Page 93 of Home Game

Feeling the rage that came with not being in control, then learning that I had to give up the illusion of control if I ever wanted to be happy.

And then, finally feeling something that had been eluding me for longer than I could have known: that happiness,truehappiness, that could only come from starting to live my life for me.

I wasn’t hiding from anything anymore.

And I wouldn’t hide my feelings from him, either.

“You make me so fucking happy,” I whispered as I leaned against his chest. “And you drive me crazy, and you make my life so much better than it’s ever been before.”

“Just wait ‘til you see how good I am as a boyfriend,” he murmured. I could feel the rise and fall of his chest as he laughed.

It was so unlikely that my path would ever cross with Storm’s. But now that it had, I couldn’t picture any other way forward for me.

It made sense, even though it didn’t.

And maybe I was starting to love that.

“You know,” I said. “I know of a really good coffee shop nearby that has a pumpkin spice boozy milkshake.”

“That sounds like an abomination,” Storm said, “and also sounds absolutely fucking delicious. Let’s go.”

He reached down to lace his fingers through mine, and we walked hand in hand down the street toward the shop.

Like boyfriends, instead of rivals.

Or maybe a little bit of both. Just how we liked it.

20

STORM

After the night from hell at the restaurant which turned out to be one of the better nights of my life, Emmett and I had what wasdefinitelythe best week of my life.

During the day, I was on fire at my practices. The renovations on my kitchen were moving rapidly along. And every evening, I headed over to Emmett’s house, and he pulled me in through his front door with a kiss. We spent hours and hours naked in bed together, trying things out on each other.

I could tell Emmett was still in a bit of a daze. He’d just changed up his whole world, and I was here beside him on the new path he was forging.

“Are you sure you’re okay with me posting about this publicly?” I asked him now, looking over the shiny new website he’d had designed for his new company, Waycott Marketing. It was a quick, simple site, and mostly just a landing page with Emmett’s past clients listed out, but it looked great for a start.

“I’d be honored,” Emmett said, looking down at the laptop.

We were in my dining room as the Fixer Brothers wrapped up a long day of construction in the kitchen nearby. My dining table was covered in a thick plastic protective layer, and Emmettand I had been over here for about an hour, talking about his new business.

“Because I’m going to rep thehellout of Waycott Marketing if you’re comfortable with it,” I said. “People love when I share my favorite things online. I’ve plugged tattoo artists before, photographers, athletes, you name it. Hell, I posted about a bakery early this year and they said they were sold out of everything by noon every day for the next month.”

“Wow,” Emmett said. “You reallyaretoo famous, aren’t you?”

“Famous enough to snag a guy like you,” I said, reaching over and wrapping an arm around his waist. I pulled him in for a slow kiss, a fizzle deep inside me knowing we could be seen by anyone in the kitchen if they just moved a few steps to look over here.

“You smell good,” Emmett murmured as he pulled back.

“We still haven’t told the other guys,” I said. “About us.”

“I want to,” he said. “But what do we do? Announce it like it’s a damn business merger?Guys, Storm and I have decided to join together…”

I snorted. “I mean, we could just make out tonight when we go to Jade Brewery,” I told him. “That would make it pretty easy.”

He reached over and ran a thumb across my lower lip. “I will kiss you anywhere, anytime,” he murmured.

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