Page 80 of Offsides

“Theodosia Kappas, I love you. I love you more than I can say. You know that I believe in living life to the fullest, and that darlin’, is you. You are what I want filling all my thoughts. My days, my nights, my dreams. Everything.”

Theo whimpered, leaning forward until their foreheads met. He could hear her choke back a sob, her body shaking. Stepping between her knees, Cowboy wrapped his arms around her, starting to second guess these being happy tears. If they weren’t, well…he didn’t know what he would do then.

“I love you too, Britt,” she responded, her voice breathy. Sitting up, she pulled back to look at him. Her eyes were red, and her mascara was pooled underneath them, but he’d never seen anyone so stunning in his whole life. This was the woman he loved, and he was falling even more by the second. “You have no idea how much I love you.”

“Oh, I do, darlin’. I do. Because I know that you fight for the things you love. If you didn’t love me, you wouldn’t have fought with me in that parking lot, telling me what an asshole I was. You would have simply walked away. But you didn’t. You stood there, giving just as good as you got in that argument. Maybe even better.”

Laughing, Theo wiped at her tears, extending the black smudge across her cheek.

“You were being an asshole.”

“I know I was. I’m sorry. And I’m sorry that I didn’t trust that you had my and the team’s best interests at heart. Because you did; you do. You showed me that not all reporters are the scum-sucking leeches that I believed y’all to be. I’ve never been so happy to be so wrong in my life.”

“I never thought that hearing the term scum-sucking leeches would be in the least bit romantic, but leave it to you, Britt Callahan.”

“You should see what else I can make romantic,” he joked, loving the smile on her face. “I shouldn’t have asked you not to include Dash in your feature; it was wrong. It’s not an excuse, but the stress of everything that happened got to me, and I reacted poorly. I hope that you can forgive me. Because I really like being your boyfriend and would like to keep the job.”

“Of course you’re forgiven. As long as you can forgive me.”

“There’s nothing to forgive, darlin’.”

“There is. I shouldn’t have brought up the interviews in that moment. I should have let you just vent and waited to talk to you about it later, when I could explain what I wanted to do with the interview. That’s on me. I should have been a better girlfriend.”

“So I can keep the job?” he asked playfully, a smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth. He waggled his eyebrows for effect, earning him a giggle.

Music to my ears…

“You can absolutely keep the job.”

Cowboy felt all the muscles in his body relax—muscles he hadn’t even realized had been tense. Theo loved him back. Happiness radiated through him, filling him with another feeling he couldn’t name. It was similar to what he’d felt when Liverpool had won the Cup, giving him the overwhelming urge to cry out in excitement. This was better than that though—stronger. He still wanted to scream from the rooftops, but even more than that, he wanted his girl in his arms. Now.

Tightening his arm around her, he hauled her into him, their bodies colliding. His free hand found the back of her neck, pulling her into a kiss. Her lips were soft, sweet, everything he’d been thinking about these past few days while they were apart. Snaking her arms around his neck, Theo deepened the kiss, her touch welcoming. Cowboy was pretty sure he could kiss her all day, loving how every one of her little touches and coos turned him on. The thought of stripping her down and worshiping her with his tongue on this desk flitted through his mind, but then he realized it was still the middle of the workday, and God only knew who might be in the control room. That idea would just have to wait until later.

“I’m not sure I will ever get tired of kissing you,” Cowboy said.

“I like the sound of that,” Theo purred, nuzzling her nose against his cheek.

“Yeah? Does that mean that I can steal you away from here, take you home, and spend the rest of the day showing you what it means to be mine?”

“I bet that can be arranged.”

“Good, then we have charity work to do.”

“Charity work?” She pulled back from him, brows knitted in confusion. Cowboy fought against the smirk that was tugging at his lips, enjoying watching Theo try to work out his statement in her head. “What happened to you showing me that I’m yours?”

Cowboy laughed. “One and the same, darlin’. You’re gonna save a horse by riding Cowboy.”

“Ohhhhhh,” Theo groaned, giving him a shove. The smile on her face betrayed her, making his insides do a happy dance. “That’s bad, Britt, like, really, really bad. Please tell me you’ve never actually used that line.”

“Once, shortly after Cullen gave me the nickname. Strolled right up to this gal at a bar, delivered the line, proud as a peacock. She tossed her drink in my face.”

Theo snorted, hands flying up to cover her nose and mouth, her cheeks turning red in embarrassment. Cowboy leaned in, kissing her forehead, his heart so full he thought it might burst. If that was the reaction he was going to get, then telling her all his embarrassing stories just got moved to the top of his to-do list.

“Not my proudest moment,” he admitted.

“I’d say not,” Theo agreed, her fingers dancing across his chest. “But, I love your stupid, cheesy lines.”

“I love you.”