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I’m not prone to smiling, though you wouldn’t know it from the way my reflection was grinning back at me like I’d just escaped from a 1950s asylum.
if she didn’t care about me, she wouldn’t have packed a punch harder than Anthony Joshua. No, that blow had emotion behind it. Power behind it.
What did I do that set me on this trajectory of my life quicker than any curve ball? I fell in love, that’s what.
the tree outside her bedroom was my regular form of entry,
I did not want to be making small talk with my soon-to-be ex-girlfriend’s father – who didn’t like me anyway.
He was one of those men who always seemed slightly disapproving, though that was probably everything to do with the fact I was a jock dating his precious only daughter, the one he thought was ruining her life; her future.
She appeared like a tornado; a beautiful solar windstorm blowing away everything in its path,
My lips found hers for one last time,
My fingers lanced through her silky, dark chocolate strands until they cupped her cheeks… one last time. One last time I held her to my chest and deeply inhaled the subtle coconut shampoo she always used.
soak in how beautiful she was,
in her bright, emerald eyes. Aurora Borealis green I’d told her once, after she’d explained to me what the Aurora Borealis was. She was so fucking smart; my smartest Star.
I never called her Marnie. She was only ever Marn, only ever my Star.
it could have been the final crack of my heart, of my chest breaking open until its contents spilled out onto the ground. Or maybe it was hers.
I might not have been the smart one in our relationship, but I knew I was smart enough to make the only decision that was right for us – that we couldn’t be together now.
Just like I was smart enough to know that Marnie Matthews was the only girl who would ever own my heart.
And when I’d last seen him, he’d been a boy growing into adulthood. Now Jupiter Reeves was all man.
Stars. Even from this distance, I could make out dozens of stars running up and down his heavily muscled arms, all different sizes, before disappearing under the fabric. Stars in between – I squinted – were they planets? Words? Squiggles?
It’s gonna be my number, Star. Five. I’m the fifth planet. And then he’d kissed me, and I forgot anything after that.
My old work colleagues weren’t that interested in sports.” That was an understatement. In fact, if you ever want to avoid something, go work at N.A.S.A.
“The only reason Jupiter came to play at The Lions was to get you back. That’s why you’re here.”
“He would only come to The Lions if Penn found you and offered you a job. I think he wants to try and win you back,”
Private: We’re back in the same city, Star. Hope you’ve had a great first day. X
I didn’t expect her to come running back immediately, but I was beginning to think I should have known better. That I couldn’t atone for my behavior; that maybe I’d read it wrong and she didn’t care. I’d spent fourteen years thinking about her daily, and now the reality was dawning on me that perhaps she hadn’t thought about me at all.
I pushed open the door and there she was. Even though I’d known she was on the other side, I’d still been shocked into stillness when I’d seen her. Even if she wasn’t burned into my soul or tattooed on my body, I’d recognize her anywhere.
And just like every other night, Marnie Matthews, owner of my heart, was the last thing I thought of as the tiredness I was drowning in engulfed me.
For the first time I gave a slight fuck, because I now had a mission bigger than baseball: Marnie.
Only one woman would ever change my mind, and it was the one who currently wanted nothing to do with me.
the only place in the entire complex I remotely cared about – Marnie’s office.
I sat down opposite Stone, and watched while he inhaled two of his beloved hash browns in less than thirty seconds. I wasn’t even sure he chewed them. “You’re going to give yourself a hernia if you eat any quicker – or at the very least, a nasty case of heartburn.” “I have to eat them like this.” He took note of my raised eyebrow and continued, “If I eat them quickly, I can pretend I didn’t eat them at all; that I did, in fact, stick to my nutritionist approved breakfast.” You had to admire the logic.
I need to shed fifteen pounds this season, but I can’t quit the browns.” “So you just eat them and forget about them?” “Exactly!”
Finding your forever person was goddamn hard – especially if you lost them once already.
“No one, and I mean no one, is to go near Marnie Matthews. I don’t give a fuck if you are scheduled to see her. I’m canceling all the appointments now.”
It had been years since I’d felt this level of rage over a woman. In fact, Marnie was the only woman I’d ever felt jealousy over. In all my years since her, there hadn’t been one woman who’d ever piqued my interest enough to raise an eyebrow over, let alone my pulse.
She was so fucking beautiful, even if she was shooting daggers of fire at me through the narrow slits hiding her eyes. I could just make out the black of her pupils, almost indiscernible from the brilliant green of her iris.
But she was the only one whose eyes sparkled when they said it. She was the most beautiful, and somehow the way she said it didn’t make it sound all that bad. Almost like a compliment. Or that’s how I was taking it.
“I’m not sorry, Star. I’m not going to apologize for bringing you here and back into my life.” “Of course not. It would be foolish of me to expect otherwise, especially as the word isn’t even in your vocabulary.” I ignored her snarl. In fact, the more I smiled, the snarlier she became. “It sure is. I’m sorry it took me so long to find you again.”
Her eyes shot up to mine as she swept back the thick brown hair which had come loose from her ponytail, and I nearly fell on my ass. Vivid green eyes, the color of the Malibu Ocean on an early summer morning, bored through me with all the annoyance she’d aimed at Josh. But with each blink of her thick black lashes it lessened, until she let out an enormous sigh.
And yes, I’ve been in the library… to make out.
“Ohhh, that’s where the smell comes from.” “What smell?” “You smell like sherbet.” “I do not,” she snapped, which I also liked. I was liking a lot about this chick that I’d only just become aware of.
“We’ve passed each other a couple of times,” she murmured so quietly I almost strained my hearing trying to make out what she’d said. “Really? You’ve noticed me?” She snorted loudly, making me laugh. “It’s hard not to. You’re massive and loud, and usually surrounded by a gaggle of girls.” My chest puffed. The only part of that sentence I’d heard was that she’d noticed me, and I was massive; I was taking it as a compliment whether she meant it as one or not.
“I didn't know geeks looked like you.” “Like what?” “Hot.” Her cheeks flared pink as quickly as her eyes widened, and I was still chuckling to myself as she got out and slammed the door closed. I didn’t even complain she’d slammed it too hard. “See you around, Stars and Stripes.”
the Jupiter I’d met this past week covered in tattoos compared to the high-school Jupiter I knew with his dimples and wicked smile were as different as night and day. Except, except, when he pounded on my office door and told me he planned to win me back, I saw that eighteen-year-old, the one with dimples and a wicked smile; the one who used to pick me up for school and make me hot chocolate to watch the stars. The one who made sure the last thing he did every night was kiss me. The one who was doing his hardest to get me to notice him again. It was confusing as hell.
It would come as no surprise that it wasn’t immediately obvious. Turns out when something isn’t rocket science, it’s really hard.
“Anyway, when we were in high school, Jupiter used to love LifeSavers. He had this thing about them helping him win. They didn’t, but he thought they did...” “But you let him think they did though, right? If they helped him, you encouraged that? Right?” he interrupted with a splutter. I blinked at the expression on Penn’s face, like he’d be horrified at any other outcome; that the idea of me not believing in Jupiter’s LifeSaver fallacy was somehow unacceptable to him. “Um… sure.
Goddammit. Jupiter Reeves was annoying. “Sure you don’t want to admit we’re meant to be together?”
Because it was perfectly fine to look if he didn’t know I was looking. Which is what I told myself right before he spun around in the crowd, his eyes finding mine almost immediately; like a tractor beam. Like he’d always been able to. He walked backward for ten paces, all without dropping his piercing gaze. His jaw popped, followed by a slight curve on the corner of his mouth. Then he winked. That fucking wink.
He’s become a completely different person since you arrived, like he’s suddenly developed a personality beyond moody fucker.”
The Jupiter I’d known with his dimples, winks, and toothy grins was impossible to deny. The Jupiter with the tattoos and arrogance, all man and muscle, was becoming harder to ignore. A combination of the two was deadly. And it was anyone’s guess how much longer I’d be able to hold out.
“Do you know what the Milky Way is? His right hand moved off the wheel and began snapping his fingers together. “Um, those little candy bars? Yeah, I love ’em.” “No,” I replied with a head shake. “The one in the sky.” I caught his eye as he turned to me and winked, giving me the distinct feeling he was playing dumb on purpose,
“Are you going to look at it again?” “Probably,” I nodded, trying to ignore whatever was going on with my body. Maybe I was getting sick. “Do you want company?” “You want to come and look at the stars with me? You’re asking to come over to my house and look at stars tonight?”
