Page 110 of Fair Play
“Come here, beautiful.”
“Remember that night when you got hurt?” I ask, shaking out my hair and tossing the towel before crawling over the bed toward him.
“I’ll never forget it. That was the first time you sucked me.”
“I couldn’t believe we were finally alone. It felt like there was never to be an opportunity for me to tell you I liked you.”
“I couldn’t believe the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever met wanted to suck my dick.”
I nestle into his chest and slide my legs between his. “Always. You know that’s my favorite thing.”
“I am the luckiest man on earth.”
For a few minutes there doesn’t seem to be anything to say.
But there is.
We have to talk about the elephant in the room.
“Are you getting traded?” I ask, bracing myself.
“I don’t know, babe. There are no trades until our season is over, and then this summer is the expansion draft.”
“They won’t protect you.”
It’s not a question because that’s basically a given. Even I know they’re going to protect superstars and the guys with no-trade clauses in their contracts.
“No.”
“Ugh. Atlanta. It’s sohumid.”
“They’re not taking me,” he says quietly. “Of all the things for us to worry about, that’s not it.”
“Has your agent been putting out feelers?” Bodi has never been in demand like that, but I know the basics of how the process works.
“I told him not to,” he says after a slight hesitation.
Confusion washes over me. I know he wants to play one more year.
Heneedsto play one more year, to pay off his ex and his cabin.
“Why?” I ask softly.
“Because it would mean being away from you. And I don’t want to. Not after the last couple of weeks. I couldn’t stand being apart.”
“We could survive the long-distance thing for nine months,” I whisper. “You need to pay off Denise and?—”
“That’s done.”
“It is?” I lift my head, even more confused than before. “How?”
“I sold my cabin.”
“You sold…” I can’t wrap my head around what he’s saying. “But why would you do that?”
“Because now that I have you, I don’t need a safety net. And that’s all it was. You’re way more important than a place to live. You’re more important than anything, baby. So Denise is paid off and the money that’s left will buy us a franchise of the diner, so we can live anywhere you want.” He pauses. “Even here, if this is where you want to be.”
“Rome.” There’s a roaring in my ears, the kind that means I’m overwhelmed with surprise and gratitude and… love. A kind of love I never imagined.
