Page 24 of The Hooker

“I like the sound of that.” Daisy pushes my shoulders gently. “Now go away before I keep you here forever.”

Like I’d complain about that. But I hold my fist out for her to tap, grasp her hand after the low five, and turn it to press a small kiss on her palm. And with a kiss on her nose, and a soft goodbye, her hotel door shuts behind me.

I’m in the lift when I remember why I originally went to her room. My hand reaches to click her floor number, but I decide to wait until we have more time to talk and aren’t dead on our feet. It might be easier to wait until we’re back in New Zealand.

Either way, I can’t wait to tell her and take her out on a date.

CHAPTEREIGHT

Daisy

We won the Freedom Cup, mostly because Hemi returned for the second game and played like he was trying to break records. When he wasn’t training, he was on his phone. Wanaka had been good for him.

We’re finally back in New Zealand after two weeks in South Africa, and I’m excited about my own bed. And I wouldn’t mind if Jamie was in it with me. I’ve never been so glad to live in Auckland than now when Jamie and I can walk out of the airport to head straight home, instead of catching another flight to Christchurch or Wellington like some of the other guys. Or Wanaka, in Hemi’s case, who will reach Queenstown and then have an hour’s drive—if it’s good weather. The boys have a few days off and everyone’s taking advantage of it to return to their families and relax before the last game of the series with Australia.

Jamie hauls our bags into my car, and I hop in the driver’s seat and turn on the heating. It’s dark and cold and I can smell the rain that will arrive later tonight. But we’re home.

I breathe deeply and massage the tightness in my neck. Jamie collapses in the passenger seat and strong fingers replace mine, digging deeply into the tight tissue.

I moan softly, dropping my head back and turn to face him. “You’re good at that.”

“We need to get you your own physio. Or a massage therapist.” Jamie trails a finger down my neck and brushes my collarbone. “We could get a massage together tomorrow.”

“That sounds amazing. Flying that long is awful.” I pull out of the car park and follow the confusing signs to exit the airport. Once I’m on the motorway, I say, “Do you know why Adam treated you this week? They wouldn’t tell me, just said they shuffled everything around.”

It’s weird he was taken off my roster since I’ve been treating him so long, especially when there wasn’t a meeting about it. Adam pulled me aside and said he was taking Jamie from now on, said it came from the higher-ups, but he said it with a strange glint of excitement in his eyes. While odd, it does mean there’s less conflict of interest, especially after my moment of weakness blowjob, so I decided to wait to figure out why it happened.

Jamie shifts in the seat to face me better, but I keep my eyes on the road and indicate to change lanes, so we’re in the right exit lane once we’re over the bridge to the North Shore. I hate changing lanes on the bridge; I feel like I’ll accidentally drive myself off it.

“I do know.”

I glance at him in surprise. I didn’t think he’d know unless he requested it. It could have been a random shuffle, but Adam acted weird, so I thought I’d ask. “What happened?”

“Remember when I came to your room after we won the first game?” He waits for my nod, and I shove the image of looking up at his dark brown eyes and the weight of him in my mouth out of my mind. “I came to tell you something, but got sidetracked.”

“Really? Did something happen?”

“I had a meeting with Linda before the game.”

I frown at the name, and my hands clench the steering wheel. “Linda from management?”

“I wanted to discuss the development in our relationship with her. Make sure everything was okay.”

“Our relationship,” I respond flatly and indicate left to exit the motorway.

“Yeah. I signed the declaration of personal relationship form. Adam’s taken me on so that everything’s all good for us to date.”

“You signed the form.”

“Yeah,” he says, drawing out the word as apprehension enters his voice.

“Without talking to me.”

“I was going to talk to you that night, but we got distracted, and I thought it would be easier to talk about it when we got home.”

I pull into his driveway, park the car, and turn to face him. “So you signed the form declaring we’re in a relationship, everyone in management and Adam knows, and I was removed as your physio, and all of this happened without you discussing it with me.” What if I lose my licence?

Jamie’s throat bobs and his brow furrows. “I guess? But I was going to tell you tonight so we could talk about it.”

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