants to talk when he gets home.” I hold up my phone, and she and Jade lean in to read it.
“I think you’re reading too much into that,” Jade says.
“Maybe. I can’t help it. It feels so similar to the last time. He’s pushing me away, and he has so much on his plate I almost don’t blame him. I’m one more commitment he doesn’t have time for right now.”
“You are amazing, and he’s lucky to have you.” Jade points a finger at me to punch her point.
“She’s right,” Scarlett adds. “And all the guys are stressed right now. It’s that time of year. They’ll get through it, and so will we.”
She reaches over and takes my hand.
“Aww.” Jade smirks. “This is some serious WAGs love. I almost feel like I’m missing out.”
“I’m sorry. This was supposed to be a fun night to celebrate you and Leo and his contract.” I lift my glass. “To another eight years in Minnesota.”
My friend’s face lights up with happiness and relief. “Thank God. Can you imagine me trying to keep up with this one from another state?”
She tips her head toward Jade, who smiles. “I’m practically married. I’ll be old and boring in no time.”
“When is the actual wedding?” I ask Jade as I plaster on a happy smile for my friends. She’s been documenting the whole engagement process in her magazine articles, but otherwise doesn’t talk about it much.
“Who knows,” Jade says. “My editor is so happy with the followers and engagement we’re getting online from my articles that I think I can milk this for at least another year.”
“And things with Sam are good?”
“Yeah.” Jade shrugs. “I’ve been working a lot, which has been good for us.”
“Spending less time together is better for your relationship?” Scarlett asks her.
“I have never been one of those people who wants to spend every second of the day with the person I’m dating. I like my independence too much.” Jade looks at me. “Maybe that’s what Tyler is feeling.”
“I don’t know. When things are good between us, he’s possessive and greedy.” My body tingles. I can almost feel his fingers around my neck lightly applying pressure as he tells me over and over that we belong together.
God, the more I think about it the less upset I feel and instead I’m angry. We do belong together. Why when things get tough does he lose sight of that?
“He’s had a lot going on. He probably just needs a reminder that you’re a goddess,” Scarlett says.
“How do I remind him of that?”
“Oh, I think you know.” Jade smirks and gives me a slow once-over that feels downright sensual. She laughs, and in case I didn’t pick up her hint, she says, “Take off all your clothes and lie on top of him.”
“Sex?” Scarlett asks with a snort. “Your answer to this is sex?”
“I’m sorry,” Jade says with a roll of her eyes. “Let me clarify. Lots of sex. Repeatedly until he can’t think of anything else.”
She looks from me to Scarlett. “This isn’t that hard of a concept, ladies. I do it all the time.”
I laugh. Small laughter that builds. “I’m going to seduce him until he forgets he wants to break up with me?”
“Oh. I have just the thing!” She goes to her purse and pulls out a lacy, white…something. I’m not even sure.
Scarlett snatches it from her. “You were carrying this in your purse? For what purpose?”
“I got it from a bridal boutique. My next article is all about the honeymoon.” She waggles her brows.
“God, your job is awesome,” I mutter.
“Right?” She smiles.
“It is pretty.” Scarlett holds it up against her.
Leo jogs down the stairs. His steps slow and he pauses, brows lifted toward his hairline, as he takes in his fiancée holding up the white lace against her body.
“Hey,” he draws out, not taking his eyes off Scarlett.
She drops the lace, and he just keeps staring at her like he’s in a trance.
“I think we’ve made our point.” She tosses the lingerie to me. “It’s worth a shot.”
“You can thank me later,” Jade says. She grabs another white lacy number from her purse and hands it to Scarlett. “You can both thank me later.”
An hour later I head back across the street. I pull at the lacy material underneath my sweatshirt. Jade insisted I put it on before going over so I could attack him the second I see him.
I’m nervous. Not about the lingerie, but that he’s going to break up with me or say we need space before I can distract him with it. And even if it works, I can’t keep his mouth occupied forever. Or can I?
The downstairs is quiet. I head straight up to my room. The shower is going so I slip out of my jeans and sweatshirt and pull on a dress that will be easier to rip off in front of him.
Oh, God, what am I doing?
The water in the shower goes off and I check my reflection in the mirror one last time and take a steadying breath. “Here goes nothing.”
I cross through the steamy bathroom and into Tyler’s room. When he spots me in his doorway, a smile tugs at his lips. “Hey, I didn’t know you were back.”
“I just got here.” My voice shakes. I stay in my spot just inside his room.
He drops the towel from around his waist and opens a dresser drawer for clothes. Gosh, he’s beautiful. The muscles in his back and arms work as he pulls on a pair of athletic pants.
“I missed you. I got you something.” He grabs something off the top of the dresser and throws it to me.
I unfold the T-shirt to see the University of Wisconsin-Madison name and mascot on the front. “Did she decide on Madison?”
“Nah, she wants to stay close and go to the same college as her friend Grace, but we did the tour, and it seems like a great college. The tour guide even mentioned how good their education department is.”
So, this gift was to convince me to go to Madison, not celebrate Everly. My heart dips in my chest.
Tyler goes for his bed, eyeing me when I still haven’t moved.
“Everything okay?” he asks.
This is it.
I swallow down some confidence and do my best strut toward him. “Perfect.”
When I get to the side of his bed, I drop the T-shirt to the floor and then reach down and pull the dress up and over my head in a quick, swift motion.
His eyes bulge and his back goes straight. “Well, hello, wet dreams.”
I resist the urge to move and let him take in every inch of my body in this seriously amazing lingerie. His throat works and his gaze finally makes it back to my face. That’s my cue.
I climb onto the bed and straddle his hips. “You’re not dreaming. I missed you too.”
His hands caress my waist, and he drags his long fingers over the white material. “I spent so much time thinking about us while I was gone.”
My pulse races as I watch his green eyes lighten. He looks like he’s just about to speak again, so I crush my lips to his and fight the tears stinging the back of my eyelids.
His shock only lasts a second before he’s meeting the kiss with everything he has. My seduction attempt quickly turns into his show as he flips us so he’s on top. Then again, a good seduction should push him to action so maybe I’ve won after all.
I don’t care. As his hands roam over the lingerie and his tongue tangles with mine, I just know that I will do whatever it takes to show him how perfect we are together. He might not have tried to make a relationship work with other people while we were apart, but I did. And although my attempts were half-hearted, I have to believe that if someone else would have come along and made me feel even half as alive as he does, I would have jumped at another chance at happiness.
“How do I get this thing off?” he asks, nipping at my lower lip and running his big hands along the lacy material at my stomach.
I lean back and pull the straps down one by one. He buries his head in my neck and breathes me in and something locks into place.
I get it. I understand what’s happening. I’m embarrassed it took me as long as it did. Tyler doesn’t want to break up with me. He never did. Not four years ago and not now. He thinks he isn’t capable of being what I need or deserve or… I don’t even know because it blows my mind.
He’s always the first one to give up what he wants or needs for the people he loves. He thinks I’m giving up going to a great college because he’s here and going means we’d be long-distance…again.
The realization of what he’s doing is as annoying as it is touching. We. Belong. Together.
And he damn well knows it, but still he’s doing it again—making decisions for me based on what he thinks I want when what I want is him. What I need is him.
That’s why he brought me back the college T-shirt and is trying to push me away. He wants me to have everything.
Stupid, stubborn, amazing man. Everything is nothing without him.
After a world-class performance, thank you very much Jade for the inspiration, I lie next to Tyler waiting for him to start the talk he said we needed to have.
Knowing he’s pushing me away for what he perceives as my benefit, doesn’t make it any easier to figure out how to stop him. In fact, I’d say it’s harder because no matter what I say, he probably won’t believe me. Which means I need to show him how great we are instead of telling him. He just needs a little reminder. Or a lot of little reminders.
“You said you wanted to talk,” I say by way of guiding us to the topic.
“Yeah.” He shifts.
I sit up and place my hand over his heart. I wish I could zap him with my touch, get through his stubborn head and make him understand just how much he means to me. “But before you say what I think you’re going to say, can you just not?”
One dark brow lifts and his lips curve up.
“It’s a rare week that you don’t have any away games, Everly’s rehearsal schedule is intense leading up to the show, and I have a big week at school. I’m running lessons every day this week.” My stomach clenches with nerves at the reminder of that. “It’s just been a lot lately and I’m craving a little calm, so please, can we save any serious conversations until Friday and spend this week enjoying each other in all the moments in between the chaos?”
He cups the back of my head and lets his fingers glide down over my hair. “Yeah, Pipes. Whatever you need.”
What I need is to figure out how to use every second of this week to make him realize that the best thing for the both of us is to be together.
