:: JJ’s POV ::

The cool evening air swirled around us as we walked down the busy Dallas streets in no real hurry to return to our hotel from our dinner at Truluck’s. We were enjoying that we didn’t have to rush, that we could just enjoy being with one another without any interruptions from every day life. There was no work to worry about, no practice, and no football; for the time being all that mattered was the girl that clung to my arm beside me. She seemed to fit perfectly against me, as if she was made to be there; I was beginning to think she was. I had never really given much thought to all of this soul mate business I hear everyone talk about, to me football had always been the one thing I loved; aside from my family of course. But there has never been a girl that could even come close to holding a torch to football until I met Emma. Sometimes I’m still unclear about how it happened, I never expected to meet her, or to meet Noah, but I did; and whatever or whoever brought us together that day knew that she was meant to be here. The thought of her with anyone else eats away at me, which is not an emotion I’m used to feeling. I was really savoring our time together, I felt as if we had gotten to know each other even more and the more I learned the deeper and deeper I fell.

“My feet are seriously killing me right now.” Emma’s tone of voice was one of annoyance as her strides came to a sudden stop, “If this weren’t a filthy city sidewalk, I would actually contemplate walking back barefoot.”

I couldn’t stop the laugh that escaped me as I dropped my head back. The one thing that would stop her from relieving her foot pain would be the dirt. My little germaphobe. I was always so amused by the way she sanitized and lysoled everything in her path, I laughed every time but I found it to be an oddly adorable trait of hers. The way I looked at it, there could be far worse traits for her to possess. I could handle her desire for cleanliness. I was rather cleanly myself.

“I’ll carry you.” I looked at her and she raised her eyebrows in surprise, her lips curling up into a smile as she shook her head at me.

“You are not carrying me.” She giggled at the image that was going through her mind, like the thought of me carrying her was the most ludicrous thing she’d ever heard.

“You can hop on my back, we’re not far.” I motioned down the block to the hotel. She looked at me, her head tilted and a smile still on her face as she contemplated my offer.

“Okay.” Her smile grew as she nodded.

“Stand up on the bench.” I motioned over to the wrought iron bench that rested between two small landscaping trees. I knew she was going to need help getting onto my back in that dress, the height of the bench was sure to make it easier.

“Oh my god.” She laughed boisterously as she wrapped her legs around my waist, her beautiful limbs dangling at my sides, “I’m pretty sure that all of Dallas is getting an up skirt view right now.”

“You’re okay.” I reached back to see if I could feel any skin that shouldn’t be exposed, but my hand only met the taut fabric of her dress.

“Thank you.” The warmth of her breath against my skin as her lips grazed my ear drove me crazy; but the kiss she placed just behind my ear was nearly enough to send me overboard. I wanted her in the worst way right now.

Once we arrived at the doors of our hotel I let Emma hop down, I offered to keep carrying her but she wasn’t too keen on the idea of walking through the hotel on my back. I guess I can understand where she’s coming from. She adjusted her dress before grabbing a hold of my hand, our fingers intertwining once again as we walked through the lobby of the hotel. The gentleman working behind the front desk welcoming us back from our dinner as we walked past him on the way to the elevators.

We made it back to our room, the events of the day starting to take their toll on us; or at least on me. I’m used to hitting the bed early, my body is programmed to my usual routine and I really don’t change it up all that often. I crash early and I wake up early; I feel more focused that way, at least when it comes to football. However, Emma makes it quite challenging for me, not on purpose by any means but just by being her. I’m a guy, I have needs too; she just happens to be one of them. As beautiful and as sexy as she is to me, it’s always hard to resist rolling around in the sheets with her in the middle of the night and as for the morning, I hate leaving the warmth of her small body pressed against mine. I actually started setting my alarm fifteen minutes earlier than usual just so I can make it out by the time I want to and still feel like I’m enjoying a few extra minutes in bed with her. I knew that being lucky in my career and right now lucky in my love life meant that I was going to have to be willing to make compromises or one of the two would be forced out of my life; that’s not what I wanted, by any means.

Emma kissed my cheek before she kicked off her shoes and disappeared into the bathroom of our suite to get ready for bed, I traded in my dress clothes for my gym shorts and a t-shirt before returning to the living area. I turned the TV on and began flipping through the channels as I took a seat on the small couch positioned in front of it. I was on the verge of battling sleep as I struggled to find anything on the TV that really held my interest enough to keep me entertained. I was pretty sure my eyes were closed before I heard Emma enter the living room, the sound of the bedroom door pulling me away from dream land.

“Damn.” I looked up to see her standing against the door frame wearing sheer lingerie that immediately had my attention.

I got up from the couch and crossed the room, my eyes never moving from the site of her in front of me. The closer I got to her, the faster my own heart began to race. I reached out for her hand pulling her into me, my eyes still scanning the appearance of her in this little outfit she had put on just for me. The soft peach color against her gently sun kissed skin, the sheer fabric hugged her breasts perfectly but then billowed around her. I wasn’t sure I had ever seen something so sexy, so beautiful in my lifetime. It wasn’t the tacky, cheap looking lingerie men were used to. It set a romantic tone, or maybe the tone was set by my love for her. At that point, I didn’t care what caused it, I was just glad it was there.

“I love you so much.”

Our eyes met and her body shuddered as my hand softly ran down the side of her neck pushing her long hair out of my way. My lips soon followed the track my hand had made. A quiet moan escaped her as my lips left a soft wet trail of kisses down her neck and over her shoulder. I looked back up at her and placed my hand against the warmth of her cheek, my thumb running across her soft pouty lips and back again. I leaned forward and placed my lips over hers; I let out a groan at the taste of her kiss and felt a smile spread across her lips. I knew she could feel my growing arousal against her abdomen; she knew she was driving me crazy and she loved every minute of it.

“I love you too.” She looked up at me, a smile on her face that sent my heart into a fit. Those words had never sounded good, I was sure that I would never get tired of hearing them.

She ran her hands up the bottom of my t-shirt, the warm palms of her hands sliding over the subtle ridges of my abs. The goose bumps on my skin spreading like wildfire beneath her touch. I reached over my shoulder grabbing a handful of my t-shirt and pulled it up over my head. The height deficiency between us didn’t make undressing me an easy feat for Emma. I tossed my t-shirt off to the side and returned my focus to her, her eyes scanning my bare chest. My skin burned beneath her lips as she kissed over the curves of my muscles. She moved with a gentle slowness about her and it only heightened my arousal.

“You’re killin me.” The words escaped my mouth in a breathy whisper, my hands cupping her bottom and lifting her into my arms. She wrapped her legs around me in response and I carried her into the bedroom.

“I want you so bad…” She flirtatiously bit her lower lip and I seized them with my own once again.

She slid her hand around to the back of my neck, her thumb making circles against the nape. I walked us over to the bed and gently laid her down, our lips parting briefly as I rested her head against the pillow. I took in the site of her below me, the way her long brown hair flowed over the pillows, her green eyes burning with need; she was a picture of beauty. I swiped my thumb across the freckles that danced across her cheeks and over the bridge of her nose, I found them to be beautiful but she so often covered them, insecure about the way they looked. My lips followed their path from one cheek to the next and I felt her giggle beneath me. Every time we were intimate, every time I made love to her I made it a point to make her feel beautiful, for her to know how beautiful I think she is; I wanted her to know how I felt about her, what she means to me. It blew me away how different sex was when you were sharing it with the right person, when love and feelings were involved. Definitely a good different, don’t get me wrong. I was really starting to feel sorry for those that weren’t experiencing this bliss.