Page 138 of Unexpected Shot
I love this woman. I loved her during that kiss and I wanted the whole world to see it. I loved her in Vegas when I lifted her up when we won the Open. Hell, I think I’ve loved her my entire life.
Who knew it was going to take twenty years of fighting and a drunken marriage to get me to realize it?
“Can I tell you a secret?”
“Of course,” I say as the kiss ends, allowing me to take her phone and toss it to the side. “I want to know all your secrets.”
She turns toward me, a blush already covering her porcelain cheeks. Her eyes drift down to my chest, a fingertip absently tracing lines up and down my chest. “I wanted you to be my first kiss.”
Yup. I’m in love with my wife.
“It was silly,” she tries to justify. “It was going to be on theeighteenth green, of course. Some dumb, romantic, movie moment I concocted in my head.”
“Not dumb at all,” I say, rolling her over so I can make sure she sees me when I say these next words. “Now, can I admit something?”
“Please, so I’m not the only one confessing school-age crushes. Unless it’s that you found me hideous. You can keep that to yourself.”
“Far from it, Belle,” I assure her, adding a kiss to make sure I start this confession off on the right foot. “There were so many times I wanted to kiss you. I could tell you every single one of them. They’re all stored away in the part of my brain that’s reserved just for you. But every time I nearly did, I talked myself out of it. Either I felt bad because I had it in my head you were too young. Or that you didn’t like me. Or that it was weird because you were my sister’s best friend. Just know that I wanted to kiss you just as much, but I was too chicken shit to make the move. And then…”
I trail off, because Chad’s name has no place in our bed, but if we’re confessing things, might as well get this one out in the open.
“I only said yes to Chad because I thought you didn’t like me,” Shelby admits, stealing my train of thought. “I mean, I knew you liked me as a friend. But…I don’t know… Gabi had started dating what’s-his-nuts, Hannah had a boyfriend, and…I hate to say that I felt left out, but I did. And it’s not like other guys were beating down my door.”
“They were scared you’d answer it with your driver.”
“Exactly,” she says with a laughing smile. “But the boy I wanted…well…I thought he didn’t want me. So I said yes to the first asshole who I thought did. And…well…we all know how that went.”
My heart breaks at her admission. What if I’d have been brave enough to kiss her back then? Would that have changedthe course of events? Would that one wrinkle in time have changed everything?
“Hey. I know what you’re thinking, and I’m going to need you to stop that right now.”
I laugh under my breath. “Do you, now?”
“I do.” She turns the tables and pushes me to my back, giving her the space to roll on top of me. “You’re putting on your hero cape and wondering what could’ve changed if we did kiss. Would we have become boyfriend and girlfriend? Then I wouldn’t have dated Chad and a lot of things probably would’ve changed in our lives.”
“You really know me too well, Shelby Lynn.”
“Damn right I do.” She leans down, slowly kissing me as my hands instinctively slide up the back of her shirt, pressing her closer to me. “Which is why I don’t want you to think like that. We’re here now. No matter the weird road we took. No matter the years of verbal jabs. No matter what happened, we’re here now. And that’s what matters.”
She’s right, and I can’t say anything more. All I can do is show her. I can kiss her until neither of us can breathe. Strip her T-shirt off—which is another one of mine she seems to have stolen—and kiss across her stunning tits. Worship her body like I want to do every day for the rest of my life. Slide into her, causing her to quiver, as I slowly work in and out of her, wanting her to feel every inch of me, while I soak up every sensation of her.
Because she’s right. The road to get here was broken. Nothing along the way was expected.
But we have our shot now. And like hell I’m going to waste it.
“Hey, Beau?”
“Yeah, Belle?”
She slowly smiles down at me. “I don’t hate you.”
I softly laugh as I pull her into me. “I don’t hate you either.”
CHAPTER 32
BEAU
There's always a buzz about the first major of the year. The official season started a few months ago, but there’s still an air around this historic course like it’s the first day of school.
