Page 125 of The Jack*ss in Class

“Then we figure it out. Long distance, you visiting, me visiting. Or...” He hesitated, then forged ahead. “Or you could come with me.”

The suggestion hung in the air between us, breathtaking in its simplicity and its complexity.

“My father thinks I should spread my wings,” I said after a moment. “See more of the world than just Colorado and Oaxaca.”

Hope flickered in Flynn’s eyes. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” I took a deep breath. “But I don’t want to make any decisions based solely on where you end up. That wouldn’t be fair to either of us.”

“I get that.” He squeezed my hand. “But knowing it’s a possibility... that makes tomorrow a little more exciting. And a whole lot less scary.”

I leaned forward, pressing my forehead to his. “You, Flynn Kingman, afraid of anything? I don’t believe it.”

His smile was soft, vulnerable in a way few people ever got to see. “Only of losing the things that matter.”

LEGACY

FLYNN

The Sports Network crew arrived, right on time and already lugging black cases of equipment up the walk like they were moving in. Dad opened the front door before they could knock, wearing his game day suit like the rest of us, and that calm, polite expression that meant he was trying not to scare the media.

I stood just inside the living room, watching as a guy with a boom mic followed two camera operators into the house. The Sports Network reporter they’d sent to talk to us about wherever we landed in the draft today glanced at me and grinned.

“You ready for the big moment, Kingman?”

I smiled like I wasn’t vibrating at a subatomic level. “Born ready.”

Which was a lie. I was mostly ready to puke.

Gryff wandered in from the kitchen with a slice of pizza in one hand and a stack of paper napkins in the other, like he hadn’t even noticed our house was about to be turned into a live broadcast set.

“Hey,” he said through a bite. “You saw? Three cameras on us.”

“One for wide shots, one close on us, and a backup in case someone starts crying and they want the ratings. I hope someone cries,” Jules said, appearing beside me with actual makeup on and a cute outfit. Dammit. My baby sister was growing up and I was going to have to prepare to beat any man who didn’t treat her right with a sharp stick. If I was even here to see her grow up.

“I brought waterproof mascara.” She batted her eyelashes at me. “I’m prepared for tears.”

Tempest came into the living room wearing my DSU football sweatshirt over her dress. “Your Aunt June’s been running around the kitchen muttering about coasters and camera angles. Is she always like this?”

“Welcome to Kingman family draft day,” I said, wrapping an arm around her waist. I needed the grounding comfort she gave me right now. I didn’t expect to be so on edge today. It’s not like I didn’t know exactly how this day was going to go. Get a call, get drafted, high-five, take pic in the new team gear.

Start a whole ass new life.

Tempest looked up at me, soft and warm and steady in all the ways I wasn’t. “Excited?”

“Yep,” I bluffed, because I was the confident cocky jock. Today, when my life was about to change forever, shouldn’t be any different.

But my Tempest knew me better and narrowed her eyes at me.

I sighed and leaned into her even more. She was myrock when I didn’t think I needed one. Wasn’t I supposed to be hers? “I think I’ll be okay when it’s over.”

She gave me a quick kiss. “Well, for what it’s worth... you look like someone who’s about to get picked first overall in a romance novel.”

I laughed, actually laughed, and the camera closest to us immediately swung around.

Tempest froze. “Oh my god, was that on camera?”

“Nah, we’re not rolling yet,” the camera lady said. “But I wish we would have been. I know a lot of people who would love to hear you say that, Ms. Milan.”

---