Page 78 of If You Love Me

“Well, to be fair, you haven’t put a whole lot of effort into meeting someone.”

“I wanted to be done with the travel.” I move to one of the armchairs and sink into it.

Hollis does the same. “No offense, Roman, but that sounds like a convenient excuse not to get into something. And I get it.For a long time I used my breakup with Scarlet as a reason not to get involved—just like not wanting to upset your relationship with Aurora was yours. But she’s settled. Hell, she settles me. You’ll never stop being her dad, but I’ll take care of her. I’ll love her and be devoted to her. You’re good to focus on you.”

“I can’t have what I want right now, anyway,” I retort.

“You want to talk about that?” Hollis sips his scotch and gives me the eyebrow.

I blink at him.

He blinks back.

It’s a standoff.

“It’ll probably feel good to talk about it. This is me, Roman. I’m still your best friend.”

“You’re dating my daughter. The dynamics have changed. Your allegiance is to her now.” It sounds harsher than I intend, mostly because I feel like a bag of shit for lying to him for as long as I have.

But this is Hollis. He doesn’t take offense. “To a certain point. But if you tell me something in confidence, I’ll keep it to myself.”

“Like you kept the sandwich and shirt fuck to yourself?” I inquire.

“Dallas told Hemi first. Probably so she wouldn’t make him dress up like a clown for keeping it from her for so long,” he grumbles.

“That’s fair.” And I had Lexi to talk to. Besides, I’m tired of the lies and the way they make me feel. “Remember that weekend you and I were supposed to go to New York, but Micha went into labor?”

“Yeah, of course. You went on your own.” His expression turns knowing. “And met Lexi.”

“I met Lexi,” I agree.

“Fuck. I knew something was up when her dad came to the Watering Hole. Did you two spend the night together?”

“The whole weekend.”

The weight in my stomach lifts as I unravel the lies I’ve hadto tell him. I fill him in on everything, right down to the kiss we shared last week at the club before she went home. I messaged to make sure she got back okay. She did. And she also said that it couldn’t happen again.

“Well, that’s fucking messy,” Hollis says. “That makes what happened with Dallas and Hemi last year seem like a walk in the park. How are you going to deal with this?”

“We wait until I’m retired before we pursue it.”

Hollis blows out a breath. “What if we make it to the final round of the playoffs again? I know what the odds are, but it could happen. Do you think you can toe that line until then?”

“I won’t ruin her career. And that’s exactly what would happen. It’ll be hard enough when I’m not playing anymore. It would ruin her if it got out now. I can’t do that to her.”

Hollis takes a long swig of his scotch. “I see what you’re saying. But as someone who tried to stay on the right side of the line, even knowing what I stood to lose, eventually I broke.”

“It’s a handful of months.”

“Can you both keep your distance for that long?”

“I know what the optics are. What other choice do I have? Unless I retire early.”

His brows rise. “I thought you were joking earlier. Is that something you’re considering?”

“It could solve the problem.”

The question is, would it create new ones?

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