Page 32 of Love of the Game
“You could’ve stayed in bed.”
“Not without you” was his answer to that.
I’m not sure which warmed me more, the words, or the sharp look he gave me.
“Let me make you something. Espresso? Cappuccino?”
“Just…” He held out his hand like he was holding a mug.
“Okay, sleepyhead. Go sit before you teeter over.”
He sniffed, then shuffled to the island’s bar stools. “How are you sohappythis early?”
I brewed up two Americanos. “I woke up next to you.”
That seemed to mollify him for a moment. He sipped his coffee and hummed. “But you left.”
“Yeah, I know. I got up into my head.”
“You?” He actually sounded surprised.
“Me,” I said. “Happens sometimes.”
Drake put down his coffee mug, then snatched mine from my hand and set that down, too. Then he drew me into a long kiss that had time stopping, my heart pounding, and my dick tenting my sweats. When he broke it, he said, “I know emotions happen. Look at me. I’m kinda a poster child for that. But I hate seeing you sad. Or lonely. What can I do to make you not sad or lonely?”
I felt a wobble in my chest that had everything to do with nowandthe future. But the future wasn’t here yet, so I laid my forehead against Drake’s. “You’ve already done that. I’m not sad or lonely with you here.”
A sharp, deep, squawk of a meow startled us both, and I looked over to find Loki sitting by our coffee and staring back at me. “Especially not lonely withthatone around.”
Drake laughed and reclaimed his coffee. “Okay, so you have the cats. You have me. Do you want to talk about what’s in your head?”
Hmm. He’d opened up about so much to me, the least I could do was open up to him a little. “It’s just how I process things. It’s like on the ice, except slower because stuff off the ice moves more slowly. I look down the road at all the potential twists and turns and figure out what’s going to happen and how I should react.” I took a sip of coffee, then continued. “Sometimes I wander too far down the paths and get too deep into the what ifs. Nothing’s set. Life can surprise you, but I can’t help planning ahead. I don’t like not having a plan. Or several. Just in case.”
He had that look I’d seen in a lot of other people—where they tried to puzzle me out. “My brain doesn’t exactly work in the same way as a lot of other people’s.”
The corner of his mouth ticked up. “Yeah, I figured that out.”
Had he? A lot of people hadn’t when they thought they had. “I’m neurodivergent,” I said. “I could get into the specifics, but…”
His brow creased. “No, you don’t have to, unless you want. I mean—” he gestured around him. “You’re very specific about some things, so that makes sense.” He leaned against the kitchen island. “You’re actually the easiest person I’ve ever spent this much time with. It’s not like anything is a problem—I just don’t like seeing you sad.”
“I’m not sad, I’mpensive.”
I sounded peevish, but Drake smiled into his coffee, then glanced at the clock. “I should call my mom. I want to tell her about what happened.”
I knew he wasn’t talking about the game last night, but about what had happened with the jerk that was his bio father. “That’s a good plan. I’ll make some breakfast, then I need to head to Hideaway later today—you’re welcome to come along.”
“On your bike?” His face lit up at that thought.
“You said you’d never driven, right?”
“Yeah, but I’ve been a passenger before.”
Oh God, Mr. Roth, our GM, would be so mad if he found out, but the roads between here and there didn’t have much traffic, and it was a dry day— “All right. Call your mom, I’ll get us something to eat, and after we clean up ourselves and everything, we can head out.”
CHAPTER 9
DRAKE
