CHAPTER THIRTY
Noah
I am so in over my head. I don’t know what to do with an incredibly attractive man grinning at me from the pillow we now share. My heart is going to explode at any moment.
But at least, yesterday wasn’t a dream. Not from the way Finn is gazing at me with fondness when I wake up, and not from the fact I’m still sleeping beside him, even though my parents already left yesterday for New Hampshire, and there’s absolutely no reason to share a room.
Except this.
Except for the feel of Finn beside me. Except for the way our bodies tangle together, and the happy look in his eyes.
“Ready to beat New York?” Finn murmurs.
Then all the memories of last time I went to the arena burst through the pleasant cloud I’ve been ensconced in during the last twenty-four hours.
Finn kisses my forehead, and I sink into the memory foam mattress, as he shifts position. I know I’m supposed to say “hell, yeah,” or “totally” or “New York is toast”—but instead my heart scampers.
Because I don’t know how long Coach Holberg will keep me.
“I need to play better,” I say.
Finn’s expression sobers. “You’re a great player, Noah. You wouldn’t have been called up if you weren’t.”
“There are other people ready to take my place.”
Finn is silent.
I suppose I should be grateful he’s not lying to me, but his acknowledgement does nothing to calm my heart and keep it from striking against my ribs.
Because all of this is perfect, but it can be taken away with a conversation from Coach Holberg and Tanaka.
“Have any interviews been released?” I ask.
“I try to stay away from social media.”
I give Finn a hard glance, and he has the good sense to blush. “The pride articles were the most effusive.”
“And the others?”
“They were okay. A bit bewildered. I-I wouldn’t bother reading them. Who cares about social media?” Finn’s laugh has never sounded so fake, and I stare.
“You do. You’re an influencer.” I scramble for my phone, my fingers shaking.
Sport Sphere Network does not think I am worthy of dating Finn.
“We fooled them about the marriage.” Finn slinks his arm around my waist and nibbles on the space below my ear.
I stiffen. His words roar in my head. I’ve managed to fool myself.
Maybe Coach Holberg will send me back to Providence.
Maybe that will be the end of everything.
The perfect excuse from an earlier than planned divorce. Finn can put out a statement about how saddened he is to announce our separation, then put out another one about our divorce, stating that long distance, that one hour train ride, and the media attention proved too strenuous.
And everyone would understand.
Everyone would be sympathetic.
