Page 41 of Wyatt

Just scraping through his brain for a way to make her stay.

The doors opened.

Right then, yes, the panic hit full stride.

“Don’t leave. I…”

His first thought. Hisonlythought. Behind him, the music from the party in his room drifted down the hall. Just a few of the guys, some women they’d met during the tournament.

Not even his idea—thanks, Deke. But his agent liked to cultivate this image of him as some sort of playboy. Apparently, it sold covers. And made him a most-wanted celebrity for paparazzi.

He wasn’t a player. Had never been. But he did like to be liked.

Coco looked past him, as if she wasn’t sure, and it sparked the tiniest flare of hope.

So he took her hand.

It was just as soft and fit so amazingly well into his strong, chipped grip. He wanted right then to tug her to himself, the stir of longing so deep it rocked him.I love you.“Please don’t go.”

He held her beautiful eyes, not daring to breathe.

She nodded. His heart restarted, and he practically sprinted down the hall to kick Deke and the rest of the party out of his room.

He’d lost his mind after that. Barely remembered their conversation. Probably he tried to explain the weekend on the ranch. He knew he’d made her laugh. And called her too skinny—shoot, she’d always felt a little small around him and his family.

But shewasskinnier than she’d been a year ago, as if she’d had a hard year, and while she said nothing, his heart broke a little to know that she might not be okay.

With everything inside him he wanted to protect her.

He did remember telling her she was pretty…a sort of spilling out his heart that followed him leaning forward to kiss her.

Oh, he’d been aching to kiss her.

More even than that first time, two years prior, in the barn.

He still wanted to choke Ford for finding them. Poor Coco nearly ran from the barn in a full-out sprint.

Her kiss then had ignited something inside him he couldn’t douse. And a month later, when he came home for Christmas break, it flashed over. He’d known it was wrong. Known he was taking advantage of her, maybe, but…

She hadn’t seemed hesitant, and he was just as afraid as she was. And not just of getting caught but…

He knew that Coco was the only girl he’d ever love.

Ever give himself to.

Shoot, holding her in his arms had practically turned him into a baby. He might have even cried.

The first time between them had been awkward and rushed and not at all what…well, and how could it be? He was a little ashamed of the fact that it had happened at all. That he’d let his emotions trample over everything his father had drilled into him.

But he wasn’t his father. Didn’t want to be. He’d long ago walked away from the Marshall family expectations.

He wasn’t really a Marshall, and he knew it. He just carried the Marshall name.

Not the Marshall family hero and honor genes.

Besides, nearly all the guys on his college team had girlfriends. The kind who stayed overnight.

So he’d followed his heart and…

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