I knew Teddy well enough to be sure he hadn’t gone overboard—he wasn’t that kind of man. But as I told him, Icouldn’t stop myself from reaching up, my fingers trailing over his firm chest, up the curve of his neck, and brushing along his jaw. My thumb made lazy circles against the roughness of his stubbled skin. “Travis threatened me.”
His entire body went rigid, and I tightened my grip on his hip, my nails digging into his skin to hold him in place. “He said he knew about us and that he’d expose the truth, ruining my career, unless I agreed to marry him.” I gently pulled his chin to tilt his face down, forcing our eyes to meet. “I’m not doing it, Teddy. I couldn’t. I?—”
His lips crashed against mine, silencing me.
“Thank fuck,” he groaned, his hands sliding under my hips to lift me effortlessly onto the counter. One of the wineglasses toppled, shattering on the floor, but we didn’t break apart. “I thought… I thought he knew something I didn’t. That you’d go back to him.”
I cupped his cheek, brushing my lips across his, then his forehead. “Shhh, no. That’s not happening.”
“It was never supposed to be like this.”
“Like what?” I asked, but I already knew. Serious. Deep. We were never supposed to fall in love.
He pulled back slightly, searching my face. “I need you to know something.” A sharp breath in. “I… ache for you. Every single moment. I want you in my bed, your voice in my ear. I think about you, about us, with every thought. I couldn’t handle… Just please, don’t end us. Please.”
“I’m not,” I promised, my voice soft but firm. No grand declarations, no “I love you” hanging in the air, but I knew what he meant. Ache. That was the perfect word for it. The pain when he wasn’t near, when I feared we were over. “I don’t think I could give you up, Teddy. Not for anything.”
“Mine.” The word came out in a whisper, but it was more like a vow. His lips brushed my chin then along the pulse in myneck. “This is mine.” His hands slid under my shirt, skimming my skin. “And this. All mine.”
My head tipped back, his touch sending waves of warmth through me. “And you, Teddy Valentine, belong to me.”
Just like that, we lost ourselves in each other right there in my kitchen. And again upstairs. When he fell asleep, his head resting against my chest, his body curled around mine, I thought for a moment that everything was exactly where it should be.
But in the morning, my entire world came crashing down.
CHAPTER THIRTY
TEDDY
A smile curved my lips before I even opened my eyes. I was warm, naked, and so damn content it should have scared me. Soon, I'd have to get up for an early practice, but not yet.
I reached across the bed, finding it empty and cold, as if no one had been there in a while.
Slamming my eyes open, I took in the quiet room. Sunlight poured through the window to my right, casting streaks of light across the hardwood floors. The door to the bathroom was open, but when I stepped through it, she wasn't there.
"Coach?" I called. It was probably a good idea to call her Frankie when we were alone, but damn, how I loved that she was also my coach. In charge of me, everywhere except the bedroom.
Bossy.
Stubborn.
Coach.
I pulled on my discarded pants and ran down the stairs—no shirt and nothing on my feet. Then, I heard voices.
Familiar voices.
Oh. Shit.
I turned to head upstairs, but a deep timbre called me back. "Valentine, that you?"
I closed my eyes. Think, Teddy. How could I escape without Coach Griff seeing me in all my morning-after glory? Oh, this was bad. Like a puck to the throat bad.
Damn it, why hadn't I put on more clothes?
"Get the fuck in here, Teddy." Coach—the other coach—wasn't playing around.
With a sigh, I stepped into the living room and froze. Griff wasn't the only one standing there with Frankie. Remy and Sullivan flanked him. A flush came from the direction of the downstairs bathroom, and then there was another presence behind me, a hand clapping me on the shoulder.
