Page 120 of Breaking Rules

She leans away. Her eyes are puffy and her face is tearstained, her brows pulled low.

“I’m your lover,” I continue. “And your soon-to-be boyfriend.”

She blinks and then bursts into giggles.

Relief washes over me like a wave. Finally, this is my girl.My Bella. I’m the happiest when I’m with her.

There will no doubt be days when she falls back into her old habits, but I’ll be there for her. Our love will help us overcome anything, and I’ll be a better version of myself. For her.

“Aren’t you afraid of risking your place on the team? You’re okay breaking the rules? Just for me?”

I press a thumb between her brows, smoothing out the crease there. “I’ll break all the rules for you, Bella. There’s nothing I won’t do for you. You’re single; I’m single. There’s no misconduct there,” I tell her with conviction. “I don’t fucking care if anyone has a problem with it, including Miller. He, on the other hand, is in a precarious position. You hold all the cards there. You could go public with what he’s done to you.”

She shakes her head. “No. If he keeps his distance, I’ll keep it to myself. All I want is to move on and forget it.” She looks away for a moment, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip again. “It’s just…if he knows?—”

“He’s a douche,” I grit out. “Are you trying to tell me that we’re in love with each other, but we can’t be together because of Miller?”

“No. That’s not what I’m saying.” She frames my face with her hands.

Instantly, my body sags with relief. She knows all my buttons, where to press so I’m totally at her mercy.

“Just…I don’t want to go public for now. I told Jake I’d wait a month before announcing the breakup?—”

My heart lurches, and I rear back. “You gave him a month?”

“Yeah, he said he’d look like a loser getting dumped immediately after proposing, so I gave him one month. If you and I go public too soon, he’ll be painted as the victim, and you’ll be the villain who snatched your teammate’s girl away from him. No one will care to listen to what really happened.”

“But I want you to move in with me,” I blurt out.

Bella’s lips ease into a big, radiant smile. “Really?”

“Really.”

“We can make it work, but we’ll need to be extra careful. You have a Super Bowl to win. People look up to you. The last thing I want is bad press.”

“Miller will find out eventually.” Fuck, I hate the idea of hiding, and I’m not sure it’ll be as easy as she thinks.

“And he will be furious about it,” she says, tipping her head. “It’s better if he finds out later; hopefully, he’ll have already moved on.”

I scoff. “I don’t fucking care how any of this affects him. I’m not going to sacrifice my happiness or yours because his ass can’t keep his shit together.”

Bella snickers, ruffling my hair.

“All I care about is you.” I hug her tight. “And my only concern is making you happy.”

Bella smiles brightly before she lowers her gaze to my lips. That one little look is all it takes for my heartbeat to quicken and my dick to wake up.

“I know a few things you can help me with,” she murmurs.

I lower my hands to her ass and squeeze. “Anything.”

“I can’t tell you here. We have an eavesdropper.”

In unison, we look down at Milo, who’s sitting at my feet, watching us with great interest, and fall into a fit of laughter.

“Can we go to your bedroom?” Bella chokes out between giggles.

I haul myself up without letting her go and bury my face in her hair. Her fruity scent is like an aphrodisiac, making me hard in an instant. I’m drunk on love. This girl is my everything.

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