Page 35 of Fear of Love (Falling #3)

LYDIA

Mila: Bryton found my naked painting.

I grinned as I read Mila’s message in our group chat.

Earlier this week, we took Mila to another naked paint night with Evelyn.

We all decided not to tell her what it really was like and it was well worth it.

No wonder the women there didn’t tell us at first, either.

Mila’s reaction was everything. Although, seeing the naked model wasn’t any less jarring than the first time.

As the others chimed in on the chat, I went to finish getting ready.

Mateo’s game wasn’t for another two hours, but Landon was going to be here in twenty minutes to pick me up.

When he asked me this morning if I wanted a ride, I didn’t even think before saying yes.

It was a decision I was suddenly second-guessing.

I didn’t know why but I was nervous. This wasn’t a date, but hell, it almost felt like one. We were just going to Mateo’s championship game. It wasn’t like Landon was picking me up to go out anywhere else. Yet the butterflies in my stomach were saying otherwise.

I couldn’t even remember the last time I had this feeling. Maybe university? I almost felt like I was going crazy. Who the hell was I to catch feelings for him? Not even four months ago the two of us couldn’t talk without insulting one another.

Now here I was having spent the last month and a half spending almost every day with him. Ever since the celebration party for the Knights, things were different between us. It was like we were staking a claim on one another. And while it freaked me out, I liked the idea of being his.

The emotions that were growing scared the shit out of me. The last time I felt something close to this, I was ruined from the inside out. I never wanted to feel like that again, yet here I was going head first into something that was way more than just friends with benefits.

Thankfully, I had Mateo’s game to distract myself. I was a pro at shoving my feelings away, so it wasn’t like it’d be that hard.

I was in the middle of sliding my shoes on when a knock sounded on my door. Knowing who was on the other side made my heart rate pick up. Lydia, get your shit together. It’s just Landon. It’s no big deal.

With only one shoe on, I quickly made my way toward the door.

My little pep talk to act normal went right out the window the second I found him in my doorway, hands in the pockets of his blue jeans and a Toronto University long-sleeved shirt covering his torso.

It was a bit warmer today, so he didn’t have a jacket on, which showed off the way the sleeves hugged his arms. Arms that were wrapped around me last night and this morning.

“My eyes are up here, Blondie.” Landon’s voice broke me out of my staring.

“Yeah, but your best features are down here.” I purposely kept my eyes on his chest.

“Then you won’t be mad when I stare at your ass all day,” he responded back. I met his eyes as he smirked down at me.

“You can stare but that doesn’t mean I’ll let you touch afterward.” I smirked right on back. There was nothing I liked more than bantering with Landon.

Needing to finish getting ready, I turned on my heel. A hard smack landed on my ass before I even made it a step. I turned my head to glare at him over my shoulder, but Landon just smirked, his expression smug as hell. He had a habit of smacking my ass whenever my back was turned.

“Give me another minute and I’ll be good to go,” I called over my shoulder, feeling his eyes glued to my ass.

I quickly laced up my other shoe. I already knew traffic was going to be insane so we needed to leave.

With my bag in hand, I did one last check to make sure I had everything. Stepping into my living room, I found Landon sitting on the edge of the couch as he flipped through the magazine layouts I left out on the coffee table.

“Are you changing the magazine?” he asked as soon as he saw me.

“Not necessarily. I just thought it might be a good idea to switch up the layout from what we currently have. Move some things around.”

While looking at next month’s issue last week, it occurred to me that we’ve had the same layout this entire time. The first few pages were images of local places, then articles about events coming up before there were more photos and articles about events that took place the month before.

It flowed nicely, but I thought why not move the articles about upcoming events to the middle so readers would have to flip through to get there.

In doing so, they’d see other articles and highlighted shops.

Most readers opened to the first five pages to read about what was going on that month and that was it.If we released two issues a month, it would be nice to change it up.

“Switching things up is always smart,” Landon agreed. “I like it.”

“Thanks.” I felt my cheeks warm at his compliment.

“Ready to go?” I cleared my throat, switching the subject.

“Yeah.” With a hand on my lower back, the two of us left the apartment.

“Excited for the game?” I asked later as we sat in Landon’s truck, music playing softly in the background as we headed to the football stadium.

“Yeah.” His tone didn’t sound all that convincing. With the way his hands gripped the steering wheel and the tension that was present in his shoulders, I knew he was nervous.

“Don’t worry, Mateo is going to do great.” Reaching across the console, I squeezed his arm. He gave me a small nod in return. “Hey, talk to me.”

“I’m fine.”

“Yeah, I don’t believe that for one second.” I turned the music off and twisted in my seat. “Tell me what’s going through your head.” I might not be as adept at Tasha in situations like this, but I was a good listener.

Landon was quiet for another minute, eyes straight ahead.

“It’s huge,” he finally said. I kept quiet, knowing he needed to do this at his own pace. “It’s a championship game, and it may not be at pro level, but if Mateo wins tonight it’s a step toward that.” Landon took a deep breath.

“Mateo is good. God, he’s so fucking good at football. He’s going to make it to the pros, but when he does…” Landon gripped the steering wheel even tighter. “It’s just all happening so fast.” He said the last part so softly.

My chest tightened at his words. He practically raised Mateo. He was the father Wyatt and Mateo never had, so it made sense that all of this stirred certain emotions. Mateo was becoming an adult, and when he did start playing professional football, it wouldn’t be here in Toronto.

“Lan,” I squeezed his arm. “It’s okay to be worried about Mateo and his future. This game is important for his career, but he still has a few years left before any of that. You, your mom, and Wyatt have done an incredible job raising him. He has a great head on his shoulders.”

“I just don’t want to see him fail and get hurt.”

“It’s going to happen whether you want it or not.” I kept my voice soft as I spoke. “Mateo will fail but like you, like Wyatt, like your mother, he will get right back up and go again. You Boone’s never give up. It’s kind of annoying,” I joked. Landon’s lip twitched so I continued.

“You’ve given him the space to make his own decisions while knowing he can come to you no matter what.

When the time comes for him to go to the pros, you’ll be right there beside him the whole way.

” I squeezed his arm again. “So, we’re going to go to the game, watch Mateo kick ass, and then go celebrate. ”

I watched as Landon took a deep breath, the tension in his shoulders easing as he nodded. Landon took on so much when it came to his family. The way he would go to the ends of the earth for them made my chest ache, wishing I had someone who would do that for me.

“Sound good?”

“Sounds good.” With one hand, he reached out and threaded his fingers through mine, resting it on the console between us. “Thank you.”

“Anytime.”

“You made it!” Josie had to yell to be heard over the crowd as Landon and I finally found our seats.

“The traffic is insane. You’d think Taylor Swift was in town,” I said before greeting everyone. Seemed we were the last ones to arrive.

“Took us half an hour to park and then this one kept getting stopped.” Josie jerked her thumb toward her fiancé.

“What can I say, I’m famous.” Wyatt shrugged, a smile playing on his face.

“And so humble.” Josie patted his chest. Since everyone was already seated, Landon and I took the two together at the end of the aisle—a setup that was probably done on purpose.

We were seated in the same section as the last game, the area packed with people in school colors. I could have sworn there were more people in attendance than the last time.

Because it took us so long to get through traffic, we only just settled in our seats when the announcer’s voice came through the speakers. There looked to be more students in this section which meant this was going to be a loud game.

I peeked around on the other side of Wyatt to see Evelyn. She looked out onto the field nervously, hands fiddling with the cap of her water bottle. She looked more nervous here than she did during the guys’ hockey game. Not that I blamed her. This was an important game for Mateo.

“Wish we could have brought our signs,” Josie grumbled next to me.

“They don’t want us to have any fun,” Tasha chimed in.

We had planned to bring our signs again, but the other day, Mateo texted our group chat to tell us that signs were prohibited.

I wasn’t too surprised and almost wondered if they did that on purpose, thanks to last time.

At least Mateo would see us seated directly above the team again, so he’d know we were here.

As the announcer introduced Trinity University, everyone around us booed. The players ran out onto the field, as did the team’s Tiger mascot. He waved his arms around wildly, but while the other team’s fans cheered, our boos easily overpowered them.