Page 28 of My Fair Player

Relief, awe, and joy bloomed in his chest like a sunrise. He hadn’t known how much he needed to hear that until now. He pressed his forehead against hers, needing to feel that closeness and connection before he spoke.

“Not in a bathroom,” he began, a levity threading through the weight of this moment between them. He chuckled softly, brushing the back of his finger gently across her cheekbone, wanting to memorize the curve of it, craving every minute detail so he could commit it to his soul forever.

“I want to see your smile, drown in your eyes, and marvel at the woman before me. Our kisses, our first time together, willnotbe in a plastic stall with the most disgusting blue water in the toilet. This was a bad move and the best one for very different reasons,” he offered, chuckling as she joined in. Her laughter bubbled out, warm and real, as his heart soared with happiness. It was a shared moment, intimate and silly at once, and just them.

It was the most precious thing in the world to him.

“It’s pretty nasty,” he shivered, grinning, and then his smile faded slightly as something took over inside of him. If she liked him aggressive, he was going to test the waters just to be sure. He brushed her hair back with his hand and turned her face up slightly to look at him as he spoke, straight from his soul, speaking tenderly as if he had a private thread connected to hers.

“I want to see your hair spread out across a pillow, to breathe in your perfume, and to see you reaching for me…” his voice trailed off as her lips parted in the sweetest way.

“I want that too,” she replied softly, her voice catching and thick with feeling as his heart soared. “And I like this side of you very much, so let me see it a little more, Liam.”

He tilted his head, eyes locking on hers, as something tender played at the corner of his lips. She liked him taking charge and speaking up – well, he could certainly do it if she looked at him like this.

“Oh yeah?” he teased easily, trying to charm her.

“It’s very attractive,” she admitted with a small, shy nod, the sincerity of her words stealing his breath. He felt stripped bare and seen in a way that made his soul ache even as he smiled. He leaned closer, his voice low in case any of the guys were standing outside of the door, listening.

“It’s nice knowing you find me attractive,” he murmured softly, that flirtation still there but softer now – vulnerable. “What else turns you on?”

Before she could answer, the plane jolted hard, sending them both rattling into the present – and the bathroom wall. Her eyes met his, nodding.

“No turbulence,” she replied, and he saw the flicker of fear in her attempt at wry humor. That look was enough to say everything that needed to be said between them.

I like this – but we need to buckle up quickly.

The connection was there between them – steady, solid, and he wasn’t going to let her slip away from him again now that the awareness was there between them. Once they went back out there, he knew that untouchable mask would slip back into place.

He didn’t ask for permission. Didn’t need to. He was blocking the door, and if the plane sent him flying into a wall, he’d deal with the concussion. It wouldn’t be the first one he’d had – but kissing Ashley would be worth it. He leaned in, pressing his lips to hers. That kiss turned into minutes that swelled, blurred, and folded into a warmth between them. He felt her sigh, the tremble in her hands, and when he pulled away, they were both breathless.

She bit her lip, and he saw the shimmer of emotion in her eyes as her whole being thrummed with awareness. Her body, heart, and soul were there, shining and thriving in that simple kiss between them.

“Just like that,” she breathed, imparting some unspoken knowledge between them, and he nodded as if to say, ‘I hear you’ in response.

That was all the praise he needed.

As Liam stepped out of the cramped airplane bathroom, his hand brushing lightly against Ashley’s as they reentered the aisle, a rush of reality hit him harder than the altitude ever could. The world hadn’t paused for them – every face was looking up at them expectantly, knowingly. The cabin lights buzzed quietly overhead, and the familiar low hum of flight surrounded them—but it couldn’t drown out the sounds that were waiting. His team all thought that Liam had just had sex in the airplane bathroom with his wife, and it was written over every single face – some a mixture of disbelief, some stunned, and there was plenty of leering and grinning.

“Mad props to our captain, y’all…”

Acton’s voice broke through the quiet with a thunderclap of amusement, loud and teasing, cutting straight through the gentle fog of Liam’s contentment. They hadn’t had sex at all, but there was indeed a precious connection no one was going to sully or ruin.

Liam’s stomach tightened instantly as he watched his teammate spin, grinning like a fool, throwing fist bumps to a few of the others with an exaggerated flair. That knowing look in his eyes—one Liam had seen more times than he could count in locker rooms and victory celebrations—struck him wrong here, now, with Ashley only a few steps away.

“I didn’t think the boy scout had it in him. I’m impressed.”

The comment was meant as a joke, a jab in good fun—but it hit like a blow to Liam’s ribs once more. He glanced quickly at Ashley, saw her soft smile falter just slightly, the pink rising in her cheeks blooming despite the brave calm she tried to maintain. She was trying to be gracious, to pretend it didn’t matter. But he saw her.Reallysaw her.

And it mattered to him.

“Hopefully, she is too,” came Larsson’s wife’s voice, half-teasing and certainly unfiltered. It should’ve been nothing, but the words hung in the air. Even the goalie started chuckling beside her until she swatted at him to hush. It was light-hearted, it was playful, but it was still too much.

Liam’s jaw tensed, his entire body pivoting at that moment. He’d let them joke before. On the bench, in the locker room, and even in interviews sometimes. But not now. Not when his wife—the woman he cared for more fiercely than he ever thought possible—was at the center of their amusement, the butt of their jokes.

“Enough.”

His voice came out like steel, low and cutting, silencing the laughter with its sheer intensity. He didn’t shout. He didn’t need to. The tone alone was enough to make heads turn. As Ashley gracefully slid back into her seat, Liam’s eyes lingered on her, watching as she avoided the glances, her face glowing with that same quiet grace he was falling in love with. But beneath it, he could still see the shadow of discomfort, and that was something he couldn’t tolerate.

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