Page 11 of Forget Me Knot
Heat creeps up my neck and into my cheeks. “You have me for the rest of our lives.”
“That’s good. Can we go home now?”
It didn’t matter Maverick’s memories weren’t complete or that he confessed to keeping his guard up until they came back fully. What mattered is that the man I leave with tonight feels like the man I married, and not the cruel imitation who woke up in the hospital.
“I’ve been thinking about something,” I say before we leave the room. “Actually, I’ve been thinking about this for a while, since we broke up.”
His head snaps up and he looks at me sharply. “The next time we play Boston, I’m going to make Casey pay for what he did.” I nod my head and wait for whatever darkness inside him to disappear. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. He deserves it.” I lean over and kiss him. “But everything that’s happened recently made me think I need to put my degree to use. I’m entirely too dependent on you.”
“You don’t need to work if you don’t want to,” he insists.
“I want to. I want to have my own money.”
He rolls his eyes and pushes himself up. “We can talk about this later. Right now, I want to sleep with you in our bed, in our home.”
Warmth spreads across my chest when I hear him say those words –our bed, our home.
“Let’s go home then.”
My suitcase wasn’t unpacked so it’s a matter of checking out, paying for one night, and leaving. When we get to the car, I stop him and ask, “Are you cleared to drive?”
“No, but I got here just fine.”
I hold out my hand. “Give me the keys. It’s the middle of the night and you’re tired. I’m driving.”
He grumbles but doesn’t argue. Instead, he reaches into the pocket of his sweatpants, takes out the keys, and places them in my outstretched palm.
The ride home is quiet. Both of us seem to be deep in thought. As much as I love returning home with him, falling asleep next to him, there is a part of me still worried our world might shatter once more. Maybe my guard is up too. He’s protecting himself from the devastation of discovering his reality is a lie, which is understandable. I need a shield too from another potential heartbreak. Maverick is my world because I made him my world. Being with him makes me happy but being without him helped me realize my world cannot revolve around him anymore.
“Penny for your thoughts,” Maverick asks once we’re back home.
I laugh softly. “You were pretty quiet too. Care to share your thoughts?”
I follow him to our bedroom where he starts to strip down, pulling his long-sleeved t-shirt over his head and tossing it on the floor. My tongue darts out automatically, swiping along my lips when I catch sight of his muscled chest, chiseled abdomen, and the hair covering both.
When his hands slip beneath the waistband of his sweats, I stop him. “You can’t tease me like this, Mav.”
He seems to understand my meaning and a smile spreads across his lips as he reaches for another t-shirt, slipping it over his head. “You’re right. I know you find me hard to resist.”
I unpack only the things I need before climbing into bed beside him. “What were you thinking about on the way home?”
“My career. This is the worst concussion I’ve suffered. Will they only get worse from here? Is it time to retire?”
I turn to face him, resting my hand on his chest, feeling it move with every breath. “Those sound like questions for the doctor and the coach.”
He covers my hand with his and his thumb strokes the back. “These are questions for my wife, too.”
“I can’t tell you if it will get worse or not. You’re still young. I think you have a lot of years left in you, as long as your offense keeps you protected.”
He laughs, a hearty sound that fills the darkened room. “Don’t worry, I’ll remind them of that often. But there will always be a player who wants the dirty hit, who wants to be known asthat guy, someone to be feared.”
“Are you scared of players like that?”
“No, but I am scared of the damage they can do to my brain.”
I snuggle closer and stretch my arm all the way across his body, nuzzling my head underneath his. “I’m scared of that too. When you’re ready to retire, we’ll revisit this conversation.”
