Chapter 15

FIFTEEN

Ty slides his fingers between mine, entwining our free hands while we eat ice cream cones with our others. He’s been throwing me soft smiles ever since we met that cute kid and his mom. It’s the first time I’ve seen Ty interact with a fan in public, and I have to admit it was pretty cute to watch him.

We walk down the boardwalk a bit before he pulls us out onto the sand, and we move closer to the gentle waves lapping at the shore. The sun hangs low in the sky, but we’ve still got another hour or so before it’ll get dark.

He pulls me to a stop and wraps his arm around me, pulling me in so my chest is against his as he finishes off his ice cream cone. I don’t know how he’s done with it already.

He stares down at me and then his gaze drops to my mouth. “What?” I ask, self-conscious that I have chocolate ice cream on my face.

My worst fears are confirmed when he goes, “You’ve got a little something right here.” The last word is whispered against my lips before he closes the distance and slides his firm lips against mine. My body melts against his as I stay aware enough to keep my ice cream cone from tipping over.

He pulls back and hums. “Mmm, chocolate.”

I bury my face against his chest as giggles escape. Freaking giggles. Only this man has ever been able to get me to giggle like some innocent schoolgirl. It’s a novel thing to feel as light and carefree as this man makes me.

He rubs his thumb softly against my cheek, staring into my eyes, and my heart starts racing the longer he looks at me without saying a word. What does he see that has him looking at me like he’s staring at the moon and stars in my eyes?

And how can I keep him looking at me like this always? No one has ever looked at me like this, and I know well enough that it won’t last, so I choose to soak it up as long as I can.

“I want to know everything about you,” he says, his voice low.

He wouldn’t say that if he knew everything. If he knew how I grew up, the realities of an unhappy and endlessly lonely childhood. Not even Blaire knows everything.

He takes my hand again, and we keep walking along the beach. “I’m serious, you know. I want to really know you, Lexi. Are you close with your folks?”

I hate that one of the first get-to-know-you questions is inevitably about family. I suppose I should be grateful that he’s waited this long to ask. “My parents died when I was young.”

His face falls. “Oh Lex, I’m so sorry.”

I shrug. “I was so young; I don’t really remember them much anymore.” That’s the biggest tragedy of losing them when I was too little to have a lasting memory. The bits and pieces I do remember get harder to recall the older I get, and I worry about the day when I won’t remember them at all. It’ll be like losing them all over again.

“So did your grandparents raise you then?”

His voice is soft like he understands the delicate nature of our conversation, but it doesn’t make it any easier. I really don’t want to talk about this, especially not when I was having such a good time.

“No. I was in foster care until I turned eighteen. What got you into football?”

He glances at me and thankfully doesn’t push anymore about my family. “I started playing youth football when I was eight. I was super active—all of us boys were—so my parents got us into sports pretty early. I played everything, but I fell in love with football and was more of a natural with it, so that’s what I stuck with.”

“Have you always played with the Wolves?”

“No. My rookie season I was on the East Coast, then played a couple of seasons in Atlanta before I got traded to the Wolves. I like being on the West Coast because it’s the same time zone at least as my parents, and I like the weather here in California. Have you always lived here?”

“Pretty much. I had dreams of traveling to Europe, but never really had the time or money. I’ve always had to work to pay the bills.”

“Maybe we can take a trip sometime.” He says it as if our future together is so clear, and I wish I could see it like he does. I wish I could have that kind of faith in another person.

But I’ve never been that lucky, and even though we seem to be finding our footing, I’m still hesitant to completely let my guard down around him. But I also can’t completely shut him down either because the truth is I want that future—no matter how implausible it might be for me.

“Yeah, maybe.”

He stops walking, and it isn’t until my arm pulls back from where we’re still holding hands that I realize it. I spin around to face him, my breath stuttering in my chest at how handsome he is in the low light of the sun with the backdrop of the beach. This guy is so far out of my league, it’s not even funny.

He pulls my hand, and I move the two small steps until we’re toe to toe and I’m looking up into his brown eyes. As if he can read all my insecurities, he drops his head until our foreheads are touching, and it seems like all the air I’m breathing is coming straight from him.

“I want a life with you. I know the baby brought you back to me, but I was looking for you, Lexi, and I would’ve kept looking even with my friends telling me to stop. There’s something about you—about us together—that I can’t lose. I won’t. I’ll prove to you I’m in this for good, and I hope someday you’ll trust me enough to tell me all about your hopes and fears and your childhood.” He gives me a slightly pointed look that tells me I wasn’t at all subtle when I changed the conversation earlier. “Okay?”

I want all those things too. It’s exhausting always holding back and never really letting anyone in. It’s especially exhausting when it’s the father of your baby and the first man who’s ever made you feel truly special.

“Okay,” I whisper before his lips take mine in a soft kiss that feels like it sears him into my soul. It’s not the kind of kiss I’ve read about—filled with passion and heat. Instead, it’s the soft kiss of tenderness and security—two things I’ve never felt from another person before.

And it honestly scares the shit out of me.