Liam & Trace’s First Date

“I just want to get this right,” Liam said for what seemed like the hundredth time.
As he watched the road, I watched him. The only indication he was stressed, besides his words, was the slight tightening of his jaw and the fact he was watching the road more than he was watching me. I grabbed his hand and squeezed.
“You worry too much, babe,” I said, trying to keep the amusement out of my voice. Not sure I succeeded. “No matter what, this date—our first actual date—will be perfect.”
“You think so?” He studied my face for a few seconds before turning back. I tried to look sincere.
“Yeah.” I turned his hand over and slid our palms together. This man—this tough hard-ass detective—was too adorable. “There’s nowhere to go but up. I mean our meet cute set a low bar—you accused me of being a perp on your stalker case.”
“I didn’t accuse you, jackass,” he said with a scowl as he yanked his hand back. “You were just one of many suspects.”
I laughed. Teasing Liam was so much fun. But I also needed him to relax and not take this so seriously. “This date is already perfect because I’m with you—”
“Nope. Too late.”
“Not hiding who I am,” I continued, ignoring his comment, “or who I want in my life…showing everyone I’m in love with this amazing man…”
“You had a press conference.” His eyes flicked over to me again as he tried to hide a smile.
“That was about winning the championship game. Showing you off was just a bonus. This is about you and me. And fuck Springfield Missouri if they can’t handle it.”
He stared at me a little longer then.
“Watch the road, Liam. A trip to the ER is also not a suitable first date.”
The smile took over his face, and my heart jumped in response. I never thought I’d get to have this: love and romance. And now…I glanced away, feeling way too emotional for the light moment. Liam grabbed my hand again. “I want it to be perfect for you.”
I slotted our fingers together and squeezed not trusting my voice.
We drove for a bit. Liam weaved us through the streets of Springfield, following Sunshine, and then back on Glenstone Avenue. I wasn’t sure if the place we were going to was across town or if Liam just wanted to throw me off. I was excited but nervous. I’d never been big on surprises. Most of the surprises I remembered were devastating.
Which seemed at odds with my love for romcoms since they were all about surprises.
Liam’s hand felt warm and perfect in mine. The soft caress of his fingers settled me. I trusted him. And I didn’t trust many people. “Can you give me a hint?”
His playful smile held a tinge of worry. “You can’t stand not knowing something.” And then he looked away. Something had shifted in the air as his body stilled. Then he sighed. “I’m sorry, babe. That was… Insensitive.”
I’d felt the unintended pain that always cropped up when I thought of losing my dad and my childhood fears of an uncertain future, but I was used to it after so many years. I could do this. For this man and this moment, I could put away my worries. I brought his hand up and kissed his knuckles. “Just a hint.”
His body relaxed, and I felt relieved I hadn’t ruined everything before it started. When it came to football or coaching pimply-faced young adults fresh from their mother’s arms, I had confidence for days. When it came to love and trusting another person, that wasn’t as easy. Liam made it easier.
“I gave you hints already. Chocolate. Declarations of love. So much romance it hurts. Based off romcoms we’ve seen together.”
“Jesus, Liam. That describes every romcoms we’ve seen together, and you know it.”
He grinned at me. “Then I guess you’ll just have to be patient.”
I wanted to smack him and kiss him at the same time. But to be fair, that was my default setting around him starting with the moment we first met.
After what seemed like hours of driving but was actually only twenty minutes—twenty minutes of Liam playing his Spotify playlist and singing along. And it wasn’t until we reached our destination that I realized maybe, just maybe, Rihanna singing about kissing it better was a clue.
My suspicion that he was messing with me was proven correct when we ended up at an uptown bookstore two blocks from Henry’s diner.
Liam had dropped my hand so he could park the car. When he reached for me again, I pulled away and crossed my arms. “Seriously? I can’t believe you drove us all over town just to end up right back here.”
“Where’s your sense of adventure, babe?”
“I left it back on Sunshine during the five o’clock rush.” It was a main road and busy as hell by this time of day, even on a Saturday.
“This is fun. I’m having fun. Aren’t you?” Again, he flashed his beautiful smile but that crease in his forehead told me he was still worried.
I wiped his concern away with a kiss that lasted a minute or two or three. I rested my cheek against his. He’d shaved this morning but he already had stubble coming through and I loved the feel of it against my skin. “Sweetheart,” I said, pulling back so I could see his eyes. “If there’s ever a time I’m not bitching at you, or arguing with you, or teasing you, that’s the moment you need to worry. Thank you for going to all this trouble for me.”
He cupped my face, his thumb caressing my cheek, and his eyes full of love. “I’m making up for that terrible meet cute,” he said, biting his lip in amusement I couldn’t resist leaning in and taking my own bite. Which led more kissing.
“I never said it was a terrible meet cute. I mean, it was terrible that somebody was stalking friends. But you being all detective in charge was hot as Fuck.”
“What about stalking on your first date with Henry?”
I thought about that. “You do have to make up for that,” I said, leaving out the fact that for some odd reason I found that hot too. Maybe I just found everything about Liam hot.
“And tailing someone on our first date?”
“Worth it to see Henry and Charlie reconnect. It was kinda fun following Henry.”
Liam nodded toward the building in front of us. Old brick blended in with the other buildings on the block. Springfield had a mixture of historical buildings and modern ones. The display windows held book. Lots and lots and lots of books. I liked books. I liked movies more.
There must be a reason we were here. Then it made sense. I snapped my fingers and turned to him. “Is it—“
“No. it’s not Notting Hill. Two obvious.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “This was cute at first.”
But the jackass just laughed. “Come on.”
The bookstore was bright and welcoming. We wandered around, Liam holding my hand again, as he picked up books seemingly at random and looked them over. And then put them back. He was stalling. But why?
“Why are we here?” I finally asked.
“Picking up supplies.”
“Supplies?”
He gave me that dopey grin that looked out of place on Detective Liam Mason. I’d seen him make people cry. Hell, he’d almost made me cry. But that was back when I couldn’t stand them. He’d been an overbearing and arrogant jerk. And I’d wanted him. And I hadn’t wanted to want him. But none of those things were true now. And I loved that I was one of the only people who got to see this side of him.
“Come on slow poke,” Liam said, as he pulled me over to the classic literature section. The store was bigger than it looked from the outside. He stopped every so often to run his fingers along the spine of the books as he read the titles. He traced the words fondly and I was no longer thinking about books or dates or romcoms. All I could think about were his fingers as he’d traced them along my stomach last night, that same intense look on his face. Was it inappropriate to get a boner in a bookstore?
“Hey babe?” I said, placing my hand over his and stroking his knuckles with my thumb. “Are you sure we can’t just skip ahead and go back to my place?”
His smile faded. “Is that what you want?”
It didn’t click, at first. Because I was a goddamn idiot with no oxygen left in my brain. Why wouldn’t I want to drag him to my place and have sex? Tons of sex. Then I thought about how that sounded. And the amount of work he’d put into planning this romantic first date.
I was being selfish, and worse—he’d completely misunderstood.
Liam studied the books, not looking at me. I kissed his cheek and grabbed his hand. When he turned to face me, I brushed the back of his hand against my erection. “Sorry,” I said, softly. “Watching you molest books does something to me.”
Liam laughed, his shoulders relaxing. Then he pushed back against my hard cock, and I bit my lip to keep from moaning. “Save this for later, Coach,” he said. “You need to woo me first.”
“Liar.” But I let it continue a moment longer because it felt so damn good. Was that his plan? Edging me all night? Oh, fuck, it probably was. I stepped back, trying to think of anything to deflate my inappropriate boner while not destroying my good mood. I remembered Becky handing me her in depth analysis and wanting to go through it bit by bit. I told her we had time for that later. At least until spring. Then she got on a rant—something about cows and chickens and waiting.
Huh. I glanced down. Problem solved.
“Better?” Liam asked.
“Depends on what you mean by better.” I motioned toward the bookshelf. “Are you picking out a specific book or should I leave you alone so you can get reacquainted with them?”
“No, I’m good.” He pulled a book from the shelf above with no hesitancy. The way he studied it like he wasn’t really looking at it, told me this book was why we were here.
And then I visualized it. Liam scrutinizing every part of his plan including going to the bookstore and making sure the book he wanted was there and knowing exactly where to find it. I seriously needed to up my game. I couldn’t let Liam win. I mean, I would let him win but not yet. Not without a fight. Every moment in our relationship had been about fighting in some way or another. This moment was no different.
Liam handed the book to me. Shakespeare’s Complete Works.
“Shakespeare in Love?” I guessed. I loved that movie. Gwyneth Paltrow and Joseph Fiennes were both seriously hot so that didn’t hurt at all.
He smirked at me. Bastard. And I knew before even said the words I was wrong. “Nope. Try again.”
“You are a pain in my ass,” I said, shaking my head.
He leaned over and kissed my cheek. And then so low the elderly lady next to us wouldn’t hear I assume, he said, “Sorry about that. Next time use more lube.” And that reminded me of last night and the oh-so-fucking-good pain in my ass that I could still feel today.
We paid for the book then we were off again. This time Liam didn’t go too far. He stopped at a place I was very familiar with, Sweet Creations. My favorite bakery. “Why are we here?”
“Because my man has a sweet tooth.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t bake something,” I said almost myself.
“Oh, I did. This is just to kill time before the main event. And because they have the best cherry pie ever. I do better with cakes.”
Something didn’t quite add up. But I was sure that was intentional. He wanted this to be a surprise. He wanted this to be something big.
He led me to a booth and sat down. I tried to take the seat opposite but he pulled me next to him. We shared a piece of pie using two forks—we didn’t want to get too crazy. Not that it mattered because in the end, Liam was feeding me bites and I was fighting another erection.
“You have a few flakes right there,” he said, tapping his fork lightly against my lips. I tried to use my tongue to get them. Liam laughed and leaned in. “Here let me,” he said his voice a little rough.
There was no hope for that erection now. I was fucking hard. And then Liam kissed me and sucked my bottom lip into my mouth. I grabbed the back of his head and pulled him closer. Sure, I wanted to be wooed. I wanted to be courted. I wanted all the romance. But I also, right now, wanted to be fucked. And I didn’t really care where, as long as it was right-the-fuck now.
“Oh my God. I’m sorry,” Liam said, letting me go. “I got carried away.” He looked down as he tried to catch his breath.
It was on the tip of my tongue to ask him again if we could skip to the really good part. But I couldn’t do that, so instead I thought about Becky and the hours and hours and hours of reading ahead of me. She was going to go over every inch of it with me anyway.
Liam’s hand stroked the back of my neck fondly, gently, as if the last five minutes hadn’t happened. I grabbed his hand and pulled it away. “Sorry sweetheart,” I said, “I just—hold on—don’t get that look on your face. I don’t mean it like that. I’m trying to be good here. You need to decide your play: romance or seduction. Because if it’s seduction, let’s fucking go right now. But if it’s romance and you want me to make it through this night without dragging you into the alley and slamming you against the hard brick wall, you need to seriously tone down the touching.”
“My bad.” Liam sounded sheepish. That was not like him. At all. “It’s hard not to touch you.”
I groaned. “Liam for the love of God—“
“I’ll be good. I promise.” And he was. Almost too good. Because after that he barely touched me. We held hands. But that was about it. I had to actually eat my pie by myself. I kinda liked being spoiled. I’d always liked being spoiled. Blame that on my sisters.
After we’d finished our pie and were back in Liam’s Jeep, we drove around some more. I wasn’t sure if he was killing time or if he wasn’t sure where this place was. That notion was soon dispelled because we were back on campus. Well, not quite. We stopped at a nice hotel right off campus. A lot of parents stayed there during football games, especially during Homecoming.
Did he seriously get us a hotel room? That seemed like a waste. I have a nice house. A hot tub and a huge comfortable bed. I didn’t ask him again what we were doing there. I crossed my arms and stared.
His eyes danced with amusement. Damn. I loved seeing him like this. Not worried. Not stressed. Not keeping everything from me to keep me safe. Oh I knew, we would be there again. But for now in this moment, he was happy. I pushed my irritation aside.
That lasted three-point-five seconds. “I missed my senior prom because I was sick and throwing up.”
I studied his face and gave him a don’t-fuck-with-me look. “Why are we talking about prom?”
“I’m opening up to you, Trace.” He tried to look hurt, but he couldn’t really pull it off. Something about that smile just wouldn’t go away. That was the part that worried me. “I thought you’d want to know more about my life,” he continued. “Sharing things from our past.”
I squeezed his arm reassuringly. “I do want to know. But that’s not what this is. What is this?”
“Did you get to go to your prom?”
“So were doing this? You ignore my questions and we just move on? Is that right?”
“Yup. That’s about right. Answer the question, Trace. Did you go to your senior prom?”
“Yes.” Two could play that game.
“Don’t you want to elaborate? Share?”
“Nope.”
His smile widened. “I guess I deserved that.”
I sighed. Did it really matter? We weren’t moving on until I answered his questions. Even the ones he hadn’t actually asked. “I went to prom with a girl named Lisa. She was nice. Sweet. Cute.…”
“But?”
“But,” I said sinking back into the seat, “I wanted to go with this guy. We were both on the football team.”
“Was he gay?”
I shrugged. “I caught him looking at me a little too long a few times, so I think so. But I wasn’t out. And at that time, we probably would’ve both been kicked off the football team. Is there a—” I stopped, noticing the cars and limos driving up to the hotel. And everyone dressed up. The guys in suits. The girls in nice dresses.
“Surprise.”
“Surprise…you want me to relive my high school humiliation?” But something about the way he said it jarred my memory. “Oh, fuck no.”
“What?”
“Not this movie.”
“You love this movie.”
“It’s high school. It’s sappy.”
“Not really high school,” he said, ignoring my glare. “And you’re sappy.”
I shook my head. My stomach was twisting in knots. This is why I didn’t like surprises. Some were awesome. Some were not. “Why?”
The smile on his face dropped just a little, but he held out his hands. “It’s us.”
“In what way?”
“Going undercover. Math nerds.” He pointed at himself. “A sweet tooth.” He pointed at me. “Shakespeare—”
“Never any Shakespeare.”
“The movie—”
“I mean us.” I waved my hand back and forth. “No Shakespeare, unless you’re referring to Josh.”
“No. Not Josh.” But he didn’t say it unkindly. Josh had thankfully turned around. We’d had another chat, and he apologized for being so overprotective. And Attie threatened to put him on the couch until he grew-the-fuck-up. Attie’s words.
“Then I got nothing.”
“You didn’t let me finish. Shakespeare’s As You Like it. Wearing masks. Hiding who we are. And feeling freer to be ourselves while wearing that mask.”
“That’s…weak.”
He grabbed my hands, glancing at me and then away. “I can’t speak for you…but for me all that anger—the fighting—was a mask. Hiding how much I wanted you. You still looked at Josh back then like you wanted to have his babies—”
“I did not.”
His eyes flicked up and then away again. “I wanted you to look at me that way. And was equally terrified I’d get my wish.”
I understood what he was saying. I’d hidden behind our contempt for each other that hadn’t really been contempt. Irritation? Absolutely. Liam had been an ass. I realized I’d been quiet too long when he squeezed my hand. “Okay, yeah. You’re right. But prom?”
“We were both disappointed with our prom experience.”
“Everyone is disappointed with their prom experience, Liam. It’s a part of growing up.” I rolled my neck to ease the tension. He’d put so much into this. I could do it. Right? “Fine,” I said, finally. “But if you think I’m standing on the baseball field in a crowded stadium to kiss you—” And then I stopped. Fuck.
“There it is.”
“We did that already. This movie is us.”
“Football not baseball, but yeah.”
I stared out at the beautiful dresses and handsome guys until one particular kid caught my eye. “Wait. You already knew about my prom, didn’t you?”
“It’s not a stretch. Most people have some regrets—”
“Liam.” I raised a brow at him, and he threw up his hands.
“Nan told me. But she made me promise not to tell you that she told me…Please don’t tell her.”
“Oh, I have to tell her now. So she will never tell you anything again.”
“Babe. This is going to be fun.”
I ignored his words and watched my youngest player with his date. “This is the Winter Social and you roped Jestin into helping you.”
“No,” he said, and then at my disbelieving look he sighed. “There was no roping. He loves the back and forth game we have.”
“Games imply fun.”
“Give it a chance, okay?”
“I’m not dressed for a formal and neither are you. They’ll kick us out.”
“Never. One because you are too gorgeous to throw out. You could be wearing an orange jumpsuit—hold on. Can we save that thought for later? I just realized I might have a prisoner kink.”
And now I could picture it. Liam as my jailer, sneaking in at night to take care of any problems. Using his handcuffs—
I kissed him hard on the mouth—savoring his taste and the heat of his lips—and then pushed him away. “I can’t think around you. Stop it—” I pulled a deep breath in and out. “But yes, later. That. All of that. Is there another point?”
“What?” he stared at me and his eyes looked a little dazed. “Oh, yes. Two—you won us the championship game. You’re a rockstar.”
“We’re gonna get killed in the playoffs.”
“Maybe. All I care about is that you’re here today. Not at a playoff game in Indiana. It’s hard to be sad about that.”
”Idiot.”
Liam winked at me and got out of the car. I followed his lead, but I wasn’t happy about it. He didn’t head toward the hotel. Instead, he walked to the back of the Jeep and pulled out two suits. They were both gray—one darker than the other.
“How did you know my size? Never mind. It was Nan.”
“I really like your sister.”
“Too bad because I’m going to kill her.”
***
The whole thing wasn’t terrible. We’d changed and made our way in. No one seemed to care that we didn’t really belong there. In fact it was difficult getting any time to ourselves because everyone wanted to congratulate me on the game last week.
We escaped onto the dance floor. I loved holding Liam and dancing close. Maybe I wouldn’t kill my sister after all.
Dancing with Liam out in public, something I probably wouldn’t have done even a week ago. But now it felt comfortable. Right. I wouldn’t change it if I could.
We ate a little, joked around with Jestin and his girlfriend, Carli, and danced some more. It was fun. Until the music stopped so they could announce the queen and king of the formal. Did they really still do that stuff?
And after the whole court had been called on stage and crowned, I thought we were in the clear. Then Jestin—I’d been watching him, planning my counter move—nodded to the person at the mic. Fuck.
“We have one more couple to call up here. They are the Badger’s cutest couple. Coach Powers and Professor Mason.”
I raise my eyebrows at Liam. But of course this was part of the plan all along. “No way.”
“Come on. You’re in front of people all the time.”
“I prepare for that, Liam. I know every time. And I have the big football players to hide behind.”
“Bullshit.”
“I can’t believe you did this.”
“I didn’t,” he said. “Not this part.”
“Liar.”
Everyone was still trying to get us to go up to the stage. I glanced around the room in frustration, feeling pressured to give in. Then Jestin winks at me.
“I’m gonna bench that kid next year.”
“No you’re not.”
“No, I’m not,” I agreed, “but a thousand pushups seems fair.”
“Stop your grumping Coach.” Liam grabbed my arm and pulled me with him to the stage. We accepted our crowns—this had to be part of some plan—and waved to the crowd.
I tried to drag Liam off with me but “speech, speech” started trending through the room. Great.
“Nope.” I shake my head at Liam.
“Don’t worry, babe. I got this.”
“Oh, fuck,” I muttered. “That’s even worse.”
“Thank you everyone! Trace and I are happy to be here. And I’m going to be honest with you.” His voice took on a serious note and the crowd quieted. He took my hands. “I never thought I’d be here. Next to this man that I love with all my heart. Trace, you are the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I love you so much.”
I fucking melt all over that floor. “I love you, too. But you fucking made me cry.”
Liam pulled me into a kiss and everyone cheered. And then he kisses me again, pulling me against him and I forget about everyone else.
***
We left soon after and I was more than ready. “Now can we go home and fuck?”
“No. Your romantic date isn’t over.”
“Fuck romance,” I said,” It’s overrated.”
Liam laughed.
Fucker.
Then he drove us to the football field. Of course. The movie. “If there are people here, I’m murdering you. And Nan may be your newest and bestest friend but have no doubt she would absolutely help me hide your body.”
“Don’t worry. No one’s here. As you said, we already did the whole kissing in front of a crowd thing.” But then he hesitated. “Maybe we should skip this part, go back to your place, and get naked.”
And even though my body was all on board with that suggestion, it felt like a trap …a test. “Let’s do this. We need something to tell our grandkids someday.”
The stadium was dark except for the emergency lighting. Liam had also brought a flashlight. That man was more prepared than a boy scout. Luckily I had keys to the place. But knowing Liam, he had a back-up plan.
We stopped at the fifty-yard line, and he pulled a blanket out of his gym bag. His other items included the Shakespeare book, sample bottles of wine, and two pieces of chocolate cake.
“Does it have vitamins in it?” I asked, remembering the movie.
“It does. Vitamin A and B—”
“And THC?”
He laughed. “No, sadly. Still need to keep my job.”
Liam fed me cake and we toasted with the wine bottles. He read Shakespeare to me in the moonlight—and using a flashlight. I didn’t understand much of what he read, but Liam made it sound sexy as hell.
“I didn’t know you liked Shakespeare,” I said, brushing his hair off his face.
“My English Lit teacher was a gayboy’s wet dream, but he also taught me how to read Shakespeare.”
“I need to thank him. And now you’re a cop. Not a bad thing but they seem worlds apart.”
He nudged his foot with mine almost distractedly. “When I discovered mysteries, I was hooked. I hung out at the library as much as I could after school. I loved how organized and open it was.”
My heart ached for that little boy. I wanted to take away all his pain. We talked for a while, laying on the blanket and staring at the sky. The air was cool, but not cold.
Liam moved closer until our shoulders were touching. Putting my hand on his chest, he held it there. “Did I do okay?” he asked, trying to sound like the answer didn’t matter.
“You did amazing. This was the best date I’ve ever been on, including our fake ones.” This man had done all of this for me. And I’d done nothing but bitch about it. “Thank you.”
“You’re very welcome,” he said, kissing me. That turned into a make out session under the stars.
“it wasn’t too much?” Liam asked a little while later. “I wasn’t sure.”
“It was a little sappy,” I said, regretting my teasing words as soon as they left my mouth.
“I’m kind of new at this romance stuff.”
“Don’t get your knickers in a twist, as Stewart would say, you did fine. Better than fine.”
Liam scrubbed at his face, and his eyes looked tired. “Please don’t talk about my techie when we’re having a sweet sexy moment.”
“He’s not listening in, is he?” I leaned over Liam to check both his ears. “Hmm. Nothing there. Maybe I should check other places for a wire.”
“Maybe you should.”
I bit his ear playfully and nibbled my way to his mouth. Then I kiss him. Thoroughly. “Nope. Nothing there,” I said, a little breathless. I raked my fingers through his hair, enjoying the feel of it running though my fingers. It was getting longer. Would SPD make him cut it. I teased the back of his neck and dipped my fingers below the collar of his shirt. “Nothing in there.”
Liam whined, a signal to get on with it. I was happy to oblige. I unbuttoned his shirt desperately needing to touch more of him. My hands roamed over his chest, teasing him just to hear him moan again.
“Trace…Fuck.”
“You want me to do a full cavity search, Detective?”
“Yes, please.”
I jump up, ignoring his protests. I was ready to be home, in bed, with my man. “Let’s go. I need to check every inch of you.”
“Wait. It’s only our first date. You’re going to let me get past second base?”
“I’m letting you run all the bases. A home run is in your future but only if we can stop talking about baseball.?”
“Actually, I was thinking,” Liam said, “that maybe we could find some uniforms and do a little role play.”
“Baseball? Or…Football?” Images of tackling Liam flashed through my mind.
“Neither,” he said, biting his lip. “I was thinking…hockey.”
***

But the role plays—hockey and prison orange—would have to wait because as soon as we made it through the door of my house, we were all over each other. Igniting into a fire. And this flame had two parts. The red-hot sexual attraction that had been there from that first moment when Liam had pointed his finger at me and said the word “You.” But there was also the blue part. The slow burn of giving yourself completely to another person. Loving them and trusting them and believing in them. And getting to have all the sappy parts I worried didn’t really exist. Not for six foot three jocks.
Afterward Liam spooned me, wrapping his arms around me, and I snuggled against him. I was so lucky to have him in my life. Showing me that this was all real. That love was real. And giving me a perfect romantic first—
“Wait,” I said pulling out of his arms so I could see his face. “You did this on purpose.”
He squinted at me. “What? I mean, yeah. It took a bit to plan. So yes, definitely on purpose.”
I shook my head. He wasn’t getting it. I tried another tactic. “You realize what this means, right?”
“I’m pretty tired, babe, so not entirely sure.”
“It means when we tell our grandkids—hell, anyone—about our perfect first date, and for them to get it—really get it—I have to admit that one of my favorite romcoms is Never Been Kissed.”
“Yes,” he said, a grin taking over his face. “I did think of that.”
“And you still went with it?”
“Of course, babe,” he said, giving me a kiss. A perfect kiss, and then he pulled me back into his arms. “Honestly, that was the best part. You’re a fearsome opponent. A hot jock. But you’re also this sweet cinnamon roll of a guy who loves romantic movies. It’s time for you to come out and own that shit. Because it’s absolutely one of my favorite things about you.”