Kai choked on a laugh behind me.
“Just do me a favor and don’t get arrested before Mom comes to visit next week, okay? I really don’t know how I’d explain that to her.” I paused, then snorted involuntarily. “You know what? I take it back. I absolutely know how to explain that to her.”
“Don’t worry, darling. They aren’t going to arrest a sweet old lady.”
“Let me know when you find one of those, will ya?” I quipped.
Kai snorted and Gran shot me a pointed look.
She pointed at me. “You’re going to miss me when I’m gone, darling.”
“Yeah, I will.” I huffed out a laugh. No matter how much she drove me mad, I couldn’t imagine life without her.
We finally left them at their driveway, where Gran was already plotting ways to modify the scooter for “better torque” and had declared it was now “wine o’clock.”
“If she keeps going like this, she might actually outlive us,” I mused, shaking my head in disbelief.
Kai
The door shut behind us with a soft click. For a moment, I stood and watched her.
I took in the rise and fall of her chest, the sun glowing in her hair, and the faint smile still gracing her lips, despite her attempts to hide it with an exasperated groan.
Christ, she was beautiful.
Not just in the obvious way, but in the way she lived so unapologetically — terrified and brave all at once.
There had been a time when rugby was the only steady thing in my life, a time when I held onto it so tightly my knuckles went white.
I still loved the game. I loved pulling on the Gold Coast Rip Tide jersey and hearing the crowd swell when I broke the line. The American football drills that had once seemed tedious — acceleration off the mark, blocking mechanics in tight contact and split-second reads — now gave me an edge.
But now steadiness looked different.
It looked like a small house near the coast.
Like dark hair streaked with red spread across my pillow.
Like walking into my parents’ kitchen withherhand in mine and realizing I’d brought home the one person I never wanted to leave behind.
The true miracle was getting to bring this girl home — my girl — and watching my mum fall in love with her within about three seconds. It was her letting me prove not everyone walks away. Letting me prove I’d stay. Letting me prove Iwantedto.
I still loved the game, and always would, but I didn't need it the way I used to.
I had somethingbetterto come home to.
Tori leaned back against the kitchen island, arms crossed, with the kind of challenging spark in her eyes that always undid me.
“You need to stop looking at me like that.” I blew out a harsh breath, stepped between her knees and braced my palms on the counter behind her.
“Aww, is someone needy?” she drawled, hooking a finger into the waistband of my shorts like she owned the place, like she owned me. “You’ll have to catch me first, Pretty Boy. There's no reward without a little effort first.”
In an instant, the adrenaline from practice, the chaos left over from Janet’s rampage on the street and the chaos of my day all melted away. All that remained was her, looking at me as if I were hers to ruin.
My breath whooshed out of my lungs in a rush in a single, low sound. “Oh, you really want to play, huh?”
Tori’s full lips quirked into a slow, wicked smile as she walked her fingers up my torso, the muscles tensing under her touch.
“And you’re dying for me to scratch your back open again, aren’t you?”
