Page 102 of Mr. Swoony

Sure, we could have taken an Uber, but there’s something about driving a woman somewhere as a surprise, which is hard to do with a ride share. I could have used a car and driver, but I don’t want anyone else with us tonight—for reasons that will be obvious to Eloise soon.

I drive us to an outlook over Lake Michigan in the north suburbs of Chicago and park the car.

“What are we doing here?” Eloise looks around the empty area that has a view of the skyline to our right. “Are you going to murder me?”

I laugh and unbuckle my seat belt. “Care to join me in the back seat?”

“What?” she asks but blindly follows me by opening her car door and stepping into the back seat.

“We’re crossing an item off your list.” I change the music on my phone to play through the speakers of the car. It’s a playlist I put together last night.

Her head cocks to the side. “Which item?”

“We’re going to make out like teenagers.” I scoot closer to her and wrap my arm around her shoulders.

“Okay.” She wiggles in her seat. “Should we have rules?”

My eyebrows draw down. “Rules?”

“You know, like we only go to first base, or are we thinking anything but sex? What are the limitations?”

I chuckle at her excitement and insistence that we plan out how we’re going to make out. “I was going to let it go wherever we want it to.”

“Did you bring a condom?” She raises her eyebrows, and I shake my head. “That’s a shame.”

I look around the back seat. “I’m not thinking we could have sex back here. You do realize your boyfriend isn’t exactly teenage-sized.”

She places her hand on my chest and inches closer to me. “I’m very aware how big my boyfriend is.” Her hand ventures down, cupping the bulge in my jeans.

Damn, I should have worn joggers. “You keep doing that, and I’ll be speeding home.”

She doesn’t remove her hand but squeezes my length. “You’re the one who brought up how big you are.”

I throw my head back against the seat with a sigh, knowing I’m going to miss being able to do this kind of thing on a whim. “I can’t believe I’m starting back already.”

The other night when I saw Lila at Peeper’s after she sent me that picture in the mail, all I could think was she’s going to ruin this for me. She’s going to destroy what I have with Eloise because why would anyone want to deal with the kind of shit she might throw my way? Tweetie’s words were running through my head.

Lila cornered me coming out of the bathroom, and I tried to make it clear, for the millionth time, that I wasn’t interested. I reminded her about the restraining order back in Florida. That I’d get another one here if I had to. When Eloise saw us, my heart sank, and I thought for sure she’d bolt or think I was playing her, but she trusted me when I told her Lila was just a fan. And she is. A very obsessed fan. But I’m going to take care of it and make sure what happened in Florida doesn’t happen in Chicago. Lila is not going to ruin this for me.

“Can I ask you something?” Eloise whispers.

I turn my head and look at her. “Always. Anything.”

“You seem really worried about the season starting. You keep warning me about how hard it’s going to be. How you won’t be home a lot. Are you scared about something specific?”

Fuck, have I been that transparent? How many relationships of my teammates have I seen crash and burn during the season? Too many to count. The distance and time away almost always causes a problem.

I shoot her a smile that probably doesn’t ease the question in her eyes. “I think I’m trying to prepare you, but in all honesty, I am scared.”

She inches away. “You think I’ll do what I did to Tristan?”

“What?” I frown, unsure what she’s talking about. What does this have to do with Tristan?

Eloise fidgets with her fingers in her lap, her eyes downcast. “I had problems with Tristan, then I met you and ran away from my wedding. You think the same kind of thing will happen with us. I’ll grow tired of being alone, or?—”

“No.” I place my finger under her chin, lifting her face to look into my eyes. “This has nothing to do with Tristan. That was completely different. I’ve just seen a lot of relationships, especially newer ones like ours, not make it. And I really don’t want that to be us. It has nothing to do with you and everything to do with my job. I can’t control the outside influences that will invade our bubble. Offseason is easy. But in season is an entirely different story. The travel is hard enough, but then when we’re in public, everyone wants to chime in on how they think I played or what we’re doing wrong when we lose.”

She nods but doesn’t say anything for a beat. “I’ll have Kyleigh and Jade, and I need to really get this stylist thing off the ground, and you tend to be a distraction.” She looks at me through her eyelashes.

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