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“I love you, too.”

When his eyes dart to my mouth, all I want is to kiss him. And when he tilts his head and covers my mouth with his, I know for certain that I want everything with Reese—all the time—and I think I may finally realize what I need to do to make that happen.

29

Reese

All my life I’ve been surrounded by men. After my mom left it was just me and my dad. Outside of that, it was just my teammates, first in high school, then later in college when I moved into the dorm.

Sitting at a table with the three Perkins’ women is culture shock.

First of all, the food is fantastic.

“Go ahead,” Twyler’s mom says, “finish it off.”

“Are you sure?” I’ve already had three helpings of the casserole Alyssa, Twyler’s mom, made for dinner.

“Yes,” Ruby says from her seat next to mine. “We’re awful at leftovers. They’ll sit in the back of the refrigerator until they spoil.”

“If that’s the case,” I reach for the spoon, “I’ll take it off your hands.” I wink at Alyssa. “I’d hate for any of this delicious meal to go to waste.”

“Oh my god,” Twyler mutters. “You can’t turn it off, can you?”

“Thank you, Reese. I’ll send the recipe back with you two,” Twyler’s mom says, rising from the table. “It’s easy.”

I grin and shovel the food in my mouth. Jesus, it’s good, and I didn’t realize until now how much I want to spend time with Twyler doing mundane tasks like cooking.

When the pan is scraped clean, Twy and I offer to do the dishes. Ruby and Alyssa vanish, making little effort to pretend they’re not giving us space to be alone.

“I like them,” I say, taking a plate from her and loading it into the dishwasher. “I wish I’d had a chance to meet your dad.”

“He wouldn’t have known what to do with you. He wasn’t into sports at all. He loved music and art.” She smiles at me. “But he would have liked you.”

“You think so?”

She shrugs. “He just wanted us to be happy—and you make me happy.”

I snake my arm around her waist, pulling her close. These past few days of being apart sucked. “You sure about that?”

“Absolutely.”

Coming here was a risk. To my position on the team and as captain. I told Bryant that I had some family business to take care of and I’d be back as soon as possible. He wasn’t happy about it, but it’s the first practice I’ve missed in three years, including the time I had the flu. But Twyler is more important than anything—that’s what was missing in my relationship with Shanna. We could have gone on and been a hot professional athlete couple that looked good in the tabloids and elevated my profile, but that’s not what I want. I want a partner. Someone I love to be by my side. A best friend.

With Twyler, I get all of that and more.

* * *

After feeding me, Alyssa graciously invites me to stay the night, putting me up on the sleeper sofa in her office. I hadn’t planned anything past showing up at Twyler’s house and begging her to take me back. I should be exhausted after the long drive from Wittmore, but as I stare up at the ceiling, I’m too amped up to even think about sleep, knowing my girl is two doors down.

Once the house settles, I get up and cautiously enter the hallway. The dim light casts a shadow and when a figure steps out of the dark, I nearly jump out of my skin.

“Need something, number fifteen?”

“Jesus Christ.” I swallow my heart and try to regain my composure. “Ruby. Fucking hell. You trying to kill me?”

Her eyes flick down to my team hoodie. “Just checking to see who was creeping around out here.”

“I was just…” my heartbeat pounds in my ears so hard that I can’t think of a good lie, so I let my sentence fade off. Her smug grin is enough to tell me she knows exactly what I needed. I narrow my eyes and ask, “Do you even live here?”