“I am.” I’m exhausted, actually. I didn’t realize how much until just now. I tilt my head and take him in. “What are you doing here?” I gasp. “You’ll get fined for missing practice tomorrow! You can’t stay!”
“Relax.” He puts his arm around my shoulders and guides me inside my building. “I talked to my coach. It’s all good. I’ll be back in time for practice. I never changed out of my travel suit from the game earlier today. I just went straight to the airport.”
“You weren’t at the airport?”
He runs his hand across his jaw. “I was at the airport. Then, Liam and I started for home. We were almost there, but we were talking…about you, and…”
My heart comes up into my throat. “You were talking about me?”
“Yeah. Liam helped me realize what an idiot I was in letting you go.”
I freeze in the middle of my apartment lobby. “He did?”
“He did. I…” Hunter shoves his hands into his pockets and tilts his chin toward the elevators. “Can we maybe go up to your apartment and talk?”
“Oh.” God, I’m so flustered. “Yes. Of course. Let’s go.”
We head into a waiting elevator car, and I press the button for the nineteenth floor.
“Winter.” Hunter’s eyes hold mine. “Here’s the thing: I love you.”
I stare at him. “You do?”
He nods, his serious gaze holding mine. “I’ve loved you for a while. I just didn’t want to hold you back, and I didn’t want to fuck up what we had, and…well, I was a coward. I should have told you before. I love you so much, Win.”
A love declaration in an elevator. I don’t think I ever pictured this moment with Hunter. I never allowed myself to. But the truth is that I think I’ve always loved him.
I reach for his suit jacket and pull him closer. “I love you, too, Hunt. Honestly, I loved you when we were teenagers. I didn’t let my heart speak too much on the matter, but you were always it for me.”
His eyes darken as he swallows hard. “You’ve always, always been the only woman for me, Winter Allen. Nothing has ever changed that.” He puts his hands on my hips and tugs me closer to him. “I want to make this work. Long-distance. We’re not kids anymore. We can do this.”
“We can,” I agree. “But we don’t have to.”
He furrows his brow as the elevator comes to a stop and the doors open. As we step out and head down the hall toward my apartment, he says, “I don’t get it.”
“I’m coming home,” I tell him. “To New Orleans.”
His brow creases with concern. “But the show—it’s your dream.”
“Itwasmy dream,” I correct him. “I have bigger dreams now. Like being happy.”
I unlock my door, and we step inside.
“Are you sure?” he asks me. “It’s a lot to give up.”
“I’m going to stay through the limited run of this show,” I say. “Because I owe my younger self that closure. But then, I’m packing up and leaving Broadway for good. It’s what my soul needs. You were right—my musical is my passion. I want to write my own roles and songs from now on. And I don’t want to do that living in a city where I have no ties and where I feel like I have to join the race or I’ll be run over. I want to slow down and actually enjoy life again.”
“I’m happy for you,” he says, his green eyes lighting up. He picks me up and swings me around. “You’ll kick ass at whatever you do.”
I wrap my legs around his waist. “I’ve missed you so much. I’ve tried to keep up with your games but it’s been hard. I know you’re still a scoring machine, though.”
He brushes his lips against mine. “True.”
“What about living alone?” I ask him. “Has that been hard?”
“You know what?” He kisses me lightly. “You said I helped you to heal. You did the same for me. I don’t have a housemate right now. And I’ve been okay. Other than how much I want you back home with me. But no nightmares or scoring slumps.”
“I think it’s because you got closure when the killer was caught,” I say. “I’d love to say it was because of me, but I don’t think that’s the truth.”
