Chapter Thirty-Seven

Blake

T he past couple of days in New York have been everything I could have wanted with Willa. She's curled up next to me in her bed. Running my fingers down her bare arm, I glance out at the amazing view she has overlooking Central Park. If someone had asked me at the beginning of this year where I would be after this away game, this would not have been it. It wasn't even on my bingo card.

She makes a noise and stretches. "Morning."

This is the Willa that only I get to see. The one who has a fresh face, and sleep not only in her eyes, but her voice. She's not worried what her hair looks like, or what she has on the agenda for the day—she's only concerned with what's happening in this moment.

"Morning," I whisper back to her, bending my head to kiss her nose. "Ready to go back to Nashville today?"

She sighs. "Yeah. This has been a good little getaway, but I am. I have to start rehearsals for the Thanksgiving show."

"Speaking of that." I clear my throat. "I know we haven't talked about it much, but would you and your family like to come to my house for Thanksgiving? I'm throwing it this year."

She turns over quickly. "Are you sure? You're going to be playing in the game. How are you going to have time to make sure dinner is done?"

I laugh softly. "You think I'm cooking? Woman—hell no. Mom will do a lot of it, and then what she doesn't do, I'll hire out. Do your parents want to come? What about your brother?"

"Ugh, my brother. You're on his fantasy football team. You're never going to hear the end of it if he comes," she groans.

"That's what family is about—getting on your damn nerves. It doesn't bother me, Will. I promise."

"Okay." She smiles. "I'll let my mom and dad know this is what we're doing. More than likely, my mom will get with your mom and together they'll make sure everything is done." Willa's quiet for a minute. "None of my other boyfriends have ever spent the holidays with my family. I mean, we did Christmas and New Year of course, but it wasn't at my house, and nobody ever asked my parents and brother to come. You're one in a million, Blake."

I'm quiet, because I'm trying to figure out how I want to say this. "I'm not one in a million. I'm a guy who didn't give his all to the relationship before you because I wasn't one hundred percent in. Part of that was because I was young at the beginning and then got complacent. I lost her because I didn't love her out loud. Granted, the two of us probably weren't suited well enough to be together for the rest of our lives, but I loved her silently. There's nothing inherently wrong with that." I stop for a second, trying to choose my words carefully. "But I don't think it worked for either of us." I give her a smile. "I'm a loud guy, and I think while you sometimes like the quiet gestures, I also think you want to be loved out loud."

"I do want to be loved out loud." She swallows loudly, closing her lips, her nostrils flaring.

This is a big fucking step I'm about to take. "I do, ya know."

She stops, her eyebrows coming together in question. "You do what?"

"Love you, and I'll do it as fuckin' loud as you'll let me."

Her blue eyes grow bright as the sky, twinkling like the stars. "Blake..."

"You don't have to say it back." I rush to stop her. "I didn't say it to force you to say it too."

Her hand comes forward, one finger on my lips. "I love you too. No forcing, no secrets, nothing. Just the truth. Nothing but the truth."

Hearing her say that she loves me is the best thing. "We're gonna do this, Willa." I clasp her around the neck. "No matter what we've got going on in our lives, we'll make time for each other. If I've learned anything from the past, it's that we've got to be a priority to each other."

"We do." She tilts her forehead to mine. "And I was guilty of not making the people in my life the priority for a while. I wasn't mature, didn't know how to have an adult relationship. I wasn't prepared to make the sacrifices, but I'm prepared now. I'm willing to fly overnight, to do whatever it takes, because this portion of our lives? It's so small, and deciding that something is too hard is a choice. My choice now? It's you."

"You're my choice too," I whisper, leaning forward and meeting her lips with mine. "And fuck anybody or anything who stands in the way of that."

She giggles, but her arms wrap around my neck, and in this moment I'm the luckiest man in the world. There's nothing that can make this better—not even a championship ring. With her at my side, there's nothing that can stop me.