My heart shattered for him, and the ache made me physically sick for him. “Is there anything you can do?” I whispered, scared to even hear his answer.
Derek's chest rose, then fell in a longexhale as I tightened my arms around him. I saw how hard he worked. I saw the pressure he put on himself just to be his best self. He ran, did Pilates, worked out, and spent extra hours on the field. But no matter what work he put in physically, he was a liability because of his mental block. They didn't know whether he could push through the closeness of other people. He did well in practice, but those were his friends; he knew they wouldn't hurt him.
“Not really.” He got his voice under control, and I hated that he thought he needed to hide his pain. “They said it takes time. They see everything I'm doing, but still... they don't think I can deliver. I had a quick call with my therapist just to give it all out too, he said it takes time too.”
“Until they give you a chance, they won't know for sure.”
“Yeah, but you know how it is... every match is key.”
“Surely there is one that won't be important,” I groaned, moving my head to look at him. “You're playing Redwood, they are literally in the bottom three. There's no way they can win. It's a game that should end with 20-0 for us.”
A small smile tugged the corner of his lips. “Yeah, but this is a great opportunity to get even more ahead.”
Anger replaced the pain, and I gritted my teeth. “It isn't fair.”
“Life isn't fair, Thorn.” His fingers slid into my hair and brushed it out of my face. “I love that you leave your hair down when you dance.”
His hand cupped my face, and his thumb stroked my cheeks absently.
My next breath got stuck in my lungs as I melted into his touch. Gosh, I really wanted to kiss him.
Poking my tongue out, I wet my lips and stared at his ocean eyes that looked more like a storm was brewing in them.
“I'm trying really hard to be a gentleman here and give you time and space,” he said, his voice all raspy.
“I don't want any more time and space. I want you.” Iconfessed. “I've been thinking a lot about kissing you, and I'm worried that if I wait any longer, my imagination is going to surpass reality, and I'll be disappointed.”
His hand stilled, and a low laugh escaped him. It was like all the tension and pining from the past months had finally broken him.
“Trust me, Thorn, when I kiss you, it will make you forget all your fantasies, and you won't want to kiss anyone else. Ever.”
I chuckled. “That's a big statement.”
“I've had a lot of practice to know exactly what to do to make you lose your mind.”
My humor died as I remembered his playboy persona from before the injury. I bit into my lips and grimaced.
“You know damn well there wasn't anyone since the injury,” he soothed my crazy thoughts. “I've spent every waking moment besides my recovery training with you. Only you.”
It was great to hear his confession, and my heart did a little happy dance.
“Good, now come, I want to go somewhere, I didn't just drag you here to lie on the dusty floor.”
Derek's lips pulled into a grin. “Where are we going?”
“Stargazing,” I matched his smile as we pulled each other up from the floor, but instead of letting go, Dex held my hand. “There's supposed to be a meteor shower today, and I want to make a wish.”
“Any wishes I can help with?” he wrapped his arms around my middle and whispered in my ear.
A shiver worked its way through my body, and I sank deep into his touch. It was crazy to think how comfortable I got in his arms.
“I'll let you know.”
“Always happy to help,” he winked, letting me go and taking hold of my hand again.
Considering he said he never had a girlfriend, hewas doing the whole boyfriend thing amazingly. Even though we hadn’t labeled what we were, nor had we even kissed, he was acting like a boyfriend. Or at least how I wanted my boyfriend to act.
It was all very confusing as we danced on the line of friendship and relationship, blurring it completely.
