“I’m going to miss you. Who’s going to keep me warm at night?” I can hear in her tone of voice she’s teasing me, but the thought of another man getting to be with her like this, like we are in this moment amps up my worry. Things have been great, but I’ve been here. Can she do this? Is she really willing to stick with me being gone all the time for my job? I love my job, football is who I am, but Emma, I love her too.
“That’s my job.” I pull her impossibly close. “Fuck, Em, why’d you have to go there?”
“Hey.” She wraps her arm around me and gently strokes my back with her soft hands. “I was just teasing. There’s no one but you.”
“I know that. It’s just even the thought of losing this, losing you to someone who can be here all the time, it guts me.”
“I didn’t mean to upset you. I was just teasing. Of course, I’m going to miss you. I miss you when you’re at practice and I’m at the shelter. I don’t know how I’m going to do with not seeing you for four days.”
“I’ll call you as much as I can.” I’m already thinking about staying held up in my room just so I can talk to her. I requested to room with Trent this time, he agreed. I don’t even want to be around the single guys on the road. It’s not the temptation, but the rumors. I want to stay as far away from that shit as I can. I don’t need the press posting anything that could shed me in a bad light while I’m on the road. This is going to be hard enough on our relationship without the added drama, and the rumors that the leaches bring.
“Don’t feel like you have to. I’ll be here waiting for you, and I’ll be watching you on Sunday.”
“Come with me.”
“You know I can’t do that. I can’t leave Aubrey alone at the shelter. Besides, I can’t just call her and ask for time off without notice. We’d need time to schedule volunteers.”
“I’ll pay for someone to come in and cover for you.”
“Thank you, but no.”
“I had a feeling you would say that.”
“It’s sweet, but you’re going to be away a lot. It’s not just this one weekend. This is our life and we need to learn to deal with it the best that we can. We need to get used to being apart.”
“You could quit and travel with me,” I offer. She thinks I’m kidding, but I’m dead serious.
“Then I’d be traveling alone. You have all your team stuff you have to do. I won’t get to see you much anyway.”
“I’ve never dreaded going away for a game until now.”
“Chin up, Number Eighteen,” she says playfully. I know she’s trying to lighten the mood. “I’ll be here holding down the home front.”
Her words spark an idea. A crazy one, but it makes me feel better. “Stay at my place while I’m gone.”
“What? That’s crazy. Why would I do that when I have a perfectly good home right here, you know, the bed you’re sleeping in?”
“I know whose bed I’m in. I just want to know you’re there. That you’re in my space, in my bed even if I’m not in it with you.”
“Okay. If it means that much to you, I’ll do it.”
“Thank you.” Moving in, I press my lips to hers. Softly, reverently, as I try my best to show her what she means to me.
Everything.
My hands roam over her hip and up her side. I palm her breasts, running the pad of my thumb over her nipple. We slept naked last night. I wanted her body next to mine. I wanted to feel her skin, memorize the feeling. Turns out that was a good idea, because now clothes are not a factor.
My lips travel to her neck, and she tilts her head, giving me the space I need to devour her. “Lie back,” I say, moving to hover over her. She’s now on her back, and I can feast on her. Take my time showing her what she means to me, show her how much I’m going to miss her.
Settled between her thighs, my cock throbs as it rests against her belly. Staying on course, I capture a hard nipple in my mouth, nipping, sucking and licking, driving her crazy, all while tweaking the other with my thumb and forefinger. I don’t have enough hands. I want to touch her everywhere.
Her breath hitches in her chest when I take her nipple between my teeth. With kisses between the valley of her breasts, my mouth moves to the other, and my hand takes over gently caressing the one I’m no longer soothing with my tongue.
“Landon,” she says breathily. Her hands are buried in my hair and her chest is rapidly rising and falling.