“Everything on the list I’ve already compiled of ways I want to make love.” I leaned up and brushed my lips over his ear. “Starting with the one we watched together the other night.”
His groan was full of need and pain. “You’re right. Maybe the month after you turn eighteen, then. Because it will probably take that long for me to even put a dent in that list of yours.”
I grinned wickedly up at him. “You’re pretty confident we’ll get that far into the list? I don’t know. Maybe I’ll want to try some of them over and over again just to make sure we get it perfect.”
“Fuck, you are perfect, Vi.” He kissed me, but he pulled back before either of us could get carried away. “Promise me we’ll have more phone dates like we had the other night.”
Pink filled my cheeks. My parents had been out of the house for their own date night, and I’d locked my bedroom door and called him after opening my laptop and finding the site he’d sent me months before. It wasn’t the first time we’d had a “phone date” like that, but I still couldn’t think about them without turning blood red. Or squirming because it had been so much fun.
“I promise.”
For the next few hours, we just sat there cuddling. At eleven thirty, he muttered a curse and opened the door. I felt like time was pushing me into a corner. A small, tight corner, and all the air was quickly being used up. But I couldn’t let him see how hard it was for me that our day was almost over.
When he opened my door and scooped me up into his arms, I wrapped my legs around his waist and kissed him. He slammed the door shut and then pressed me back against it, deepening the kiss and pressing his lower body roughly against mine.
“I love you,” he groaned as he trailed his lips down my throat. “I don’t want to leave you. Maybe… Maybe this whole plan was stupid.” I felt him begin to shake. “Maybe I can just go to a college closer to home. Somewhere we can still see each other every few days. I’ll make it work. I—”
I covered his mouth with my hand, swallowing my tears so he didn’t hear how close to breaking I was. “This is our plan,” I told him. “It’s the best plan to fulfill your dreams. You’re not giving it up. We’re stronger than that, Luca. A little time and distance aren’t going to ruin anything.”
Kissing my palm, he pulled it away from his mouth. “My dreams are of you. By my side, as my wife. I don’t want anything else. Just that. Just us.” He pressed his forehead to mine. “Nothing else matters.”
“Yes, it does. Your heart is just a little bruised right now, and you can’t see the bigger picture. You’re going to do amazing things in the world of football. And I will be right there beside you every step of the way.” A tear spilled from his eyes, and I swiped it away before I lost the battle against my own. “Three years from now, this will just be something we look back on and remember as another stepping stone that made us stronger. Because there is nothing that can tear us apart, Luca.”
“You’re my favorite person in the world, you know that, right?” I nodded, the lump robbing me of my voice for a moment. “Everything I do, it’s for you and us.”
“I know,” I whispered.
“But it’s so much harder to leave you than I realized.”
“It’s going to be okay. I promise.” I kissed his chin, then his cheek.
“It doesn’t feel like it right now, but I believe you.” One more kiss and then he was opening the passenger door and placing me inside. After fastening my seat belt, he glanced at his watch and cursed. “We better hurry, or you’ll miss curfew.”
He pulled into my driveway with only a few minutes to spare. I was quickly losing what little hold I had on my emotions, and knew if I didn’t go inside soon, I wasn’t going to be strong enough to let him go without his seeing my tears. Hand in hand, we walked up onto the porch.
“I’ll text you once we land in Alabama tomorrow afternoon,” he promised.
“Good. I want lots of pictures of your room and your roommates.” I grinned up at him, hopefully hiding how much my heart was hurting. “Please stay out of trouble.”
“For you, I’ll do my best.” He cupped the side of my face, his thumb caressing my cheek before tracing my bottom lip. “You own my soul.”
“You know you own mine, too.” I hugged him hard, but I only allowed myself a few seconds before pulling back. “I love you. Always. Now, I need you to go.” My voice broke, and I tried to hold back my tears. “Because I can’t hold on much longer, Luca.”
“Baby.”
“Please,” I begged. “You shouldn’t leave with me crying. I want to send you off with a smile and my ‘I love you’ as the last thing you hear.”
I watched his throat bob, his eyes glassy with unshed tears. “I don’t know if I can,” he rasped out.
“For me.”
Those two words were the only thing I knew could move him. He touched his lips to my forehead and then stepped back. The hold he had on my hand tightened, but when his feet reached the top step of the porch, we both let go. “Vi.”
“I love you.”
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He didn’t have to repeat the words. I saw them blazing at me out of his hypnotic eyes as he backed down the steps. On the last one, he curled his right hand into a fist and touched it to his heart, just like he did every time he saw me when he took the football field.