Page 68 of Anatomy of a Player

“Have you ever had a girlfriend? Like, you know what it means?” Despite my need to dig for information, I’d usually held back on this talk with guys, but this time I didn’t want to make the same mistake. I wanted crystal clear, no more sitting at home wondering if I had a boyfriend.

“I’m going to try to ignore that incredulous tone—”

“And I’m going to pretend you using the word ‘incredulous’ didn’t just turn me on.”

His hand tightened on my thigh. “See. This is why I want to do this. Admittedly, I don’t have a lot of experience in this area. But you’re different from other girls, and I’m different when I’m with you. I’mbetterwhen I’m with you.”

“While we’re putting everything out there, I like ‘baby,’ but I hate it when you call me ‘sweetheart,’ because I know you use it when you can’t remember a girl’s name.”

His expression made it clear I’d surprised him. “Noted. For the record, though, I’d never forget your name. It’s been burned into my mind since the day I met you.”

Just as I was about to shout, “Let’s do this, then,” and fling myself at him, I realized I couldn’t exactly go all in, despite wanting to do just that. “I can’t.”

His face dropped and his hand stilled on my thigh.

“I mean, I want to. And we can be together, but we can’t let people know yet. Because of my job.” Oh, jeez, Lyla was right again. How could I ever write my article if I was in a relationship with Hudson?

Maybe I could buy some time. Follow other leads. Convince Lindsay I’d have a bigger story if she gave me till the end of the semester—by then I’d have tons of ways to spin and amp up the story in a better way, I was sure of it.

I’d have to be careful, though, because if anyone on the paper found out about Hudson and me, Lindsay would totally freak.

Since that line of thinking would ruin the mood, I shoved everything involving my job back to be worried over later. Hudson had just asked me to be his girlfriend, and that was cause for celebration. “So I’m saying yes I want to be with you, and no I won’t date anyone else, and I don’t want you to, but we can’t let people know we’re together until at least the end of the semester, maybe even the end of hockey season. Is that okay?”

“Sure. We can sneak around. But once you let me announce it, I’m going to shout it from the rooftops.”

I threw my arms around his neck and planted a kiss on his lips. I couldn’t wait to announce it. To claim him and let it be known that this hockey player was mine.

“You ready to eat now?” he asked, and I nodded. “Good. Because I’m anxious to get you back to your place and finish what we started the other day.”

I almost teased him that he meant “eager,” not “anxious,” but as I thought about where the night was going to end up, nerves pirouetted across my stomach, and I decided both words fit pretty well.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Hudson

Whitney frowned at her phone. I’d heard the chime and hoped it didn’t mean that our plans were about to be interrupted. After yesterday’s make out session, I’d practically exploded at the thought of waiting until tonight, and I didn’t think I could wait another hour, much less a day.

“Don’t tell me there’s an emergency,” I said.

“It’s not an emergency,per se.”

Whatever the “per se” was, I didn’t trust it. I glanced at her, trying to gauge how much I was going to hate what she said next.

“It’s just work stuff,” she said, her voice quiet. “The tech guy at the newspaper office…I can call him back later.” She put the phone away, but she fidgeted the rest of the drive.

The temperature had dropped several degrees since I’d picked her up, the cool air like a slap to the face, so I wrapped my arm around Whitney’s shoulders and rushed her upstairs to her apartment, trying to keep her and those sexy legs as warm as possible.

As soon as the door closed behind us, I wanted to push her against it and kiss her like I had yesterday—especially since she’d already mentioned we’d have the place to ourselves—but I could tell her thoughts were elsewhere. I thought I could rid her of them fairly quickly, but I’d just promised I’d give everything I had to this relationship.

Holy shit, I’m in a relationship.

Regardless of the fact that I cared about Whitney, and that I didn’t even have words to express how badly I wanted her—every single part of her—panic had initially led the pack of my emotions when she’d asked for more at the restaurant. A hint of it remained, but I’d warned her of my shortcomings, so at least there was that, right?

If only I knew how to do the relationship thing, maybe I could rid myself of the last of the panic and dare to hope that it would actually work out. The last time I’d tried, though, I’d failed miserably, and I didn’t want to do that again, not with Whitney.

I rubbed my hands up and down her arms, wishing I could be more optimistic that we’d figure it out, no matter what life threw at us. Even though I wasn’t there quite yet, I resolved to try harder this time around. “You okay? Need to talk about anything?”

She shook her head. “I’m fine.”

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