Liz sighed and nodded. She wanted Brady. This came with Brady. She would learn to deal with it.

“I wish you were going to be here all the time to figure this stuff out,” she admitted. She didn’t know why, but she felt really small and vulnerable divulging that. It went beyond needing her boyfriend nearby or even wanting to spend more time in the comfort of her new relationship. She was treading through dangerous waters without a guide and she had just learned how to swim.

Brady nodded. “I would like that too. I’m honestly not used to having someone else in my life that I want to see all the time.”

She spared him a bright smile. “I seem to be a game changer.”

“Understatement. You’re more than the game changer. You’re the game and the team and the league and the whole universe of sports wrapped up into one neat little package.”

Another thought tickled the back of her mind. She had always needed answers, and just because she didn’t work for the paper now didn’t mean that had changed. “How often will I see you, though? I don’t know how this works.”

Brady actually managed to look uncomfortable for a split second. “Before you, I spent eighty percent of my time in Congress working. I came back to North Carolina as often as I could for things such as your colloquium, but my job is to take what the people want to Congress.”

“How exactly can you do that without spending time with the people?” Liz asked dryly, not liking where this conversation was headed.

He gave her a pointed look. “I’ve lived here my entire life. I know the people. There’s so much that goes into the job besides just sitting in meetings.”

“I know,” she said quickly. “I just want to see you.”

“You will see me. I’ll make sure of it. We have the weekends. If I can’t make it here, then I’ll fly you up to visit me. We’ll make it work. I know we can’t be together all the time, since you’re still in school. Graduation should be your number one priority,” he told her.

“School is the last thing I want to think about.”

Brady leaned forward and kissed her. “You’ll appreciate it more when you’re done. And anyway, the sooner you graduate, the sooner I can have you around more. Summers in an election year are always a good time for me to be in Chapel Hill.”

Liz swung her leg over Brady’s so she was straddling him. “I think it’s always a good time for you to be in Chapel Hill.”

His hands ran up her dark jeans, grasped her hips firmly, and then slid to her ass. “I’m starting to agree with you.”

“Just now?” she asked incredulously. Her lips hovered mere inches from his temptingly.

“Convince me,” he commanded.

She brushed her lips against his, featherlight, always just out of his reach. “And here I thought you were the one who wanted complete control.”

“I’m learning something about equality, baby,” he growled before lifting her with his hands around her ass and throwing her back into the couch.

Their lips melded together with heat and intensity that could rarely be contained. Her fingers worked at the buttons on his shirt while he did all he could to work on the skinny jeans hugging her legs. Brady shrugged out of his shirt once she finished. He trailed kisses down her front and then tugged her jeans off of her body. Liz squirmed under him as he spent an interminable amount of time slipping each button of her shirt through its hole.

“Baby,” he murmured against her bare skin. His fingers ran along the outline of her bra. He slipped under the material, causing her whole body to arch off of the couch in response. “You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

She sighed and a smile touched her lips.

“I’ll never know how I spent so long without you,” Liz said.

He unhooked her bra and pulled her nipple into his mouth. She groaned at the feel of him sucking and gently biting it until it was erect.

“I want to be able to get my hands on this beautiful body whenever I can.”

After spending equal attention on the other nipple, he dragged her underwear to the floor and placed a kiss on the sensitive skin.

“I want to be able to listen to your beautiful voice and have you tell me all of your genius thoughts.” He kissed her once more. “I want you. Just you. All of you.”

“Brady,” she murmured. “Come here.”

So he obeyed. His pants dropped to the floor and in an instant his body was covering hers. He pushed her legs open to accommodate him. Then he was inside of her and they were one.

All coherent thought left her mind. She was just with Brady and nothing else mattered. This was the way it was supposed to be. They were working through their problems, working for what they wanted, proving that they could be together despite all the obstacles in their path. The sex was amazing, incredible, unbelievable, but it wasn’t all that encompassed their relationship. It had brought them together, but it wasn’t what was going to keep them that way.

What held them together was the love they both felt to their very core, the knowledge that being apart had been soul crushing, and the willingness to push for what they wanted. And Liz had never wanted anything quite as she wanted Brady Maxwell.

Chapter 6

THE NEXT LEVEL

Let me take you to dinner,” Brady said a few hours later.

Liz and Brady had been tangled up in his sheets all afternoon. While the thought of going out to dinner with him in public sounded wonderful, since their relationship had always been hidden, she didn’t exactly want to give up their alone time either.

“Right now?” she murmured, trailing her fingers down his bare chest.

He seized her hand in his and drew her closer to him. “Yes. I’d like to take you somewhere where everyone can see how lucky I am.”

Liz flushed at his comment. “I believe you’re the catch. Aren’t you North Carolina’s most eligible bachelor?”

“Not anymore.” He brought her hand to his mouth and kissed it softly.

And really, how could she deny him anything after that?

She changed back into the skinny jeans and button-down that she’d had on earlier. There wasn’t a ton that she could do for her hair at this point. She finger-combed the knots out of the back and spritzed some water through it to help the natural wave. After sliding into her heels, she found Brady waiting in the foyer.