by Saxon James
“Nah, it’s not. But I’m pretty excited.”
“We’ll still catch up, right?”
He flattens his mouth and nods. “When you have time, sure. Between Elliot and football, I’m sure you’ll be keeping busy.”
“I keep my man on his toes.” Elliot reaches over and tugs my ear, but before he can do it again, I grab his hand and link our fingers together. On top of the table.
“You sure do.”
Zane smiles a little. “I hate both of you for being so disgustingly happy. Just so you know.”
“We’ll take it under advisement,” Elliot says in a tone that makes it clear we’ll do no such thing.
Because while PDA might still be low on the list of things I’m interested in, I am disgustingly happy. Elliot is everything I never knew I needed, and now that he’s moving in with me officially, it will only get better from here. I’m not worried about us breaking up, or what will happen in the future, because as naïve as it might be, this feels right.
And when it comes to the two of us, I’m all in.
Epilogue
Three months later
“You do know what offseason means, right?” I watch as Taryn keeps going with his reps like he’s on a mission. After the clusterfuck of last season, he’s working harder than ever. And, of course, I’m insanely proud of him, but I also want him to take a moment to just relax as well.
His only response is a grunt. Ah, my boyfriend, the Neanderthal.
I straddle the leg press and wait for him to finish up. It’s nice to have a boyfriend who motivates my ass to work out, but I’m always finished way faster than he is. If I let him, he’d probably spend all day in his home gym.
Our home gym, I guess, though, even after living here for the last three months, I struggle to completely wrap my head around that. It’s like I suddenly have everything I ever dreamed of and more, but I just keep waiting for everything to fuck up again.
“You done?” he pants, grabbing a towel to wipe the back of his neck. And damn he looks amazing covered in sweat. Well, always. He looks amazing always.
“Do you really need to ask?”
He gives me a quick smile before getting up to grab my cane and hand it to me. “How’s it feel?” He nods toward my knee.
“Not bad.” And today I’m not lying. There’s only the briefest twinge as I put my weight on it, and while I probably don’t need my cane, I’ve also learned my lesson about pushing things too far.
“You sure?” Taryn’s smile turns wicked as he backs me up against the wall. “Because I’d hate to have to carry you up the stairs. It’s such a chore.”
“Chore?” I say with a snort. “You spend the whole time groping me.”
“And I give zero apologies.” His voice drops low as his body presses against mine.
“Do you give zero apologies for how you smell too?”
He chuckles against my cheek before sliding his nose along my jaw and burying it in my neck. “Complain all you like, you smell amazing. Just like after sex.”
I laugh because not quite, but Taryn never seems to see all the shit wrong with me. All he sees is the best. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it, and I’m okay with that. Because Taryn is the best, and the longer he thinks I deserve him, the longer I get to keep him.
“I’m going to marry you one day,” I say, and as soon as the words are out, I immediately freeze up. “Oh, fuck.”
Taryn pulls back slowly, carefully, eyebrows knitted. “What was that?”
I shake my head. “Please don’t make me say it again.”
He doesn’t. Instead, his lips crash into mine, and he kisses me with the type of care that could make me weep. “I love you,” he whispers between kisses. “I love you so much, and one day, I’m going to marry you too.”
Get Rainer and Colton’s story here.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082PVHH16/
Rainer is running from his future.
Colton is hiding from his past.
Can the magic of Ibiza bring them together in the present?
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As with any book, this one took a hell of a lot of people to make happen.
First, my cover designer Story Styling Cover Designs did a fantastic job on reimagining Taryn for that gorgeous cover.
Thanks to Kirk from LesCourt for the amazing beta read, and Suzie Selva for my edits.
Lori Parks, you were a gem as always with my proof read and I always appreciate how timely you are with your work.
Thanks to my formatter Rebecca Bosevski, for fixing this mess of a word doc and making it look ridiculously professional.
Eden Finley, your notes and ongoing commentary were fucking incredible, and thank you for letting me pick your brain while talking absolute smack at each other.
Sasha Wallace, your beta reads are always so thorough and insightful, and I’m so lucky to have made friends with you early on because you’ve always been there when I needed you.
And of course, thanks to my fam bam. To my husband who constantly frees up time for me to write, and to my kids whose neediness reminds me the real word exists.
Copyright ©
BET ON ME - 2020 Saxon James
All rights reserved.
First published in Australia by May Books 2020
Newcastle, NSW, Australia
No parts of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Under no circumstances may any part of this book be photocopied for resale.
This is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and situations within its pages and places or persons, living or dead, is unintentional and co-incidental.
