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“I love you, Cass.”
His words seep in, slowly, like syrup on a pancake. He bought me a house. My house. And that says a lot. But nothing compares to hearing those three words.
“I love you too,” I say.
“Yeah?” He smiles wide. “I'm going to kiss you, Cass.”
“Not if I kiss you first.”
He huffs out a soft laugh. And then his lips are on mine. We’ve kissed before—when we were doing it for show. This kiss is different.
I want to kiss him. And he knows it.
And he obviously wants to kiss me.
Knowing that changes everything. The push-pull tug that seems to be our favorite dance has nothing on the kiss Marcus gives me. His hands cup my face, my head, my hip. He’s holding me to himself—holding me together. I reach up and run my nails through his hair, loving the feel of the silken strands in my fingers. He groans low. I smile into our kiss.
A loud whoop echoes through the locker room. Marcus pulls back, his hand still cupping the back of my head.
Marcus says, “Can you two get a life?”
He’s glaring over my shoulder. I turn to see Jaxon and Trey standing in the doorway, watching me confront and then kiss Marcus.
“We're good,” Jaxon says to Trey.
“Yeah,” Trey says. “I'm good too.”
“You two!” I say. “You were there the whole time?”
“Wouldn’t have missed it,” Trey says, pretending to hold a bucket of popcorn, tossing invisible kernels into his mouth.
“I’ll walk you out,” Marcus says to me.
Then he looks at his friends. “And I’ll deal with you two later.”
“Mm mmm,” Trey says. “Season’s over. You’ve got no jurisdiction here till voluntary workouts start up in April.”
“I think it’s at mandatory mini-camp,” Jaxon says. “That’s not till June, QB.”
Marcus laughs. “Fine. Just wait until you start dating someone—either one of you.”
“Not happening,” they both say in unison.
“Famous last words,” I say, laughing and nudging Marcus in the side.
We say goodbye to Jaxon and Trey, and Marcus walks me out.
On the way down the hallway, he asks, “Have you been there yet?”
“Where?”
“Your new house?”
“My new house,” I repeat. Still stunned. “Thank you, by the way.”
“You’re welcome.”
“And about going there? No. I came here as soon as Coleman gave me the keys.”
