Page 145 of Fair Catch

Saying they were cutting me off if I chose to be with Kason must’ve been a bluff after all.

“Are you gonna use it?” he asks as he drops both the check and card to the counter, swapping them for his phone. “I mean, I won’t judge you if you do. That’s a lot of money.”

I don’t know what I want to do with it. It feels dirty and tainted now, like accepting it would be acting like all is forgiven when, in reality, it’s anything but.

“What do you think?”

He arches a brow. “It’s not my choice, babe. I will say, it’s not like we need it. With my salary alone, you wouldn’t have to work at all if you don’t want to.”

Snorting, I shake my head. “I’m definitely not cut out to be a house-husband. I’d go stir-crazy, especially considering we don’t have any plants or pets for me to take care of.”

His gaze takes on an amused gleam as he steps into my space, pinning me to the counter with his hips.

“Trying to lock me down already, Hazey?” he teases.

“Hate to break it to you, baby, but you’re stuck with me until one of us inevitably kicks the bucket at the ripe old age of ninety-eight.”

One hand moves up to cup the back of my head, his eyes dancing playfully between mine. “It’s a bit soon to know that, don’t you think? I mean, wejustmoved in together, and you’re the one who’s always talking about taking things slow.”

“Funny,” I mutter dryly. “Too bad you signed that contract with the Nighthawks, because you’re gonna miss your calling as a comedian.”

“We’ll circle back to that when I retire.” His thumb brushes over my jaw in a painstakingly light touch, like he’s holding a precious piece of china. “But when it comes to bringing any living things into this house besides us, that’s your choice too. I just don’t want you to be lonely when you’re here by yourself.”

The sentiment is meant to be sweet, loving, caring—

“Did you forget who you’re talking to?” I ask, my brows crashing together. “I’m gonna be living it up when you’re gone. Dancing around this place naked, ordering Thai every night, having a grand ole’ time.”

Amusement twitches on his lips. “And not missing me one fucking bit, huh?”

Sighing in concession, I murmur. “Okay, maybe I’ll miss you just a little. And I’ll be sure to show you how much every time you get back from an away trip.”

He hums, all dirty thoughts and sinful grins, before stealing a soft kiss.

“If you take the money, you could just come on the road with me instead,” he counters against my lips. “Then you don’t have to miss me at all.”

I’ll admit, there’s an appeal to the idea, but it wouldn’t be sustainable. I need my alone time as much as he needs his space to grow with the team and become a big shot NFL superstar. And though I don’t need to, Iwantto work.

My mind searches for ideas of what to do with it, other than just letting it sit in my bank account doing absolutely nothing. There’s the most obvious solution, of course, which is investments. Planning for a future retirement, maybe a family, who knows. And yeah, a good portion will go to that too, but with that amount…

“Tell me what to do,” I groan, letting my forehead fall to his chest.

He chuckles and presses a kiss to the side of my head while wrapping his arms around me in a hug. “I don’t care what we do with it. If you wanna rip this one up and send it back to them for good measure like I did, I’m fine with that too. We don’t need it.”

That’s not helpful at fucking all.

A long sigh slips out, and I roll my forehead against his chest with indecision.

“You could use the money to start your own company,” Kason says, resting his chin on my shoulder. “I know your plans were to take over Lancaster Financial, so it’s not exactly the same thing, but—”

“No, you’re onto something,” I say, cutting him off.

Stepping out of his embrace, I pull my phone from my pocket and tap into the email app before typing out a message. I don’t make it more than a few lines, stating my intent and requesting a meeting at their earliest convenience, then add both my mother and father’s business emails.

Before I can overthink it, or talk myself out of it, I hit send and let my phone clatter to the kitchen counter.

Kason’s eyes flick between me and it, confusion written all over his handsome face.

“Wanna tell me what just happened?”

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