Page 84 of Kiss Me Tonight

“That’s not what I said.I’ma jock, too. Or I was, I guess. You just don’t seem the sort to stop and enjoy something as poetic as a sunset or a sunrise or anything, really, that doesn’t involve—Dominic, are you listening?”

“Multitasking,” I answer as I open the internet tab on my phone. With quick fingers, I plug in a website that I’ve kept a secret for years now. It’s been no one’s business but mine and I’ve always preferred it that way.

To the world, I’m Dominic DaSilva: world-renowned athlete, TV host, bad boy extraordinaire.

I’m not denying any of that.

But a small part of me will always be that kid who felt invisible and neglected. Who watched the world pass him by and vowed, even if only to himself, that one day the world would be his for the taking, if he only dared to reach for it.

Silently, I pass my phone over to Levi, who takes it carefully after setting aside the beer. I pick up the Bud Light automatically, seekingsomethingto busy myself with as I wait for her to connect the dots—to see more of me than I’ve ever allowed another person.

I hear her sharp, indrawn breath at the same time I watch her thumbs swipe up.

“You took these?” she asks, awe coating every word.

Ignoring the unfamiliar bundle of nerves in my stomach, I dip my chin. “Yeah. I did.”

Her head bows as she continues to scroll. “Dominic . . .”

My heart pounds a mile a minute. “They’re not professionally done, obviously. I bought a camera but it’s not like I know what the fuck I’m doing with it—”

“Where is this?” She shoves the phone in my direction, pointing at the screen. “I don’t recognize it.”

“Tyulenovo.” At her blank stare, I stifle a grin. “It’s in northern Bulgaria, along the Balkan Sea. See?” My hand engulfs hers, my thumb sandwiched between her fingers as I swipe up to view the next picture. Craggy cliffs, turquoise, turbulent waters, and a thirty-foot-plus drop that terrified me as much as it spurred me on. I can almost recall the rush of adrenaline that gripped my lungs like a vice when I made the jump. “People come from all over the world to cliff jump from this exact spot.”

“Insane people, you mean.”

“I think the term you’re lookin’ for is ‘adrenaline junkie.’”

Shooting me an indecipherable glance, Levi angles the phone so we can both see the screen. With her thumb hooked under mine, she encourages me to scroll up with a little nudge. “There,” she says, “where was that?”

Narrow gravel roads winding along protruding mountains. Hot rain pelting my back as I gripped the bike’s handlebars. Stinging calves by the time I finished the path. “Death Road in Bolivia. My heart was in my throat the entire ride. It was . . . awesome.”

“Awesome,” she mocks sarcastically under her breath, “meanwhile, I would have peed myself.”

I knock my knee against hers. “I wouldn’t judge you if you did.”

“No?”

“Of course not.”

She narrows her eyes, disbelief warring with humor in their sapphire depths. “Really.”

“Yup.” I draw out the word, popping thepjust to see that flicker of humor truly spark to life. “We’re in this together. Two coaches taking on the world—”

“Or at least this corner of Maine.”

“—and I wouldn’t let you suffer that embarrassment alone.” Cocking my head, I lower my voice playfully. “Nah, Coach, I would have pissed myself right along with you. That’s teamwork right there.”

Levi promptly drops her head, chin to her chest, and just when I’m convinced that she’s going to tell me to screw off for being weird, she laughs. She laughs so hard that her shoulders shake with the force of her mirth and she begins to turn heads. Crazy as it sounds, I revel in the girlish sound.

I can hear Savannah Rose calling my former castmates forward at the ring ceremony. Hear my name said, too: “Will you accept this ring, Dom?” Savannah asks and then there’s my husky response, “Yeah, of course I do.”

The pub’s patrons, Oliver included, erupt into a series of excited catcalling. No doubt some of them have won this week’s fantasy league stats by having me stick around for another seven days.

But it’s Levi who captures my sole attention. Levi who’s making my dead heart leap and my damn cock stiffen, even though I’m in a very public place with a number of people who probably wouldn’t mind earning themselves a little extra cash by going toCelebrity Tea Presentsor another shitty gossip rag with information about what I’m up to these days.

I slip off the bar stool, then barricade Levi’s body with mine so she’s off-limits to Oliver and his buddies. I don’t give a shit what they say about me—it’s nothing I haven’t heard before or won’t hear again—but I’m not dragging Levi into this mess with me. Not here, where everyone can speculate about what might be going on with London High’s head and assistant coaches.

---