Chapter 26

Chapter Twenty-Six

Me: Morning. Happy or sad?

Lettie: Morning. Excited or Nervous?

I only spent an hour with Lettie yesterday. Coach is having two-a-days where we practice twice a day for two hours each time, and on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, I have three classes, mandatory study hall, and mandatory dinner with the team. But Lettie makes good use of our time together.

She's leaving today, and we haven't said things that need to be said. Or at least I need to say them. Lettie may like how things are now, but I doubt it. She likes the known factors and doesn't like variables except in a math equation.

I arrive at her apartment early, hoping to make our relationship status clear before she leaves.

"It's o pen," she shouts. Lettie tugs three suitcases from behind the couch.

"I'll get them. You used to travel light."

"Things change." She shrugs.

Yes, they do. This is my opening, so I pull her into my body and within seconds, she's climbing me like a tree. "Things do change and we need to talk about the next step."

She sticks her bottom lip out, pretending to pout, and when I hold her gaze, she sighs, "Okay, but don't ruin my trip. No one wants bad news before they get on an airplane for the biggest two competitions of her life."

"Always so dramatic. I love that about you. That you say how you feel, except when it comes to me, so I'm going first."

She just stares at me. I plop her onto one of the barstools and hold her hands. Lettie's hair is frizzing, creating a golden halo around her face, and her mouth makes twenty different expressions as she waits for me.

"I don't want you to be with any other guys. I won't be with anyone either."

"Wow, I kind of thought that was already understood since we're best friends, but yeah, okay."

"What if I said, I want us to be a couple?"

"I need you to be clear as glass. Are you wanting to be more than friends with benefits? Because we can probably survive it if things go sideways."

"It won 't. We're already sixteen years ahead of most couples. We know what annoys us about each other. Well, actually nothing annoys me now. I want to be your boyfriend. Be the guy you depend on and that makes you feel alive. Is that what you want?"

Her eyes search mine, and I realize she's correct about actually dating. If it doesn't work out, it will crush me. If she says no, I don't know what I'll do.

"I want to say yes. You know I do. I'm so fucking scared to lose you," she says with fear evident in her eyes.

"You won't. No matter what, I'll always be your best friend." We're perfect together. Always have been, only now, we're having sex and kissing in public.

What could go wrong with a history like ours?

Leaning down, I brush back her hair off her neck and nibble on her tender skin. She moans as I gently suck while uttering, "Lettie, I've thought about this since last weekend. No one will ever mean as much to me as you. And I know you'll never make the sounds for another guy that you make for me."

Her eyes twinkle. "A little cocky, aren't you?"

"Am I wrong?"

"Probably not."

"Probably?" I rip my shirt from my back and then pull hers off. "I'll show you."

She sits defiantly with a sinful grin.

"Take you r bra off."

"You do it."

"Don't test me, baby."

"If you want me, then you have to do it yourself."

Demanding Lettie is my favorite. Our lips collide, hard and hungry. I can't believe she'll be gone for a month. How much I'll miss the faint taste of strawberries on her lips or the coconut smell of her shampoo.

I didn't get here in time to do all the things I wanted to do to her. How I want to make her forget that other men exist. Pushing her skirt up over her hips, I slip my finger through her folds. "Has any man made you wet like me?"

Her eyes dilate, and her lids are already hooded as I push down her sexy little boy shorts that show off the round crescents of her ass. Her hands fly to my jeans and unbutton them. She strokes me a few times through the fabric before she fumbles to push my pants down.

"Baby, you're so damned sexy."

"Come on, Dane."

I feel my lips twitch. "Anxious for me to fill you?" I pull her to the edge of the stool and glide through her folds, then I spend time with the tip of my head circling her clit. God, she's amazing. I've never done any of this with other women.

"Yes," she gasps as I thrust inside her. Our names have never been screamed and panted as much as in this moment. "Yours. I'm yours," she says as her lips ghost mine.

My body freezes, hoping I didn't make it up. A flurry of feelings comes over me as she digs the pads of her fingers in my skin.

"Mine?"

She nods.

I look directly into her lust-filled eyes. "It was meant to be. This. Us. Trust me."

As her departure time quickly approaches, we clean up, and I load her luggage. Our new relationship status has only made me more attached, making the thought of her leaving even tougher to bear. Excitement and nervousness mix in her eyes as she anticipates training with elite athletes and competing against them.

Sadly, airport regulations keep me from accompanying her to the gate, so I drop her off curbside with a bittersweet kiss and under a hanging basket of multi-colored pansies. I can't help but feel like we're in the final scene of a romantic movie, trying to hold onto the last precious moments together.

We squeeze each other. Kiss like we haven't seen each other in years. Having a girlfriend and her leaving pulls my heart in opposite directions. Happy for her. Sad for me. If I would have admitted my feelings years ago, we could be engaged by now.

"I'll message you and call you so often, you'll have to get a restraining order on me." I chuckle, attempting to l ighten the mood.

She whispers over the shell of my ear, "Don't fucking hurt me."

Never.