Page 202 of Vegas Heat

She looks hurt, but for once in her life she keeps her mouth shut.

“Why don’t I take you back,” Joanie says to my dad, and I silently thank her for the suggestion. “That way Gabby can spread out in the front seat.”

“Great idea,” my dad says, and that’s that.

I climb into Cooper’s truck, and I immediately open the bag of fries. “Want one?”

He shakes his head. “All yours. I ate an hour or so ago. By the way, you attacked that cheeseburger with the same enthusiasm I’ve seen from you when my cock is in your mouth, so that was hot.”

I gasp at his words as a rocket of need plows into me. I’m feeling more like myself after that cheeseburger combined with the heavy emotions surrounding us. “Speaking of your cock…” I say, and I pop another French fry into my mouth.

“Yes?” he says, and his voice is all gravelly and deep.

“I’ll be needing some dessert, you know.”

He laughs. “Shall we stop for some ice cream?”

I purse my lips.

“Babe, you just got out of the hospital. I know it wasn’t serious, but you still need to rest at least for tonight before I plow you with the captain.”

I sigh. “Yeah, yeah. I just wish I could go home with you to your house instead of back to my dad’s.”

“Then come home with me. I’ll tell them I wanted to keep an eye on you.”

“They’ll want to keep an eye on me, too,” I say softly. I reach over and grab his hand. “We should tell them. My mom guessed it earlier anyway. I managed to throw her off, but me going home with you over her isn’t going to send the message that she was wrong, you know?”

He threads his fingers through mine and squeezes my hand. “I don’t care what she thinks. But your father’s got a lot of stress right now between the draft and your mother being here. Let’s just wait until after the draft, okay?”

I press my lips together and nod.

“Can I tell you something?” he asks.

I turn and look at him. “Anything.”

“This whole thing…it’s told me a lot about my feelings for you.”

My heart races at his words, and my first thought is that it made him realize he doesn’t love me as much as he thought he did.

It’s my damn issues talking to me again, and I force a deep breath to calm those thoughts down.

“What did it tell you?” I ask quietly. I stare out the windshield as I brace myself for his answer, the deep breath doing nothing to calm my racing fears.

“I want to be your emergency call,” he says simply. He raises our joined hands to his lips. “I want to be youreverything.”

Tears fill my eyes as relief fills my chest.

“You are.”

He shakes his head a little. “I can’t be until we tell your father.”

“The draft is Saturday, right?”

He nods.

“Then we plan a celebratory brunch for Sunday and tell him then,” I suggest. “And it gives you the rest of the off-season to help him come to terms with it since we already know he’s not going to react well.”

He nods resolutely. “Okay. We have one week to brace ourselves.”

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