Hustle

I press back to the seat and take a deep breath as the airplane lifts off the runway. There’s a split second where the plane jumps, and my stomach drops with the pull of gravity.

Drew slides his hand over mine on the seat rest. “Since when are you nervous about flying? I thought you got use to it this past semester.”

“I’m not nervous.” But I don’t relax my body as the plain begins to climb. I can feel his stare burning into the side of my head, and I turn to him to admit, “Not about flying anyways, not really.”

He rests his head back on the seat then, facing forward, and to anyone else he might look relaxed, but I saw it. Like a stone throne into a lake, something ripples through him and then disappears, but only on the surface.

“Aren’t you nervous?” I grip his hand to pull his attention back to me.

“No.” He lifts his brow, challenging me, daring me to say otherwise.

“Well, I am,” my voice is low, not only so those sitting in front of us don’t hear our conversation, but because I want to soothe him. I turn to him as best as I can in the seatbelt and bring my free hand to his face, pulling him closer. “And that doesn’t mean I don’t want this. I’m nervous because it’s all new, but I’m so excited too—especially for you. There’s so much waiting for you, and this is only the start of it.”

“There’s a lot waiting for you, too.” He pulls my legs over his thighs, his hand easing under my knee length cotton skirt. “You’ve got the internship at the health center and school starting in the fall.”

I melt back into my seat as the tips of his fingers draw ovals on my inner thigh, making my stomach swirl.

“I know.” I grab his wrists before he can venture higher. His playfulness makes me smile, but it’s the thought of the internship and school that stretches it till my cheeks hurt. “Thanks to your agent, Calvin. I can’t believe he went out of his way to help like that.”

After he announced his intention to go to the draft early, several agents and scouts “courted” him. Most of his spring semester was spent traveling around the country to different NFL teams, talking to coaches. Sometimes, they even flew me out with him, when my schedule allowed. But between classes at another state college and working at a daycare center in the evenings, we were apart more than we liked.

I don’t know if he was given more scrutiny because of the way his last season ended, but everyone wanted to meet him and see him train. All the news I read on him still raved about his skills and quick thinking on the field, how he was able to keep a crumbling team afloat, even if they lost. And after he hired Calvin, a deal was worked out with the Falcons, and Drew was the number eight, first round draft pick.

The muscle in his jaw ticks. “Calvin didn’t go out of his way. That’s his job to make sure I get what I want.” He levels me with his direct stare. “That we get what we want.”

“Well he did a good job.”

He narrows his eyes at the same time the fasten seatbelt light goes off, and the captain speaks over the intercom about our cruising altitude and weather. Drew’s smile turns to a dirty smirk as he magically waves out a blanket and drapes it over our legs.

My laugh turns into a cough as I point to the flight attendants coming down the aisle.

“We’re only relaxing. It is an early flight.” He grips my knee so I can’t move it off his lap, but he looks up to the flight attendant as she leans into our seat.

“Can I get you something to drink?”

“Water, thank you,” I request.

“Same.” He nods to her, and she gives us each a chilled water bottle.

The first class seats are large and give us privacy. Relaxed over Drew, I could actually fall asleep; if it weren’t for the slow way he’s flexing and spreading his fingers on my inner thigh, sparking heat.

“That’s all you’re nervous about then?” His fingers slow, and his dropped voice gives away his worry, the vulnerability pulls on my heart. “Starting a new school and job?”

“Honestly?”

His hands still, laying flat on my legs. “Always honest. No matter what you think I want to hear.”

“Honestly,” I continue, heart picking up with a pulsing energy, a surge of warmth and excitement. “I’m nervous about all of it, about moving so far away from my mom, about what will happen when the season picks up, and I’m in the middle of school, about you wanting my opinion on a house before you buy it. You’re buying a house that we’re going to live in. I’m freaking out.”

His face flickers as he fights to keep it empty.

“But, Drew, I love this feeling. Like I just leapt off a cliff to the craziest fall of my life. I’m nervous, but I’m not scared.” I’m smiling like crazy, and his uncertain dip in his eyebrows only makes me smile more. I rub my thumb along the lines in his forehead, trailing my fingers around the edge of his face until I grip his neck. “Because you’re jumping with me. We’re a team, right? We can be nervous, and excited,” I pull on him, bringing him closer, and breathe in his fresh rain scent with my eyes closed, near to bursting, “and so happy it hurts. No matter what happens, no matter how crazy this is, I’m glad I’m doing this.”

He nudges his nose against mine, his lips brushing my lips as they slide into a smile. “You think this is crazy?”

I lean back to look at him, but still keep my hands on his neck. “Don’t you? It wasn’t that long ago you said you would never take someone with you to the NFL.”

His green eyes travel slow down my body and then back up again. “I don’t stop to question it. I only know I want you with me.”

A chill ripples through me and emotions roil in my gut, rising and making it hard to breathe. “And I love that about you. I love the way you go after what you want, your confidence in it.”

“Baby.” He peels my hands off of him. “I’ll always want you.”

I have no response, my words bursting in my chest as he kisses my fingers, turning my hand to kiss my wrist.

“What did your mom say?”

“When?” I’m lost in his actions, his words barely registering.

He pauses, eyes lifting to look at me as he kisses the base of my thumb. “About you moving with me? Does she hate me for taking you away?”

And I fall a little bit more in love since he actually sounds like he cares if she does. “No, she doesn’t hate you. I think you kind of scare her, but she loves you for me. She told me so.” He lets our hands settle between us, on my lap, my legs still draped over his. “She said it’s like her and my dad. They met young and married young.” I blush at my mention of marriage, but Drew doesn’t flinch, and I continue, “He was a marine and she moved to be with him, to follow him to the different bases he was sent to. And she said she’d do it again. She said all you can do is hold onto love when you find it. That’s what I’m doing.”

His hands slide around my waist, and his lips drop to mine, soft and warm, and his kiss says all the things I want to say, better than I ever could. There’s so much wanting and desire flowing between us. Love ignited at the center of it. My heart races with the tenderness in even the way he drags his teeth over my lips, the way he takes his time and puts so much strength behind the emotion. And I wish we weren’t on an airplane, his hands tease and tempt me as they run along the edge of my shirt. But it’s his lips that leave me breathless, sweeping up and down and side-to-side, perfect in every way they collide with mine.

I grip his shirt in my fists, parting slow from his lips, but staying close to whisper, “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” He presses a kiss to the edge of my lips. “And this is only the beginning for us.”