Fuck.

She’s crying.

“Babe. What’s wrong?” Sliding through the water, she shifts between my legs. I pull her back to my chest, loving the way she feels against me. "Was I too rough?"

She laughs and shakes her head as more tears fall.

"No, that was perfect." She sniffles, and I stroke her hair.

Shit. This is about work. “Everything is going to be okay. I promise. We'll figure out who hacked you.”

She sniffles and shakes her head. “This isn’t about my job. I’ve basically accepted that I’ve lost it. There’s no way a news station would hire me back right now. Rule of thumb in journalism: You cover the news. You don’t become the news.” Her hand comes up to her face to wipe a tear, and my heart breaks to hear the reality of her situation. But then she sighs. “I’m just overwhelmed about us. About how easy it is to screw everything up. I’m freaked out because I want us to work, and you have so many demands on you that are only going to intensify.”

Silence fills the room. “And you’re worried how those demands will affect our relationship if I’m constantly traveling.”

She nods and sinks deeper into the water.

I squeeze her, lifting her higher, and push the hair off her shoulder so I can kiss that delicate skin. “I have a solution.”

She stills, like she’s stopped breathing.

“Move in with me. I know you live next door, but I fucking hate when you leave my bed, Maddie. I want you there all the time. The last thing I need to see before I go to bed is your beautiful face. And I want you there when I wake up. Our schedules are too busy to live separately. I’ll never see you. Because, trust me, you’re going to start getting amazing job offers, and soon you’ll be going a hundred miles an hour because that’s what you do.”

The silence that greets me is deafening. Shit. And then it hits me. “You’re scared because of what happened with your ex. Because you were just about to move in with him.”

She takes a little shuddering breath and nods.

“Babe, look at me.” I turn her around and wipe the tears that streak her face. “Is what you and I have at all like your relationship with him?”

She laughs and shakes her head. “No. Not even close. Honestly, now that I’m with you, I have no idea what I saw in him.” She looks down. “Maybe it was just this idea of having someone be there for me. Like you said, I’m always on the go, always working. And it gets lonely. He was there, and I think he filled a void. This is going to sound crazy, but I’m actually glad I caught him when I did.” She looks up, those luminescent eyes searing into me. “Because if he hadn’t, I never would have met you.”

“We’d already met.”

“You know what I mean.” She nibbles her lip. “Will it be weird? Sharing space with a woman again?”

My brow furrows. “Again?”

Maddie glances away. “Didn’t Veronica live with you?”

“God, no. She had her own place on campus. We were planning to move in together after graduation, but we broke up in May.” I study Maddie’s reaction, enjoying the shy smile that peeks out on those full lips. “By the way, Sheri told me something about my headboard. That you left her place because you didn’t want to hear it against your wall. Babe, you have to know that shit killed me."

Those big, blue eyes widen, and she glances down. “Oh, um. That.” Maddie shakes her head. “I guess I didn’t want to hear you move on. You know, eventually date other women."

Fucking hell. I scrub my face. “Babe, I can't help what happened before we got together, but I can tell you this. You're the only woman I've ever wanted to see first thing in the morning. The only one who made me want something other than football. Who made me think I could have more out of life."

Her lips twist as she fights a smile. “The only one?”

“Yup.” I kiss her. “Now stop thinking I’m about to run off with some random chick. If you and I didn’t work out, I’m pretty sure I’d barely be able to get up out of bed, much less mess around with other girls. So no more freakouts, okay?”

She nods, laughing.

When her laughter subsides, she raises her hand to my face. Smiling, I kiss her palm and lean closer to bite her wrist. She giggles, and I kiss up her arm until I reach her shoulder. “What do you say? Move in with me. Be mine.” Pulling her so she straddles my lap, I tilt my head back and stare at this beautiful woman, who’s soapy and slick and such a fucking vision my chest hurts.

She leans down to kiss me, and her hair falls forward, casting a curtain around us. “On one condition.”

“Anything. Name it.”

“I get to come to some of your games.”

My heart? That muscle in my chest that’s carried me through grueling practice after practice and workouts that made my whole body burn? It cracks open with the love I have for this girl.

“It would be my honor to have you there, sweet thing.”

A wry smile lifts her lips. “Even if I’m rooting for the other team?”

I stare at her, straight-faced, and lock my jaw. Her smile drops, and then, when I know she’s doubting whether she should be joking like that, I tickle the fuck out of her.

“Kidding! Kidding!” she screams, laughing.

Water splashes all over the floor, bubbles are in her hair, and I’m damn near positive I never want to get out of this tub.