Page 16 of Broken Promises

“Do you want the bad news now?” I ask, sobering a little.

“Nothing is going to stop the high from hearing my girl is going to my games.”

Ignoring the strange feeling in my chest when he claims me as his, I say, “I have to leave Thursday.”

He stops smiling. “But that’s my first preseason game.”

“I know. I can go, but I’ll need to leave right when it ends,” I assure him. “But it’s also the only preseason game I can make.”

Declan flops sideways with a huge sigh, his head landing in my lap. “Can we do that thing where I’m walking to the locker room, and you run to me yelling my name? Then when I turn, you jump into my arms and kiss me in front of all my teammates and coaches?”

“I’m not going to kiss you,” I say, digging my fingers into his side, making him squirm and slap my hands away.

“Hate to break it to you, Princess. We’re married. We’re going to kiss. And I would like the cinematic one. You can pick what kind you want.”

“So we kiss twice and that’s it?” I’m weirdly nervous about this. I’m completely comfortable with the intimacy we have now, but adding kissing feels like crossing a line. He’s, unfortunately, right though.

Declan rolls off my lap and kneels in front of me, grabbing my hands and suddenly looking serious. “I won’t ever do anything to make you uncomfortable, Princess. You know that. I just don’t see how anyone is going to believe I’ll be able to keep my lips to myself with you as my wife.”

I shake my head and look down at my lap, trying to hide my blush behind my hair. “You don’t kiss, Dec. It’s in your rules.”

“Meaningless hookups, absolutely not. Kissing isn’t how you keep feelings separate. But my wife?” he shrugs. “I’m obviously going to be kissing my wife all the damn time.”

“We’ve been married for two days, and it feels like we’re already blurring lines.”

“I disagree. We both have jobs where we put on a show for an audience, right? It’s no different from that.”

Looking at it from that perspective makes sense. I don’t need to kiss him behind closed doors and start questioning things. “Okay. I can handle it if I think of it like that.”

Declan laughs and stands. “Glad to know you think kissing me is repulsive.” His tone is joking, but his eyes look hurt.

“I don’t, but I won’t do anything to ruin our friendship, and I think kissing you without a set boundary would really blur lines and hurt our relationship once this marriage ends.”

I can’t read the look in Declan’s eyes, but he nods anyway. “So, what’s your kiss of choice?”

“I’ll think about it and get back to you,” I tell him, still trying to decipher the look in his eyes. But it suddenly vanishes, and he’s grinning again.

“Does that mean I get my movie kiss?”

“Yes, hockey boy. You can get your movie kiss.”

He points at me as he walks backwards into the kitchen. “I’m going to rock your fucking world, Willa Prince.”

Yeah, that’s what I’m worried about.

EIGHT

declan

“What are you doing?”

“There’s only one bed in this apartment,” Willa says. She’s standing at the foot of it, staring with wide eyes.

“It’s a California king. We can easily sleep together and not even know.” I crawl into my side and set my phone on the charger. I’m fully clothed in my black pajama pants and a white t-shirt. It’s not like she has to crawl into bed next to a naked guy.

“How did I not realize I’d have to sleep next to your smelly ass?” she mutters, snapping out of whatever stupor she was in.

“We’ve shared a tent before. I don’t see how this giant comfortable bed that has zero rocks or sticks in it is a problem,” I playfully grumble.

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