Roman was bright, generous, funny and warm and attentive and steady. Roman made her feel wanted in a way she hadn’t realized she needed until she had it.
But he was also…Roman Matteo—an NFL player. A man with a schedule that had other people’s signatures on it. He had a career that didn’t pause for “venue walkthrough that ran long.” He lived a life where time was money and performance was everything, and there were always other people lined up.
It had been easy to forget that this summer, in this “off-season,” as he so casually called it.
But life was about to start up again and it would be “theseason” and that mattered. A lot.
“Roman,” she said carefully, “we haven’t known each other that long.”
His nodded, as if he’d expected her to say that and had been holding himself back from saying it first.
“And you’re asking a lot of me,” she continued, voice tight. “Not because you mean to. Not because you’re trying to…control anything. But because what you’re offering is big. It’s like…a whole life. A whole—” She stopped, because the word sitting between them was enormous and ridiculous and terrifying.
Commitment.
“I am asking a lot,” he agreed quietly. “And I know that. I know I’m…coming in hot.” His gaze held hers. “But that’s because when I’m with you, it feels right. I don’t want to pretend to be cool about it.”
Lacey felt tears prick, sudden and unwanted.
“I’m not cool about it,” she whispered.
He smiled faintly at that, but then his expression sobered again.
“I’m not proposing,” he said quickly, almost like he had to make sure she knew that. “I’m not saying forever like it’s a ring. I’m not trying to scare you.”
“You are scaring me,” Lacey said, half-laughing through the tightness in her throat.
Roman leaned back, letting out a breath. “Okay. Fair.”
He rubbed a hand over his face, then looked at her with honest frustration—not at her, but at the situation.
“I just…” He hesitated. “I think about how fun it could be. You in Jacksonville. Not just visiting. Not just squeezing in between weekends and events and games. Like—living. Doing normal stuff. Grocery shopping. Cooking terrible meals together. You making me watch some reality show and going to Home Depot to buy something mundane and domestic.”
Lacey’s lips trembled into a smile in spite of herself. “You’d be mobbed in Home Depot.”
He choked a laugh. “You severely overestimate my importance to the team. Another reason you should live with me in Jacksonville—to disabuse you of this notion that I’m famous or popular. Second-string all the way, baby. Tradeable, too.”
She winced at that.
“Hey, it’s a package deal of my reality.”
Lacey’s heart squeezed because she wanted the whole package with him, but at what price?
Yes, his career was big and rare. Being Tessa’s right hand wasn’t the same as being a second-string receiver for an NFL team. But, still. It was her life, and she’d just started building it.
“I’m not saying you need to move tomorrow,” he said. “Or even this month. I’m asking…can you imagine it?”
“I can,” Lacey said quickly. “That’s the problem. I can imagine it. And it’s…beautiful.”
“Then why do you look like you’re about to cry?”
“Because I don’t know what happens tomein that version,” she said, the truth spilling out before she could polish it. “I don’t know who I am in Jacksonville. I don’t know where my life fits. I don’t know if I become…a girlfriend waiting around for your schedule, lost in the background.”
Roman’s eyebrows lifted, and he looked genuinely pained by the thought.
“No,” he said firmly. “No. Lace, I don’t want you to be lost.”
She stared at him.
