Fall Guy (A Youngblood Book)

by Reinhardt, Liz

  She grins at me and pushes me away from the counter before she attacks it with a scrub brush.

  "You just cleaned that," I point out.

  "Um, yeah, and then we had wild sex on it. Not very sanitary." She glances up and raises one eyebrow. "I appreciated all your, um, hard work before, but that doesn't excuse you from doing the moving-in business. Get moving. I want to have some time to get it on tonight before we crash."

  "It's sick how much I like when you boss me around," I tell her as I lug another box in from the truck.

  "I'm a good boss." She puts her hands on her hips and looks around, and it's hard for me to imagine a girl looking sexier than she does right now, her shirt stuck to her with sweat, her hair in a messy ponytail, her skin flushed from all her energetic scrubbing and our recent sex. "The kitchen is officially scrubbed down. I'm going to start on the living room."

  The next few hours fly by, and by the time the place is spotless, most of my stuff is unpacked, and we've christened the shower, Evan lays by my side on my bed and looks around the echoing, overly-white space. "It's spooky how empty it looks in here," she whispers.

  "It's not empty. We're here." I link my hand with hers in the dark and fit her close to me on the mattress.

  "What about when I leave?" Her voice shakes a little, and I pull her tighter to me.

  "Then I'm here, and I wait for you." I press my chin on the top of her head, still damp from our shower.

  "And when I'm done with school?" Her voice is so quiet, I can just barely hear the question.

  "Then I come see you at school every chance I get. And when I graduate, I find a place by you and seduce you into moving in with me." I run a hand up and down her body, shoulder to hip, over and over.

  "And then?" she asks sleepily.

  I'm about to switch to Hungarian, but I don't. I don't because I know how to let go, how to fall into the perfect goodness she brings into my life.

  So I just say it, in English, to the girl I love, fear be damned.

  "And then I save up for a ring and ask you to marry me. And then, if everything goes the way I want, you agree. And then whatever you want. As long as you're with me, I know things will be alright."

  I feel her go stiff in my arms, and I wonder if I should have just stuck to goddamn Hungarian for that round. She's got her whole life ahead of her, and, love me or not, she may not be ready for all the things I want from her and with her. The last thing I need is for her to feel like she has to compromise on anything for me.

  She sits up, and I feel my heart lurch in my chest.

  "Do you mean that?" she asks. "Do you really mean what you just said."

  Fuck.

  "Yeah. Of course I mean it. I wouldn't have asked if I didn't. But I understand if you--" I sit up next to her, ready for her to say she's not ready, she's not going to rush this, that she needs time, that she's--

  "I love you. I love you. And I know you didn't ask yet and don't have a ring and don't know when this will all happen, but my answer is definitely 'yes.'" She throws herself into my arms so hard it knocks me back on the bed, and she winds herself around me and kisses all over my face, quick and furious. "Yes to everything. Yes to anything you think or want. Yes to us. Always. Yes. I love you."

  Her kisses invite mine, mine inspire more of hers, and I let go. I fall into her, into her crazy love, into the promise of our future, into every scary, unbelievably amazing thing I was ever nervous to dream about and now get to hold in my arms. I fall into this love, no matter how scared out of my skull I am that I might mess up or she might need space and leave me or we might face challenges together that test everything we want and grip onto.

  I'll spend the rest of my life falling as far and deep and hard as my heart will let me go in love with this perfect, crazy girl who taught me to let go and hold on. I know in that minute I'll be Evan's fall guy until the day I die, and my future, for the first time in my life, is an always I can't wait to fall into.

  Acknowledgements:

  This is the coolest section in a book, because it’s where an author gets to give smooches to all the people who helped her along the way and let those people know how appreciated they are! I’m very smoochful, and know how lucky that makes me.

  Thank you to my husband and daughter. I always promise I’m going to write during school/work hours and be fully present at all other times. I break that promise daily, and they love me anyway. And feed me and nudge me towards the shower and help with the chores I always mean to do but forget because my characters are distracting me! They are my heart, and I don’t know what I’d do without them.

  Thank you to my amazing fam who always pitch in to cheer me on, act like I’m more famous and wealthy than I’ll ever be, and give me crazy help and advice anytime I need it. Or don’t. But that’s the beautiful thing, isn’t it? I love them more than I can express. And I’m a wordy, expressive girl!

  To my sweet, loving friends who read and tell me what’s good and/or crazy in my book. Particular love to Steph, who has to put up with me because I won’t go away; Katie, who has to put up with me because we’re sisters; and Tamar, who has to put up with me as payback for all the years I tortured/loved her in college.

  A huge, colossal, ever-loving thank you to the group of authors who are my herd of wild, magical, talented unicorns. They have showered me in glitter to celebrate my successes, given me virtual smooches when I’m down, and been my inspiration along every step of this amazing journey. So much love, beauties. So much love.

  And huge, enormous, all-consuming love to the community of readers, bloggers, and other authors who support, inspire, share, and encourage the writing and reading of every kind of book. I’m honored to be included in the ranks of such a passionate, loving, supportive group of people who share my love of stories that transport and beautify. You. All. ROCK!

  Biography:

  I’ve been interested in writing since I rewrote the ending of Romeo and Juliet and killed them all off…every last one! My teacher loved it, and my inner writer came out kicking and screaming. My writing passion is YA/NA, the more verbal sparring, melodrama, and steaminess, the better! In my “real life” I love my gorgeous daughter who makes me laugh and dries my insane, my awesome husband (who is the inspiration for many of my best bad boys…shh!), all the rest of my crazy family and friends, plus travel, great books, good food someone else cooked, movies, and laughing. Laughing is my favorite.

  I am the author of the mature YA Brenna Blixen Series (Double Clutch, Junk Miles, and Slow Twitch), the YA mature book Forgiving Trinity, the YA paranormal Inherit, and the New Adult romance Lengths, co-written with Steph Campbell.

  Write me if you want! I’m at lizreinhardt@gmail.com. I’d love to hear from you and am open to any questions/comments/hilarious Youtube video links. I’m pretty decent about checking my Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/lizreinhardtauthor and am less awesome about Twitter, where you can find me at @lizreinhardt. I also blog! Or try to blog! I’m at elizabethreinhardt.blogspot.com. Hope to see you around!