Halfheartedly, I step away, but fingers ghost over my wrist.
“Please.” His voice is barely above a whisper, even though we’re alone. “It’s been too long since I’ve been this close to you. Stay.”
There’s no way I can move after that, so I don’t. I return to the spot that feels made for me, and he does exactly what I need. Strong arms wrap around my waist before a hand covers my belly, his face buried deep in my neck.
I need this too, so I sink into his warmth.
The ding is intrusive when it happens, and my eyes find the bright red one and seven. Letting me go, he murmurs a quiet thank you.
My heels sink into plush maroon carpet as we make our way to my room at the end of the hall. The silence is loud, charged with words I’m scared to speak and words I’m even more afraid to hear.
“A penny for your thoughts?” he finally asks.
Telling him about the turmoil in my head and heart would be too much, so I pick a topic that’s always safe between us. Work.
“I think I may have a chance with Simon Godfrey. I would need to ask for another exception, but I think it’s possible.”
“You’re so good at your job, Shay.” Cade grins like it’s the best news he’s heard all day, but his tone grows cold as we pass the ice machine. “I noticed how weirdly Trevor treated you at that first meeting. I hated sitting there and watching him glare at you. You’re the best agent there.”
I almost nudge his arm but decide against it. “You don’t mean that.”
“I absolutely do. I have no idea where I’d be without you.” Sincerity coats his words. “Jon always said I’d be lost and a nobody without him, and I believed him. I believed a lot of things he said.”
Rage boils inside me. Every piece of information I learn about Jon gets filed away in my mental evidence box.
I slow my pace. “You’d still be here without me because your hard work got you here, Cade. Nothing else.”
“No,” he argues, shaking his head. “I was, am still, a mess. Confused too, but you’ve kept me afloat for the last two months.” A chuckle leaves his lips. “You should have seen my face when I saw your name at Permian. It was like seeing a ghost, but I had no doubts about choosing you. Regardless of our history, I knew you’d be the best agent for me.”
I freeze because we’ve made it to my door, but mostly because I’m stunned. Cade being open and honest is still so new. Every day, I wake up and wait for the moment he decides to shut me out again.
I’m starting to wonder if that’ll never come.
“You’re the best thing to happen to me, Shay. And I’m an idiot for ever making you feel like you weren’t the most important thing to exist.”
My keycard clatters to the ground with a muted thump, but that could also be my heart trying to burst out of my chest. He can’t say these words out loud. Everything will get complicated.
Morecomplicated.
“Cade. Don’t.”
“I have to,” he says, bending down to pick up my room key. “Screw the win and the biggest game of my career. All I want is to end my night kissing you.” Leaning in, his voice drops dangerously low. “Can I please kiss you, baby?”
The professional answer gets stuck in my throat. Kissing Cade doesn’t just break a rule. It shatters the rule, obliterating the control I have over this situation. There’s no loophole that can make this okay for even a second. But there’s a nagging reminder in the back of my head, screaming that it has been too long since I kissed him. Two years ago, he was drafted to the California Hornets, and I kissed him goodbye to chase his dreams. If I don’t do it tonight, I’m not sure I ever will again.
Fuck it.
“Once to get it out of our system and never again?” I ask.
After a beat, he chuckles. “I swear I’ll try my best.”
An arm wraps around my waist and pulls me against him in one swift movement. It’s me and Cade, hiding in the corner at a fancy hotel in Atlanta, and I know it’ll never be like this again.
I’m already dreading the moment it will end.
My back hits the door, and the lock beeps when he presses the key to the scanner. Navigating us inside, I’m equal parts relieved and saddened when he enters the room only enough to close the door behind us.
“What are the odds this ruins everything?” I ask as the door clicks.
