Page 46 of The Hotshot vs The Reporter

He chuckles and squeezes me tighter. “Ah, so you finally figured out my master plan.”

I roll my eyes, knowing he’s kidding, but I’m not. Not really. I’ve been here before. David had so many excuses about why we needed to hide. “I’m serious. They’ll all have theories.”

“I don’t care about their theories,” he says, burying his face in my hair and then kissing my temple.

The move is so sweet, a single tear escapes my eye and slides down my cheek. I curse myself for being so sensitive, but if he notices, he doesn’t say anything. “Soren, I’ll admit this is happening really damn fast, and I never saw this coming—”

“Exactly.” I sit up so fast, I nearly get dizzy but recover quickly. “It’s so fast. We went from hating each other to fucking to...”—I gesture wildly with my hand—“to what? I don’t know.”

He sits up much slower than I did, then places a hand on my shoulder, letting it slide down my arm to my hand before he takes it in his, our fingers locking. “I never saw it coming, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to fight it or deny that it’s very damn real, no matter how fast it happened. I care about you. Deeply. And this isn’t casual for me.”

“But...” I stare at him and see how serious he is.

“But what?”

“But you’re a fuckboy.”

“Ouch.” He covers his heart with his free hand and feigns hurt. I shove him playfully, and he laughs. “Don’t slut-shame.”

“I’m not,” I say, horrified because I would never, but then he winks at me with a smirk, and I shove him again.

He’s still laughing when he squeezes my hand tightly and looks in my eyes. “I want to date. I want us to be exclusive, and I don’t want to hide you. I watched Axel and Sebastian play that game for far too damn long, and it was ugly.”

I lick my lips nervously, my entire mouth dry. “I...”—am again speechless. “Royal, we’re working on your career.”

“Look, if they don’t like me because I’m with a man, then they’re just plain fucking stupid, and I don’t give a fuck about them. I don’t like them either.” He huffs indignantly, and it makes me smile.

He always makes me smile.

“But you love racing.”

He nods, not arguing. “I do. But it has to love me too. I’m exhausted, trying to be what they all want me to be. I just want to race.”

“Maybe we can keep it a secret for a little while. Not because you’re not ready to tell the world you’re with a man, but because we’re not ready to tell the world we’re together. We don’t really know what this is, Royal.” He starts to argue, but I place my hand over his mouth to stop him and lean into his strong body. “I know you’re all-in. I’m starting to learn when you like something, you just lean into it, but it’s okay to take some time.”

And while it makes me nervous, I know it’s the right move.

With David, it was always him who hid us. He had his reasons, and I didn’t want to push him out of the closet. But after years of hiding, part of my soul was lost forever to the experience.

Every time he’d go to an event alone—or worse, with a female date—I’d have to watch from afar or from my phone through pictures. Every time I had dinner alone because he didn’t want to be seen with me out in public, even if we could have presented it as friends and nothing more. Every single time I woke up alone in a hotel room after he snuck out in the middle of the night.

It all haunts me.

But this feels different.

“How much time?” he asks, which only proves my point. He doesn’t want to hide me away.

“I don’t know.” I lean in and kiss him softly, letting one hand rest over his beating heart. “Not long.” My voice is shaky. “I can’t handle it for very long.”

“I’ll shout it from the rooftops right fucking now, if you’ll let me,” he says, and when I pull back and look into his eyes, I see how completely serious he is about that.

“Just a little while.” I need to find a way to not fall so damn fast for him.

“Okay.” He pulls me into him and kisses my temple. “Just a little while because as far as I’m concerned, you’re mine for as long as you’ll have me, and I really want everyone to know that. Especially dumb waiters with their stupid dumb faces.”

That has me cackling, and I tackle him onto the bed and shower him with kisses because jealous Royal is just too damn cute.

And I know, without a doubt, falling for him any slower is completely and totally impossible.

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