Sporting (Unleashed Romance #3) - Kylie Gilmore Page 0,29

out of sharing.”

I roll to my back and stare at the ceiling. Then I get up and dim the light so it’s not in my eyes. I flop down again. “I thought I was in love once. It was in high school. We went out a few times, always in a group, but I guess I got the idea in my head that we were at the same depth of feeling. Turned out he was really into someone else, and I was more of a pal he fooled around with. I was heartbroken, which sounds stupid because I was just a kid, you know? Seventeen. It happens. But I guess it turned me off relationships for a while.”

Until I had one in college that I messed up. And another one after that too. I’ve learned my lesson, I swear!

He looks at me expectantly.

I hate admitting I’m incapable of being close to a guy, so instead I give him part of the truth. “I decided it wasn’t worth the pain of having feelings that weren’t returned.”

“Understandable. Shortsighted but understandable.”

We talk for hours. Not just about our histories, but also our dreams for the future. He plans to be chief of police soon, which I knew, but I also discovered he’s good friends with the vet in town and wants to help him raise money for a shelter right in Summerdale. Eli is amazing. A man with surprising depth who cares about the community, including animals.

We’re sitting together on the sofa now with a throw blanket over both of our laps. I got chilly at one point, and he brought me the blanket. Of course I offered to share. Now it’s super cozy with our combined body heat. Lucy is on the pillow on the floor that Eli abandoned, curled up tight and sleeping.

I’m getting tired, but I don’t want to say goodnight and end this wonderful time with him. “Do you have any dirty secrets?”

He nudges my shoulder with his. “You mean like your disgusting frozen Twinkie habit?”

I gasp in mock outrage. “What happened to no judgment? And it’s not disgusting. It’s delicious. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.”

He takes my hand in a warm grip, lacing our fingers together on top of the red fleece blanket. His fingers are long and tapered, covering my smaller ones. “You’re right. No judgment over what you’re into.”

I feel so close to him I want to climb into his lap, bury my face in his neck, and breathe him in. Taste him. Touch him.

His deep voice jolts me from my lusty daydream. “I do have one secret.”

I give him my full attention, already smiling in anticipation. “What?”

He releases my hand, tucking a lock of hair behind my ear, his finger trailing lightly down the side of my neck. A shiver goes through me. “You were my teen fantasy girl.”

I meet his eyes, my voice breathy. “Sydney said she thought you had a crush on me when you were fifteen.”

He studies me for a long moment before admitting, “It was a little longer than that.”

“Oh.”

He faces front, probably embarrassed he shared.

I try to make him feel better. “Well, you were so young, I guess that’s only natural. Like the way Audrey worshipped Drew, even though he was older and never seemed to notice her.” I clamp my mouth shut because I was the older one, and it sounds like I never noticed him, but of course I did. “You brought me flowers the day I left for college. That was a nice gesture. It brightened an otherwise chaotic bittersweet day.”

“Nice gesture,” he echoes.

“Yeah, it was nice that you stopped by to say bye and bring me a little present.”

His jaw clenches. “That’s what you thought it was? Just a little present?”

I blink a few times, confused. “Uh, it was a great present. Who doesn’t like getting roses? I wanted to take them with me to my new dorm, but—”

“So the note meant nothing to you?”

“What note?”

He stares at me.

“Eli, what note?”

He speaks slowly and carefully. “The note with the roses. I tucked it into the paper around the flowers.”

I shake my head. “I never saw a note.”

My mind goes back to that summer day. I kept going back and forth to the car, packing everything for the trip down to North Carolina, Mom constantly calling out not to forget this or that. She went to the store for some last minute items, and then there was Eli, tall and lean, shoving a dozen red