“Sounds like you’ve learned how to care for yourself.”
“Mostly. The gut-wrenching feeling of disappointing someone isn’t something I’ve been able to handle yet, but I’m working on it.” I rolled my eyes and flashed him a self-conscious smile. “Setting boundaries and all that.”
He absentmindedly played with the ends of my hair. “Thank you for telling me.”
I fought the burn in my eyes. “Thank you for accepting me, for not thinking that being sensitive is a bad thing. Or that it’s notreal.”
“It’s who you are, Brenna. How could it be a bad thing?”
44
NATHAN
Now
Brenna in my lap,her cheeks adorably flushed, was an absolute dream. My strong, sensitive woman.
I eased her off my lap to sit in front of me. Her question about what I was doing cut off as soon as I caged her, one thigh beside each hip, securing her in place. My hand wound itself into her hair, and I savored the silkiness in my fingers.
“I thought we weretalking,” she said.
The teasing smile fell off her face when I was close enough to kiss her. “It’s called a reward for good behavior. It’s motivating.”
“For me? Or you?”
“For both of us,” I murmured before dropping a kiss to one side of her mouth, then the other. She turned her head so the second kiss landed squarely on her lips.
She sighed contentedly, echoing my relief at getting to do this whenever we wanted. We kissed and kissed, sliding lips, teasing tongues, exploring hands, until Brenna hooked her legs around my waist and I pulled back.
I was tempted to forget about the tough questions we needed to discuss, but we only had hours until she left for California. “We haven’t finished our conversation, Bren.”
She pouted. “But what about my reward?”
“What do you think this was?”
“I call that getting started.”
I pressed my lips to her forehead before pushing back to a sitting position. I cleared my throat. There were so many things I wanted to tell her, needed her to know, but in that moment, one flashed like a neon sign in my mind.
“You weren’t there on my draft day, Bren,” I said.
She blinked, immediately working to get herself vertical again. “What?”
“It was both the happiest and saddest day of my life.”
Brenna frowned. “Your dad and I watched together. Both of us wished we were by your side.” Her leg pressed harder into mine, a comfort. “I hated how good you looked.”
“Can we be serious?”
“I mean… I was serious, but I’ll stop.” Brenna saluted me, then inched her way to the other end of the couch. It created a modicum of space between us, enough that we were no longer touching.
“I never want you missing another pivotal moment in my life. And I want to be there for every one of yours. I’m afraid if you leave tomorrow, that’s it for us. We’ll go our separate ways.”
“I don’t want that, Nate.” Her brows furrowed, a dent forming between her eyes. “Are you going back to Texas?”
I sank further into the couch. “I don’t know. My contract ended this past season. My agent’s been working on it. I thought I would hear something by now…” I dragged a hand over my face and took a deep breath. “I should know soon whether I’m getting re-signed. I’ll be off to Arizona for spring training next month if I do. If not… I don’t fucking know.”
Kennedy and Deandra got me an appointment with the Wolves’ doctor for tomorrow, despite the holidays. Brenna didn’t know about it. I didn’t want to worry her or go to her without a plan.
