Page 65 of Fever Dream
“How did I lose here?” I rasp, rifling back through the fragmented parts of my mind, bits and pieces still floating in a post-orgasmic haze.
“You didn’t lose,” he replies, stretching his long, naked body alongside mine. “But we did both win.”
“And I suppose you’ll go and say that’s fair,” I huff. “Equals and partnership and all that fluff.”
“It’s perfectly fair,” he says, smoothing back my hair again and pressing a kiss to my forehead. He’s so sweet and gentle. How was he ever so cruel to me? “This way, you get to run out on the field and dominate the game week after week. And I get to keep my job.”
“Ah, fine,” I grimace, revelling in the slide of his fingers through my hair. I try not to purr. “I suppose you make a point.”
“I make an exceptional point.”
“And you’re going to hold me to that promise?” I press. “Even though it was extracted in a moment of supreme weakness.”
“You bet your bottom dollar, baby,” he grins, placing another soft kiss on my forehead. Damn, why does he have to be so sweet? It’s like he wants me to both love him and hate him all at the same time.
“Nobody warned me about your witchcraft, Harrison Thornfield,” I sulk, pleased when his mouth hitches up at the side.
“I’d say we’re about even then,” he smiles, nothing but softness in those eyes.
“Even?”
“Yes. Even. Because nobody warned me what I would be getting myself into when I packed up my life and flew out to Australia. Nobody warned me about Casey Calloway.”
“Well I suppose we all really wanted you to come anyway,” I return, biting on my bottom lip.
He leans down, biting me softly there too. It stings. I love it. I think I love everything he does to me.
“I would have still come. In a heartbeat,” he says. And I just whimper, tipping my head back on the pillow and wondering how this became my life. How I was suddenly sharing my life and my bedroom with a guy. And not just any guy, but gorgeous, classy, intelligent and oh-so-sexy Harrison Thornfield.
Talk about winning the jackpot.
CHAPTER 24
harrison
The Fever fly out to Perth on Thursday. This is all well and good but not one person thought to inform me that flying from Sydney on the east coast of Australia to Perth on the west coast takes five freaking hours. That’s basically an international flight but I’m still in mainland Australia and still cramped in a basic economy seat.
Casey is loving life up in business class with the head coaches and some select players which the club paid upgrades for. Which is great for him. Perth is two hours behind Sydney, so I feel like I’ve stepped into another country when we finally disembark in the west, tired and slightly jetlagged.
Perth is one of the most isolated cities in the world and it kind of has that frontier feel as I soak in the warm, late afternoon skies. Apparently, it takes four days to drive to the closest city of Adelaide, seven if you do it right, and I am finding it impossible to wrap my head around the vastness of this continent.
It also explains why we flew out two days before the Fever’s Saturday twilight game against Perth Storm. After a light mobility and yoga session at the hotel Coach gives the team andsupport staff the rest of Thursday off. Casey’s eyes immediately zone in on me.
He ignores Sonny and Izak as he beelines my way. I get the impression my boy maybe wants me to take him out, enjoy a little time on our own in a different city.
“Want to get out of here?” he asks, voice low in my ear.
“Just us?” I ask, double checking in case he meant to bring his friends.
“Just us, Harrison,” he replies, eyes hinting at that possessive nature I’ve come to like. Plus he used my full name so I know he means business.
I don’t wait for him to change his mind or for anyone else to claim his attention. We head straight to the circular driveway and into a waiting taxi. Casey’s been to Perth before so he names a popular restaurant strip and the taxi zips away.
Casey’s relaxed here but it’s in a different way to how he is back home. And it’s kind of amusing because people recognise him way more when we’re on road trips to the AFL states than they do back in Sydney.
He doesn’t seem to mind it though, the positive attention from fans, but I do wonder what our life would be like if we lived anywhere else. Whether we’d ever have the space to breathe and figure out what this is between us without the ever-present worry of interested eyes on us. There is a level of anonymity for the Fever players in Sydney, and I think even my Casey, lover of the limelight that he is, enjoys that.
We find a restaurant we like the look of—a mix of south Asian street foods that has a cool vibe. We sit opposite each other and I’m only vaguely aware of the stares our table attracts, all my attention for the beautiful man across from me. His smiles are sweet and vibrant, and he laughs freely. I think I want to keep him forever.
