Page 81 of Not A Chance

It didn’t matter thatIknew that Emery would be accepting of my relationship with Indie. It only mattered that Indie had been overly worried about it, no matter what her rational side said. She’d taken a huge risk for me. God, if things had turned out differently… Would Indie have been able to bear it?

My love for her grew exponentially with that realization. Without her having to say the words, her actions told me everything I needed to know about where we stood.

This was the real deal. For both of us.

It was like a physical weight pushed against my chest as I absorbed how big of a risk I’d ask Indie to take. Even during the biggest night of my life, draft night when I was eighteen, when all of us were still reeling from Mom’s passing, I knew I had my dad and siblings behind me to fall back on.

My limbs sank under the weight of my actions.

The beeping sound of the hotel room door card reader drew me from my thoughts. I jumped to my feet, ready to hug the shit out of my Rocky for doing something so brave for us.

Similarly, Gizmo’s little head and body popped up from her pillow. Her little tail wagged like crazy with her anticipation of her primary hooman coming home.

Not wanting to bombard Indie with questions, as that was the last thing she needed, I stood and waited as I heard her drop her bag and jacket on the front table around the corner from the living area of the hotel room.

She came into view, and I just managed to swoop down and catch Giz before she leaped off her pillow tower to see her mommy. God, this pup had no concept of her own size. She was three flipping feet or more above the marble floor of the hotel room. We didn’t need a trip to the emergency vet tonight to round out the evening.

“Jesus, Giz. Do you think you’re a Great Dane or something?” I admonished the vibrating ball of soft peach fuzz I held in one palm.

“Aww. Is your big, bad daddy getting my baby in trouble?” Indie smiled at Gizmo as she walked toward us.

Gizmo practically flew from my hand into Indie’s chest when shegot close enough, which caused Indie to rapidly rearrange her arms to secure her.

“What a little menace you are!” I wrapped both arms around Indie’s waist, careful not to smoosh Giz, who was lapping up having all the attention. She promptly turned over in Indie’s arms to make her status as the “little baby” complete.

“Hi.” I moved my gaze from our dog to Indie’s face and examined her features for signs of how she was feeling.

“Hi, goalie.” She looked back at me, tired, but gave me what looked like a genuine smile.

“Let’s sit. It’s been a long day for you.” I wrapped my arm around her shoulders to guide her to the couch. Gizmo remained content in her arms.

I quickly maneuvered myself back onto the couch and shifted so that Indie would sit on my lap rather than in the small space between me and the pile of pillows.

“Cushion tower?” She looked over at Gizmo’s fortress and tucked her bare feet under the edge of the bottom pillow. Thankfully, she relaxed back into my arm that was wrapped around her waist, letting her head fall onto my shoulder.

I kissed her forehead. “Look, Gizmo demanded four pillows, okay? What am I supposed to do, refuse her the bare necessities that she needs to rest?”

The pup in question decided that we were in this cuddle pile for the long haul and started circling the divot where Indie’s thigh and pelvis met. Once she plopped herself down, I brought my other hand from where it rested on the back of the couch down to pat her back with two fingers.

I felt more than heard Indie’s laughter at my caving to the whims of a five-pound canine.

I hesitated to break the contentment we’d just created with them both in my lap, but my need to hear how everything had gone down won out.

If there were obstacles ahead with Indie, I wanted to know what I was up against. I shifted her closer by tightening my opposite arm around her, wanting to make it clear that she could let down her guard now that we were together.

“So, lay it on me, Rocky. How did it go?” I kept all of my initial relief and pleasure that she appeared okay, if emotionally exhausted, to myself for now.

I couldn’t imagine Emery denying anyone their happiness. She was a champion at setting up random people in her life and watching them just “click” as couples. I knew she would want the same for Indie, even if she hadn’t completely forgiven me for the last couple of years of keeping everyone at arm’s length.

“Keen to find out how the next part of your night is going to go, babe?” Even said in jest, I wanted to wipe her mind of anything else but letting go of the stress she’d been feeling earlier.

“Ha. I’ll let you in on a little secret, Rocky.” I tilted my head down to speak next to her ear. “I already won the lottery the first time we kissed and every day since.”

Indie shivered as my lips brushed the skin of her earlobe. I punctuated my words by pressing a soft kiss to her temple, getting a quick hit of the sweet scent of her shampoo and skin before leaning back again.

“Theo! You are not meant to be sweet right now.” She swatted my arm playfully. “You’re meant to be collecting your prize. Specifically, those things you texted me earlier.”

My cock thought her idea was solid, and the blood flow in my body was roaring to assist, but I wasn’t going to let myself getdistracted. As much as my body was ready to show her how much I wanted her at any given moment, my brain pushed aside any sexy thoughts to hear what she had to say.

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