Page 71 of The Assist
I nod. “Of losing everything I worked for. My career. Myreputation. I fought so hard to be taken seriously in this sport, in that room full of men who see me as a physio first and a woman second. If this gets out…”
He reaches for my hand and laces our fingers together. “Then we figure it out.”
I look at him, searching for sarcasm or some kind of dismissal. But there’s none. Just Dylan, raw and real and looking at me like he might fight the world if it means keeping me safe.
“You don’t get it,” I whisper. “This isn’t a fling for me.”
His hand tightens on mine. “It’s not for me either.”
I close my eyes for a second and try to breathe around the tangle in my chest. “I just need time,” I murmur.
“You’ve got it,” he says. No hesitation.
Somehow, hearing that and knowing that he means it, is what undoes me most of all.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
DYLAN
Sleep evades me. I just lie there, in her bed, her bare leg tangled with mine, and her head on my chest like she belongs there. And I watch the ceiling shift from shadows to morning light, my arm aching beneath the weight of the night.
I should feel elated, maybe. Like I finally got the thing I’ve been chasing.
But I don’t. I feel raw and unsteady. Like I’m one wrong move away from messing everything up.
She stirred once in the night, murmured something I couldn’t catch, and then curled closer like I was something warm and safe. And I held her tighter, pretending I could be that. Pretending I wasn’t quietly falling apart under her touch.
Her alarm goes off at half-seven, and she groans against me, muffling her face into my chest before slapping her alarm clock.
I half-smile. “Morning.”
She lifts her head and blinks at me, hair in a mess, and with eyes heavy and hooded. “Hi.”
It’s awkward. But not bad awkward. Justnew, and it hits me all over again. We crossed the line. No going back now, not that I want to but I know her usual M.O. She lets me inand then pulls away, and I’m not sure I can allow that now we’ve had sex. God, this feelings shit is all new to me.
She pulls the sheet tighter around her as she sits up, like modesty means anything after last night. I sit too, scrubbing a hand over my face.
“You working today?”
She shakes her head. “Day off.”
I nod. “Good.”
Because I’m not sure I could handle watching her pretend we didn’t just wreck each other in her bed. Not yet.
“Want me to make coffee?” I offer, trying for casual.
She smiles, soft and sleepy. “Sure. You know where the kitchen is.”
I slip out of bed and find my clothes, feeling her eyes on me as I move. Her gaze isn’t possessive or teasing. Just thoughtful. A little stunned, maybe. Like we’re both still processing what we are now.
And honestly? I’m right there with her.
By the time I’m dressed and two mugs deep into the strongest coffee I could manage, I’ve got my phone out, checking messages from the group chat. Murphy’s already been mouthing off in private voice notes about “Rinkside Romeo.”
I wince.
The idiotdefinitelysaw the kiss last night.
