Secret Catch (16 page)

“I missed you, too.” He kisses along my jaw. “I thought you were here. My gut told me so.”

“Do you know how hot you looked down there?” I kiss his neck up to his ear and then lightly bite his earlobe. His body wash is doing funny things to my head. “There were at least fifty girls I wanted to yell at.” I laugh against his neck.

“
Really
?” he says, his voice deeper than normal.

“I had to force my ass to stay on the bleachers.” I stop kissing his ear and cup his face in my hands. “But I
had
to be here. Had to see you down on the field today.”

He just nods, and then he’s kissing me again, with hot, steamy kisses that set the rest of my body on fire. Then he’s turning us, and I’m sandwiched in between him and the truck. He’s pressing into all the right parts
with
all the right parts, but there’s way too many clothes, and I’m about to tell him to get in the back.

“Whoa, Tyler. Sorry man.” A car pulls up next to us, and I recognize the Trojan quarterback.

Tyler lowers me gently to the ground and whispers, “Shit.” I pat my hair to make sure the wig hasn’t moved.

“Hey man,” Tyler grunts.

“Sorry, I was just checking back. I wanted to make sure you were okay.” He looks from Tyler to me, and chuckles a little. “Looks like you’re good. You gonna introduce us?”

I’m freaking out from hairline to ankle, and Sam sort of floats behind me waiting for my cue. I should’ve come up with a plan in case this happened, but looks like I’m just gonna have to wing it.

“Uh, this is—”

“Samantha,” Sam steps around me, marches right up to Daniels’ car, and sticks her hand out. Daniels’ shakes it with a grin.

“Matt.” He nods at Sam’s shirt. She’s sporting blue tonight. “A Husky, huh?”

She shrugs. Thank the football gods he doesn’t recognize her as a Nolan.

“How’d you run into Koontz?”

I step up, feeling like I should contribute somehow even though I’m pretty sure Sam has got this. “Last away game on their field. Didn’t you notice how shitty I played that night?”

He snorts. “Coach always said girls were a distraction.”

“Yeah. So keeping it on the DL.”

“Got it.” Daniels pulls his arm in the cab and shifts. “Well, if you want to get out of hanging, I’ll tell the guys you’re busy.”

“Keep it vague, will ya?”

Sam nods. “Real vague. I’m not sure if I like him yet.” Her thumb jerks in my direction. “He’s kind of an ass, so we’re keeping it casual.”

Daniels laughs, and I do something that feels completely natural and tickle Sam’s hip. My heart crash lands in my gut because it feels
good
. To be out, open, a
couple
in front of one of the guys.

Too bad we’re spouting complete bull.

Daniels starts revving the engine and Sam and I take a step back. “All right. See ya later.”

“Bye, man.”

We watch him till he drives out of sight, and I didn’t realize our tense stances until both of us relax into each other.

“Nice improv,” I tell her.

“You too.”

“Let’s get out of here, yeah?”

“Agreed.”

Sam slides to the middle seat, and I settle my arm between her legs to shift. It’s doing real funky things to my stomach and blurring my vision, but I don’t tell her to move.

Her phone vibrates between our hips, and she takes it out, talking for about two minutes… just saying “yeah” and “got it” and “okay” and I don’t ask anything because the way her voice saddens with every one word answer, I know she’s talking to her mom.

“Can I talk to Josh, please?”

I downshift and let my pinky graze her knee. Her skin puckers with goose bumps, and I have to stop myself from pulling to the side of the road and making out. We’re still in Trojan territory.

“Hey, buddy… no, I’ll be home later…I’m with Tyler…” She tilts her head to me. “Josh says ‘hi.’”

“Hey Coach.”

“
Captain
.”

I grin and press down a little on the gas. We’re nearly to the neutral zone.

“I love you more than summer.”

There’s a pause, and I catch Sam’s small smile in my peripheral.

“Wow…” she says, and there’s a crack in her voice. “That’s a lot.”

She hangs up, and once her phone is nestled into her pocket I take her hand and place it on the shifter with mine so we don’t have to let go. There’s a few seconds of her staring at our intertwined hands, then she bends down and trails a kiss across each one of my knuckles. My mouth runs dry, and I have to gulp, but I can’t. Instead I take pacing breaths and speed up to the park. Once we’re there, she sheds her black wig.

The field is empty, like it usually is this late. Sam ducks under my arm, and I fumble to carry the giant pile of blankets. She picks a dark spot a few feet from the forty yard line. I drop a few blankets down, leaving a couple folded in case she wants to use them for a pillow. But instead of lying down, she yanks on my jacket and pulls me in an airtight hug.

“Whoa.” I laugh, wrapping my arms around her.

“Sorry, I just… I missed you.” Her grip tightens. “It’s been a rough couple of days, and I finally get to see you, and I don’t want to worry about getting caught right now. I just want to be with you without thinking about the rivalry.”

“Okay.” I rub her back. “What’s been going on?”

“Same thing, different day.”

“With your mom? Or with your cousin.”

“Both… but right now…” She shakes her head. “It’s like she’s trying to get better, but she’s not sure how to do it.” She leans back enough to catch my eyes. “I’m trying to understand. But I feel like it shouldn’t land on just one person’s shoulders, you know? She’s supposed to help us when we’re feeling weak, and we’re supposed to help her. But her weak moments are all the time, and mine… get forced somewhere I can’t feel. It’s like I’m not allowed to be weak… and I
want
to be weak sometimes. I want to cry and curse the world and ask God why he took my dad away.”

“I don’t think that’s weakness,” I say, shifting my weight.

“Then what else is it?” Her eyes flick up to mine. She looks so damn beautiful, I can’t help but reach out and touch her cheek.

“You loved him.” I clear my throat, and my eyes move over her small nose, her parted lips, to her hand that tucks itself in mine. My breathing gets heavy, and I’m trying real hard to keep my voice light because I think she needs that, and I
really
don’t want what I’m about to say to come out the wrong way. “I think when you lose someone you love, it’s all right to forget how to keep it together.”

“I guess…”

I run my fingers down her cheek, cupping her neck and pulling her close. “If I lost you, I wouldn’t know how to live either.”

She’s breathing hard, and I know she gets what I’m implying. And I’m not afraid to say it to her. Who the hell cares if it’s too soon? It’s how I feel.

“Sam, I—”

“Oh my gosh.” A smile breaks out over her face and her eyes get real big. “This is happening.”

Something about the way the air lifts around us makes me chuckle, and I kiss her lips gently as she presses her body flush against mine. “Do I get to finish?”

“Sorry, yes.” She’s shaking, and her smile threatens to take over her entire face. “Please finish that sentence.”

“Sam, I… well, damn it.”

“What?”

Running my fingers down her neck, I give her a teasing wink. “I forgot what I was going to say.”

“Oh shut up, you did not.”

“I could use a refresher.”

“No way in hell. You know what you were going to say, and you’re torturing me on purpose.”

“It’s torture?”

She tries to take a step back, but I keep her locked in my arms. “Tyler, if you don’t say it, I will. You don’t want me to steal your man-card do you?”

My stomach gets an unexpected jolt. “You mean, you’re going to say it back?”

“Say what back? I forgot what we were talking about,” she teases, and I don’t complain because I deserve it.

“We were talking about how I love you,” I say, and it looks like her breath is gone. Mine’s about to leave, too, because I’m pretty damn sure I’m about to kiss her. A lot. And never stop. I cup her face and pull her close, and she
is
breathing because it’s hitting my mouth in sharp, warm gasps. “I know it’s real soon, but I do, Sam. I lov—”

“I love you, too,” she says, and I’m about to point out that she’s cutting me off again, but her lips are on mine and they’re hard, furious, passionate as frickin’ hell, and I pull her to me, heart slamming against my ribs as I lower her to the ground. She doesn’t seem to care that it’s covered in light snow, or that the blankets aren’t very thick, or that we have no pillows or anything. But she wraps a blanket over my shoulders as I settle on top of her and keep a hold of her mouth.

Her hand snakes down my spine, and I tremble against her, but she’s shaking against me, and it’s all right, because we’re doing this together. She reaches into my back pocket, and I laugh around her kisses as my wallet gets stuck.

“Are you pickpocketing me?” I ask before planting my lips under her jaw.

“Trying to.” She gives my wallet another tug and it pops loose. I have to prop myself up on my arms so she can get her hands in front of our faces.

“What are you doing?” I ask, adjusting myself so I’m lying next to her. She tightens her legs around mine though so I don’t go far.

Her nails scrape against the leather as she searches through all the pockets. A gorgeous blush rushes through her cheeks when she pulls out the foil package I put in there when Dad gave me “the talk.” My face feels warm now, too.

“I was just… making sure.”

She slides it back in the wallet, but I stop her hands. “Sam…”

Her face disappears as she buries herself in my neck. She gives me one light kiss and squeezes me tight.

“Can I sleep with you?”

My heart slams against her ear, and I’m not sure if she’ll be able to hear the croaky whisper that’s about to come out my mouth.

“Sleep with me? Or
sleep
with me?”

Her body moves in one fluid motion as she inhales deep and exhales against my shirt. She tilts her head up, and we look at each other I’m sure with the same exact petrified stares, but she says, “I love you. And I want to. Is it okay?”

A million thoughts flit through my brain. About the rivalry, about the open field we’re on, about who knows what and who doesn’t know anything, but they only last half a second. The only thought that sticks is I love her, and I want to, too. So I nod, then I’m smiling, then I’m tugging at her clothes and she’s tugging at mine and I’m nervous as hell, but I’m okay, too. It’s a weird bunch of shit that’s happening in my body, but for some reason, I seem to know what to do…in an awkward sort of way.

I’m shaking so bad I can’t get the damn condom on. She reaches out to help me and it should be embarrassing, but it’s not.

I worry about hurting her. I worry about this being in the grass and if her back is wet even though we’re on about fifty blankets. I worry someone’s gonna find us. And I ask if she’s okay about twenty times before she finally stops me, grabbing my face and telling me she’s tough and she wants me and she wants me faster and suddenly I’m doing all those things without thinking about anything
but
those things.

Our breath makes clouds over our mouths when I roll off her. She shivers and tucks into my shoulder, and I notice her wiping tears from her eyes and I don’t know if it’s a good or a bad thing, but she’s kissing my arm and squeezing my torso and touching my face and those are all good things, so I don’t ask about the tears.

“It’s snowing,” she whispers before planting a kiss to my neck.

“Are you cold?”

“A little.”

“Maybe we should go again?” I tease, and she lightly pinches my elbow.

I turn and kiss her on the mouth as my heart slows down to its normal pace. Her lips are cherry red. Always. I wonder if it’s natural because they should be blue right now, but then I think
who the hell cares?
Because they’re about to press to mine again and that’s really all that matters.

“Tyler?” she breathes.

“Yeah, babe?”

She doesn’t say anything as her nail strokes my forehead, down my cheek, to my chin. My eyes open to hers, and she looks scared. Something tightens around my gut. Shit, did I hurt her?

“Are you okay?”

Those red lips part and she nods. Then her eyes squeeze shut.

“You… you won’t leave. Right?”

My breathing picks up. “What?”

“I keep having this feeling that something’s going to happen… and you’ll leave. That this will all be too much.” She opens her eyes, and the knot in my gut tightens when I see them glassy. “I’m afraid of losing you.”

I pull her to a sitting position, cupping her cheeks between my hands. She’s become everything to me. More important than my friends, my teammates…
football
. There is nothing in this damn world that will pull me away from her.

“You’re never getting rid of me. I love you more than football.”

She lets out a breathy laugh, resting her forehead on my shoulder. She wraps her arms around me and I let go of her cheeks to hold her back.