Page 213 of The Fake Date Agreement

“What makes you so sure that’s what it is?”

“I know you, Javier. If I lost you, I’d be kicking the biggest can of regret you’ve ever seen down the street.”

His laugh shakes his entire body, and he hauls me into his arms, giving me a hug so all-encompassing I never want it to end. “I love you.”

“I love you too. I don’t know that I deserve all this love, but I will always be grateful for it.”

“More,” he softly corrects me. “You always deserve more.”

And I ruin the moment by yawning so wide my jaw cracks.

He grins at me, slides his arm around my shoulder, and tucks me against his side. “You should have stayed in bed,Gatinha. Not come to see me.”

I yawn again as he leads me down the hallway. “I wanted to see you. Caleb said sorry for keeping me so long.”

He kisses the top of my hair. “It’s an easy thing to do. Reid said he would swing by his room in a bit and bring him some food. We’ve been keeping an eye on him as much as he’d let us, but he’s never been good at staying still and resting up.”

“More soup?” I grin up at him.

He chuckles and presses the button to call an elevator. “Maybe one day Caleb will tell Reid to quit with the soup. I think he’s afraid of what else Reid will bring him if it’s not soup.”

“Are we going back to my room?” I’d never been to Caleb’s room before, but I was so excited to see him that I didn’t even think of the elevator. I charged up four flights of stairs and nearly died. My poor thighs have never worked so hard.

“Nope. Or mine. We’re going somewhere a little nicer than a dorm room.”

Fifteen minutes later, we’re in his car, headed downtown, and he has my hand in his as if he can’t let go of me for a single moment.

Changing gears goes slowly because of it.

“It might be easier if you weren’t holding my hand,” I tell him.

“It would,” he agrees, brushing a kiss across my knuckles. “But then I wouldn’t be holding your hand.”

I smile at him. “What happened when I was gone?”

“To Nebraska?”

“Reid told you?”

“He did. We had a couple of hours on the ice, talking about you and the game.”

“The arena is still open during spring break?”

“Contractors are getting it ready for the big game, and sometimes the team stays on campus so we can use the ice whenever we want.”

“I saw Caleb’s knee,” I tell him quietly. “He said it was healing, but it still looks bad.”

His smile fades. “Yeah.”

“What?” I ask, worried. “Is it Caleb?”

Javier sighs as a red light stops us. “He’s not a hundred percent. He’s resting and getting physio as much as he can, but Coach is thinking of benching him.”

A fist clenches my heart. “But it’s the big game. The one you’ve all been working toward for years. He has to play.”

“If Caleb heard you say that, he’d marry you on the spot,Gatinha.”

My stomach clenches. “Because I don’t mind hockey now?”

---