Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 102607 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 513(@200wpm)___ 410(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102607 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 513(@200wpm)___ 410(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
“I want you to know I’ve been thinking about you every single night since I saw you on the dating app.” He is struck with a case of honestly, blurting out his truth. “Every single one.”
“Luca,” I whisper, overwhelmed.
He tilts his head, mouth brushing the corner of mine. “It was never just a crush, Nova.”
What is he saying?
What does that mean?
I stare at him, breath caught in my throat, trying to process what he's telling me—that all this time I thought we were playing a dangerous game of don't get caught while he was genuinely longing for me. Missing me.
Falling for me.
I kiss him before my eyes swell with tears.
Kiss him hard.
Deep.
Pour all the pent-up emotion and need into this kiss to explain what I can’t say out loud.
He groans against my mouth, hands sliding up the back of my hoodie.
“You’re overdressed,” he murmurs.
“Help me then.”
He doesn’t hesitate. His hands slide under the fabric, warm against my skin, and he lifts it slowly. I raise my arms to let him pull it over my head, and suddenly we’re skin-to-skin, heart-to-heart, and I can’t remember a time I didn’t want this.
He drops a kiss on my collarbone, then another between my breasts, and I shiver as he touches me, fingers caressing my nipples.
I arch into him, every nerve ending lit up like the Fourth of July, and it still isn’t enough. I need more. I need all of him. Not just his touch—but his heart.
“Tell me again,” I whisper.
“That I’ve been thinking about you every night since I saw you on that app?” His mouth brushes my jaw.
“Yes,” I breathe.
“The first time I saw you was at the ESPY awards that year you were with Gio. I hadn’t been drafted yet, but my friend Karl played for the Bruins and I was his plus one. You were there with your brother and I thought, ‘Damn. That’s the kind of woman I want to end up with.’” His hand makes a slow descent down my arm. “You were blonde then.”
I was wearing a red dress, with red lips, and had only gone with Gio because his girlfriend had dumped him two days prior.
I blink at him, heart stumbling over itself like it’s tripping down a flight of stairs.
“You remember that?”
His thumb brushes the inside of my wrist, sending sparks straight to my ribs. “You’re hard to forget.”
I laugh softly, burying my face against his neck because the heat creeping up my cheeks feels ridiculous.
“That was the worst night. Gio was sulking the entire time. We got stuck at a table next to a defensive lineman who wouldn’t stop talking about his protein powder endorsement deal.”
“You were sitting two tables away from us during dinner. I kept hoping you’d turn around.”
There’s a beat of stillness.
“I would see you in the stands at games—don’t think for one second I didn’t know where your seats were. At events. You were always in the room, lighting it up, and I never stopped wondering what it would be like if—”
He stops.
“Tell me something else about that night,” I whisper. “Something you remember.”
He doesn’t hesitate. “You were wearing heels you hated. You took them off halfway through the after-party.”
My jaw drops. “How did you know that?”
“I saw you dancing barefoot in the corner with some girl in a sparkly yellow jumpsuit.”
“Sadie.” I grin. “That was Sadie Spellman.” NFL player Jack Spellman’s wife—and her jumpsuit was gold.
Luca’s hands cup my breasts. “You were laughing so hard you almost spilled your drink.”
“I did spill my drink. All down the front of my dress. It stained.”
He runs his hands down my ribcage. “Still the most beautiful girl in the room.”
God.
How am I going to survive him?
Emotion rises in my throat, thick and hot. Because he’s not just good with words—he remembers me. The pieces I thought were forgettable. The details no one else kept.
He never had me, and yet he didn’t stop wishing.
Is that creepy?
Who cares.
He cups the back of my head and presses our foreheads together. “This isn’t just sex, Nova.”
“I know.”
“I want all of you.”
I know that, too.
26
luca
Every inch of her, bare and beautiful and mine—for however long I get to keep her.
I have no idea how long that will be.
I’m desperate for her.
I’ve wanted Nova for so long I don’t know how to be any other way.
Her skin is soft beneath my hands. Soft.
Too soft.
Can’t stop touching her.
It’s not even about sex—it’s about contact. Reassurance. Proof that this is real. That she’s here, letting me see every part of her. That she wants me.
Every breath she takes sends heat through me. Every sound she makes shoots straight to my chest.
God, I love her sounds.
Nova makes a soft noise and arches into me, and I swear I nearly come undone.
I’m trying to go slow. I’m trying to memorize it all. The flutter of her eyelashes. The way she gasps my name. The way her pussy feels clenched around me.