He pulls away looking a little sheepish. “I guess here’s probably not the best place anyway.”
I grin at him. “You mean you don’t want to get naked outside in thirty-degree weather while my parents are inside?”
He grips my chin and kisses me again, hard and quick. “Juliette, I would happily get naked with you anywhere, anytime. But I have one more thing to tell you.”
I put a hand on his chest. “I have one more thing to tell you too. Can I go first?”
“Absolutely you can.”
“Okay. I realized something earlier while I was making that list for you.”
He leans in and kisses my neck, tightening his arms around my waist. “By list, you mean color-coded spreadsheet separated by team, age, post-retirement career path, and endorsement deals?”
His voice is full of amusement, and I huff out a breath. “Yes. That one. It’s not finished. I stopped halfway through because I realized that I didn’t want to help you figure this out on a spreadsheet. For the first time, probably in my entire adult life, I realized that I was actually okay to wait for you to come to me. To talk about how you feel and what you think without trying to fix everything for you. It’s in my nature to try and fix everything with facts and logic, but this time, I just wantedto know how you felt, and I wanted to help you carry that, not try to fix it.”
I stare down at my hands, embarrassed by how groundbreaking it is for me to be able to sit in uncertainty. It’s probably something I should have figured out years ago.
“Juliette, look at me.” Asher’s voice is gentle, and when I don’t look up, he hooks a finger under my chin and tips my chin up so I’m staring up at him.
“I’m proud of you, sweetheart. And just the fact that you exist, and are sitting here with me on this couch outside in the middle of this perfect snowfall, makes everything easier. You make everything easier. When I’m with you, my whole world makes sense. I think maybe we were meant to find each other now. To do this, whatever comes next, together. I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow or the next day, but I do know that I want you with me for all of it.”
At that, I wrap my arms around Asher and melt into his body. His heart beats against mine and his warm breath flutters against my ear. Love for him flows through me. When our gazes lock, the connection that zings between us is true and steady and strong.
“I’ll be there for all of it. Every single minute.”
He smiles and kisses my nose. “I’m counting on it. And when I said I didn’t know what’s going to happen, I meant more in the logistical, all the things I need to do to actually retire part of it.” He breaks off and swallows hard, like the word retire is still too enormous to say.
Shaking his head, he starts again. “I think I might know what I’m going to do with all the free time I’m about to have in my schedule.”
I smirk at him. “Make me breakfast every day because I suck at it?”
“Definitely that. And when I’m done making youbreakfast, I think I’m going to work with Jeremy. He wants me to be in charge of the camps he’s starting. The actual position is program director, or something like that. But really, it’s running the sports camps and working with the kids. Maybe the actual day I find out I can’t play anymore is too soon to make a decision about what comes next for me, but I don’t know. When he mentioned it, it just felt right.”
I smile at him because it feels right to me too. “I think it sounds perfect.”
He lets out a relieved breath and tugs me against him so that I’m leaning back against his chest, his arms wrapped around me as we both stare out at the still falling snow.
“Hey Juliette?”
“Yeah?”
“As much as I’d like to sit like this forever, the fire is dying and it’s fucking freezing. I think it’s time to go inside.”
I snuggle back into him, so comfortable I don’t want to move, even though I can’t feel my toes anymore. “Okay, but do you want to stay here tonight? I’m exhausted and your bed is so far away. I have one right upstairs.” I turn my head and grin at him a little wickedly. “And my parents sleep at the other end of the house.”
Asher lets out a faux gasp. “Julie Parker, are you telling me you want to have sex, with me, in your childhood bedroom, under the same roof as your parents?”
I sit up and turn in his lap so I’m facing him. “That is exactly what I’m telling you, Hot Shot, and I’d like it to happen as soon as possible.”
I’ve barely finished my sentence when he stands straight up, taking me with him.
“Wait, no,” I laugh. “Put me down. You can’t carry me all the way upstairs. Your shoulder.”
He shrugs a shoulder. His bad shoulder. “My shoulder isfine. I mean, it’s obviously super not fine, but I’m not a football player anymore, so I can carry you everywhere if I want to.”
“I think my clients might have a thing or two to say about that.”
“They’ll just have to get used to it because I plan on spending a whole lot of time with you in my arms. Wrap those gorgeous legs around me, baby. We have places to be.”
