“Now it’s your turn. Tell me something I don’t know about you.”
He works his thumbs down either side of my spine, then out, tracing along the bottom of my shoulder blades. “I get lonely in the offseason.”
I try to twist around, but he stops me.
“Just listen and let me keep rubbing you.” His hands slide down to the small of my back again, then scoop up, under my shirt this time. Taking it off me. “For a long time, I thought that was my price to pay. Sinclaire was away at school, the team goes starburst in all different directions… There are people who work at the stadium year-round, of course, but… It’s expected that I take some time off, although I am available. And I always felt relief when they needed me to come in or take a call. But something changed last year. Maybe the year before, I can’t remember. But for a while now, before you came to work for us, I’ve felt like it was almost time to be more selfish with my time. To try to find someone special again. To want to be worthy of someone special. I’ve never told anyone that. Not Sinclaire, not anyone I work with. Definitely not Trick. Fuck, he’d never let me live that down after the way I stomped all over their feelings.”
He undoes my bra, then curls himself around me, wrapping his arms around my bare torso as he kisses my shoulder. My neck. A spot behind my ear that makes me roll my head to give him better access.
But he just presses his face there and goes still.
“I want to share the next offseason with you. I want to give you all of my time now. I want to be so fucking annoying, you make me go back to work?—”
“Never, unless you want to.” I take a deep breath. “Do you mind if I keep working?”
“What? No, of course not. It would be funny if I retire and just become Molly Rosehill’s husband, that guy who once coached the team.”
I’m laughing now, even though hearing him casually give me his last name is doing funny things to my heart. “I didn’t mean I’d keep working for the team.”
“Okay. Then wherever you go.”
“What kinds of jobs are there in Wildflower Hollow?”
“Damn it, now you’re going to make me do my best Wyoming Tourism Board impression, aren’t you?” He chuckles along with me. “I bet the feed store would really like your marketing acumen. Or there’s a roadhouse on the edge of town thatprobably could use some help with their social media. There might be a diner? To be honest, I’m not sure. But whoever gets a chance will be lucky to have you.”
“I like small towns,” I say.
“It’s generous to call it a town,” he cautions.
I’m not deterred. “I like the country.”
“I think it’s winter six months of the year.”
Now he’s just teasing, and I can tease back. “I like winter.”
“You’re probably really fucking cute in a parka.” He cups my breasts finally, making me arch into his touch. “And out of one.”
Which reminds me… I slither off the bed, grabbing my bra and my shirt. “Hold that thought. I really do have something to wear tonight.”
“I really don’t care what you wear,” he says, his voice carrying after me as I duck into the closet. It’s practically a dressing room, really.
I strip down, then change, and take a long, deep breath as I smooth my hands over my hair, then my hips.
“If you’re nervous, we don’t need to do anything,” he adds when I don’t reply. “As you say, it’s been a day.”
CHAPTER 21
JEFF
Ah, fuck. She’s nervous.
I’m thinking of getting off the bed and putting on something more than just boxer briefs, because Molly is clearly freaked out about Sinclaire and Trick being down the hall, when she steps into view.
And boy, did I read her silence wrong.
She’s naked.
Well, notnaked. She’s wearing a black lace something that skims around her body, a wrapper of sorts, although it’s completely open in the front, so I get to see every inch of her lush curves.
