Page 100 of Meet Your Match
He snorted. “So this guy fucked her up?”
My hands tightened into fists. “She thinks if we let it go too far, I’d break her heart just like he did.”
“Would you?”
I was silent at that, because the truth was that I didn’t know.
I couldn’t make her promises, not when I was only in my first season in the league with no fucking clue what came next. If my career took off, what would that look like for us? Would she follow me if I got traded to another team, another city?
Could I expect her to?
And even if they did extend my contract and I got to stay in Tampa, it wasn’t like she’d have this twenty-four-seven-access pass forever. The only reason I had so much time with her now was because her job called for it.
Would I be enough for her, if she only had me in-between practices and games? Would she put up with me traveling all the time?
Would she trust me?
And even if she did… would it ever be fair, to ask that of her, of anyone?
“I’ve never thought about any of this,” I admitted, shaking my head. “I assumed I’d never have to, at least not for a while. Hockey and partying and girls, that I can handle. But Maven…” I swallowed. “Fuck, I didn’t see her coming.”
A little laugh puffed out of William at that. “We never do.”
I tried to smile, but it fell short. And for a while, we sat there in silence, both of us in our own worlds.
“Look, I won’t lie to you. If she’s been hurt before, the road ahead of you will be bumpy at best, and a pothole-ridden shit show at worst,” he said. “But… if you’re serious about her, maybe you just need to give her time to see that, to see that you’re different, and that history doesn’t have to repeat itself.”
I nodded, hating how my chest lit up with hope at his suggestion. I thought of earlier that week in my condo,when I watched Maven smile and hum along to the music while she tended to the plants I’d bought her. She’d had her hair pulled back, a blue-jean bandana tied around the crown of her head, her lips nude and begging to be kissed.
The domestic nature of it had slammed into me so hard I could barely breathe until I laid her down and flexed inside her. I had to be connected, to feel that she was mine, even if just for that moment.
And that’s what it was — a moment.
I didn’t want to press her for more. I couldn’t.
She’d made the rules, and I was following them, because if I didn’t, I’d lose her even sooner than I already had to.
I cracked my neck. “Thanks, man,” I said, hopping off the bike. “But I think if this is all I can have with her, I’m just going to soak up every minute of it and not overanalyze the situation.”
“Sure,” he said, hopping off his bike, too. “Because you don’t seem like you’re worried at all.”
He leveled me with one last look before he left the gym.
Once I’d showered, I headed back to the condo, promising the guys I’d see them out at the bar when I knew it was a lie. I didn’t want to have to explain myself.
But all I wanted that night was Maven.
I texted her and asked her to come up, and as soon as I opened the door, I pulled her into me, kissing along her neck and collarbone as I worked to undress her.
She didn’t fight me, didn’t insist we go or ask if the guys were waiting on me. She opened like a flower more and more with each sigh, and then we were in my bed, and I lost myself in the present moment with everything that she was.
When we were spent, I watched her from the bed as she washed her face in my bathroom. She had a toothbrush in there, too — and her shampoo was in my shower.
She frowned a little when she caught my gaze in the mirror, turning and looking over her shoulder covered with one of my t-shirts.
“You okay?” she asked with a curious grin.
I swallowed down the truth, shoving Will’s words out of my head before they could echo any louder.
