Page 4 of Breakaway Goal

I feel a twinge of guilt pinch my chest, because suddenly I’m hoping for something I have no business to hope for. Something that I should really be hopingdoesn’thappen, knowing what it’s going to do to me if it does.

Despite my better judgment, I’m hoping that she …

Maddie falls backward onto my bed, her head onto the pillows, her limbs splayed out comfortably on my mattress. And it feels like every cubic centimeter of blood in my body rushes straight to my cock.

My mouth goes dry. My jaw clenches. My heart thuds so hard against my chest that it almost smashes out.

It’s a good thing Maddie has her eyes closed as she nuzzles her head into my new pillows, because if she were looking at meright now, there’s no way she’d miss the outline of my hardness straining against my jeans.

I know I should stop my eyes from raking over her, but I also know that’s a fight I’m not going to win.

My gaze greedily eats her up. Her right leg is turned out slightly, giving me a perfect view of the smooth, creamy skin of her inner thigh, and my blood goes even thicker at the sight.

She’s wearing a pair of loose canvas shorts, the billowy hem accentuating her shapely legs. A white tank top is tucked into them, and over it she wears an open, oversized blue button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up.

It’s such a Maddie look. Bohemian, effortlessly stylish, casual but more mouthwatering than the skin-tight dresses any of the girls downstairs are wearing.

The way her arms are splayed out on my mattress makes her shirt open wider. My gaze ticks up to the gentle swell of her breasts.

For a moment, I fall into a kind of hypnosis as they rise and fall with her steady breaths, the sight of her like this on my bed feeling so fuckingrightthat my heart aches with yearning as I let myself imagine how maybe …

But that’s my cue to shake my head, to wipe those thoughts from my mind and step back into reality.

The reality where Maddie Larsen would never be anything more than friends with a guy like me, a guy from the wrong side of the tracks whose only hope is the long shot that a professional hockey career actually pans out.

And that’s even if I weren’t best friends with her brother, if we hadn’t practically grown up together, if we weren’t close friends ourselves—a relationship that means way too much to me to put at risk.

Those sobering thoughts help deflate my cock, just in time as Maddie’s eyes open.

“A picture frame, a bookshelf, a plant,fourpillows on your bed … you’re a changed man, Rhys Callahan.”

I huff a laugh. “Wouldn’t have happened without your advice, trust me.”

She winks. “If you insist, I’ll takeallthe credit.”

I roll my eyes. “Should we rejoin the party now? See what kind of trouble Jasmine got up to in your absence?”

“Already? Won’t your reputation suffer if those girls see you coming back down with meso soon?” Maddie quips.

“Trust me,” I say, arching my brows, “nothing could damage my reputation on that front.”

Maddie blows a raspberry. “So cocky.”

I hold the door open for her. “Justifiably so,” I joke as we step into the hallway.

Then I shut the door behind us, and we head downstairs. Back down to the pounding music, the gyrating bodies, the frenzied energy. Back into the real world.

It’s always a letdown for me, stepping from time alone with Maddie back into the real world. Back into the company of other people.

There’s always an ache in my chest. There’s always a sensation of longing singing through my body, wishing that Maddie and I could have more time together, just the two of us, because it’s never enough.

Wishing that days like this would never end, that there won’t come a time when we don’t see each other every day.

Wishing that Maddie and I could spend all our time together. Wishing that I didn’t have to lie about my feelings anymore.

I know it’s not possible. But a guy can dream.

3

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