“I’ll handle arrangements to deliver something else. Or I turn it into a shorter road trip and you can come with me after your season is over.”
I’m gripping her hips too tightly.
I don’t want to have phone sex.
I want to have sex-sex. I want to take her out to dinner at all of my favorite places in London. I want to give her a proper British tea at the palace gardens. I want to tour all the tourist traps I never went to while I lived here because I always said I’d get to them next year, and I want to do them with her.
Yes, fine, that requires leaving her bed.
Shut up.
“I quit the team,” I say quietly. “There was no question that I quit the team.”
“I happen to know a guy who tells me that the coach hasn’t accepted your resignation because your team wouldn’t let him. They know you’re here. They know why. And they’re keeping your spot for you.”
I let go of her hips to press my palms into my eye sockets.
She rubs her hands over my chest. “They want you there, Fletcher. It’s two months, and then I’m home. We can do this.”
“I don’t want to be away from you.”
She snuggles into me. “I don’t want to be away from you either, but I know how much rugby means to you. How much it’salwaysmeant to you. You still have some years left if you want them. I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t support you finishing out your dreams the same way you’re supporting mine.”
I swallow.
Swallow again and wrap my arms around her bare back. “How many days?”
“Until I’m home?”
“Until I can’t—until I can’t go back.”
She squeezes me tight. “I wasn’t given a number, but I’m sure they’d understand if you needed a few days to fully deal with your personal family emergency. And Sweet Pea would miss you terribly if you were gone for a full two months.”
My heart hiccups. “That’s low.”
“I’m bloodthirsty when I’m right.”
“Will you—will you think less of me if I don’t go back? If I stay with you instead?”
“Fletcher. No. Absolutely not.” She straightens and presses a kiss to my cheek. “But I want you to be sure that you’re done—no question, no doubts, no regrets when you look back in ten years—if you stay. You are absolutely everything that’s been missing in my life, and your happiness matters more to me than nearly anything else ever could. Whatever you decide, whatever you do—I’m behind you. Okay?”
I tug her closer again and nod into her hair. “Okay.”
“And you can take a couple days to think about it,” she adds.
“Can we stay naked while I think?”
She laughs. “Yes.”
She’s humoring me.
She has work to do that requires her getting out of bed and putting on clothes, and I won’t keep her from it. That’s why she’s here.
I love that other people recognize how amazing she is.
But there’s my answer, isn’t it?
She’s here making a difference, and she can’t be with me twenty-four seven. She has commitments.
