Binding 13

"You don’t have to do that for my benefit," I hurried to say.

"It's freezing out," he explained. "And this house is so big it takes forever to heat." Waving a hand in front of the couch, he said, "Make yourself at home. I'll be back in a sec."

Without another word, Joh

Too stu

When Joh

"Two sugars and a small drop of milk," he a

"Thank you," I whispered, overwhelmed by his kindness.

Joh

After a couple of minutes of internal debate, I gingerly followed him, taking the other end of the couch, leaving a space between us.

Grabbing the remote, Joh

It was huge.

At least 80 inches.

"Any preferences?" he asked me, scrolling through the cha

I shook my head. "Whatever you want."

"Birthday girl's choice."

I blushed. "Surprise me."

Joh

"Then put it on," I encouraged.

His brows shot up. "You don’t mind?"

"It's your television," I replied. "Why would I mind?"

"If you get bored, just tell me," he muttered as he flicked on the match, attention immediately glued to the screen, "and we can put on something else."

When the Irish senior team marched onto the pitch for the national anthem, Joh

His eyes danced with excitement as he tapped his hand against the couch.

He looked very young.

And adorable.

I waited for Joh

The taste of ham and melted cheese dripped on my tongue and I moaned before hurrying to devour it.

"I'm going to be there one day," Joh

"I know," I replied, believing every word. Biting down on my lip, I turned to face him and said, "Don’t forget about me when you're a rich and famous rugby player."

"You never know," he said with a smirk. "I might take you with me so you can cheer me on in the stands."

Please do.

Please take me away with you.

"You're very sure of yourself," I said instead.

"You can wear my number and shout 'Joh

Don’t tempt me…

Sitting on the couch in his parents' living room with a roaring fire crackling and the rain pelting down outside the huge bay window, I felt my body slowly relaxing as I tried to follow the match.

I wasn’t forcing conversation to break uncomfortable silences because there wasn’t any.

In this moment, being here with him was as easy as breathing.

It was an odd reaction to being in such close proximity to Joh

I was enjoying being with him.

He didn’t push me to talk and I liked that.

He just sat beside me, with a huge cushion between us and Sookie at our feet, as he barked orders at the television set.

When Joh

Chuckling softly, Joh

Embarrassed, I kept my feet firmly on the ground.

Less than a minute later, Joh

I turned to look at him, but his attention was back on the screen.

Every once and a while, Joh

After the third time he did it, I pulled the cushion out of his way when he sat back down and held it to my chest.

By the end of the match, our shoulders were touching.

I didn’t move away.

He was big and solid and warm and I liked the feel of him beside me.

A little while later, when my eyes began to droop, he lifted his arm, and I didn’t even flinch when it came down around my shoulder.

Instead, I nestled my cheek against his side and closed my eyes, allowing myself to drift off to sleep without an ounce of fear in my heart because it couldn’t exist inside of me, not when this boy had his arm around me.