Free Slightly Spellbound by Kimberly Frost

said, ‘That’s why I like him.’ And she said, ‘One of these days he’ll break his neck.’ And you said, ‘No, he won’t. I’m keeping him.’”
    Zach gripped my shoulders. “Afterward,” he said, “I told GW about it and he asked if it had made me mad when you’d said that. I told him the truth. ‘No,’ I said. ‘I liked it.’ And GW said, ‘Well, then I guess she is keeping you.’ And I said, ‘So long as I get to keep her, too.’”
    Zach leaned forward till our breath mingled. He smelled musky and sexy. My belly and things lower tightened.
    “We’re not friends, Tammy Jo,” he said in a voice infused with fierce passion. “I can get friendship from anyone. You’re my girl. I’m your man. That’s who we are.” He leaned back a fraction of an inch, releasing me. “Now if you didn’t come to say good-bye to me, put your arms around my neck and welcome me home with some sugar,” he said, snaking an arm around my waist and pulling me against him.
    It was like the million times Zach had come home from football practice in the hundred-degree heat. He’d stride in, aching and sweating, in need of a shower and food and often an ice pack for his knee. But before he saw to any of that, he’d get a kiss from me. I was that girl, the girlfriend of the football star, of the town’s golden boy. I was the girl he’d lost his virginity to and the one he’d married. A thousand memories passed through my mind in an instant and my arms seemed to move of their own accord.
    It felt so right to hold him. I gave him the kiss he asked for, and he gave me plenty in return.
    Let’s be us again. Yeah, this is us , I thought wildly as his hands slid under my butt and picked me up. With my legs wrapped around him, he pressed against me, teasing my body with his hardness that was so close to where it needed to be to do me the most good.
    He walked into the bedroom and tossed me on the bed. He pulled off his shoes, tossed them aside, and joined me. The kisses were hot and wet, bruising my neck and collarbone. Feverish and frantic, we started to peel off my clothes, beginning with my sweatshirt.
    He kissed me, groaning against my mouth as he moved. “Oh, darlin’,” he said. “Tell me you missed this as much as I did.”
    “I did.”
    He unbuttoned my jeans, but I grabbed his hand before he lowered the zipper. My body wanted to go farther, but I thought of Bryn and couldn’t.
    “I missed you, but hold on,” I said, breathless and dizzy. Our hearts slammed inside our chests, almost kissing between our ribs. “I can’t sleep with you until things are settled. No matter how much I want to.”
    “Hell.” He rolled onto his back, catching his breath. “You’ll be the death of me, baby girl.”
    “I’m sorry,” I whispered.
    “Me, too,” he said, but there was a smile in his voice. He’d felt how much I still wanted to be with him. Apparently that counted for something.
    “If it makes you feel better, I haven’t been making love with him either. It doesn’t seem right.”
    “So everybody gets to go to bed frustrated?”
    “Unless you want me to sleep with you sometimes and him others.”
    He cast me a sidelong glance. “No, that’s definitely not what I want.” He turned his head and kissed me again, but he didn’t try for more. “You made dinner. We best eat before it gets cold.”
    “Yeah,” I said as he got up. Dragging a breath into my chest and letting it out as a sigh, I rose. I pulled my sweatshirt on and followed him to the kitchen.
    After a few awkward first moments, we settled in, eating and talking. It was great, but I reminded myself that Bryn talked with me, too. And in Bryn’s case, I didn’t just get his attention when I’d crashed a car or he’d been away for weeks. For years, Zach had taken me for granted and made it seem like the commentators on ESPN had more interesting things to say than I did. Of course, I’d been with Zach for years. How many new things were