Tenny’s shoulders rise and fall with a largely drawn breath, water shifting between us as he exhales.
“Are you sure? Everything is a lot.”
My full smile lifts my cheeks as I lean forward to press a quick kiss to his lips. “I like a lot.”
He shakes his head again, sending droplets flying.
My hand finds his cheek, my thumb pushing a rivulet of water away from his eyebrow. “I like you, Tenny. Your chaos, your joy.” My hand slides down to flatten against his chest. “Your tender heart.”
He freezes for several seconds, muscles rigid. “I can be too much. People have even said I have firehose energy.”
My brow furrows. “You’re not ‘too much.’”
When Tenny looks unconvinced, I try another approach. “And so what if you have firehose energy? High-pressure water makes good waves, and I know you’ve never seen it, but I’m quite good at riding waves.”
“You’re not just good; you’re incredible.” The quick way he tucks his bottom lip between his teeth after his admission makes me smile.
“Did you look me up?”
“Maybe,” he says, sliding his gaze to the side.
The light weaving through my ribs is impossibly bright.
“Tenny.”
“I might have watched a video…or twenty,” he tells me, still not looking at me.
I frame his face again, settling my thumb over the corner of his jaw to bring his focus back to me. “I listen to a recording of your laugh when I’m stressed over a deadline. There’s something about it that soothes the tightness around my spine.”
A shuddered puff of breath leaves Tenny’s lips before he blinks at me for several seconds.
I’m unable to hide my grin. There’s something incredibly empowering about being able to reduce this strong, successful, chatterbox of a man to stunned silence.
There’s a tight twist just beneath my heart when his eyes trace my features like he can’t believe I’m real.
My fingers slip into his wet hair. “I really like you, Tenny. Exactly as you are.”
As Tenny bands his free arm around me, I tighten my hold on his waist, interlocking my ankles at the small of his back. I pour everything into my next kiss, trying to convince him my words are true.
A thought flickers to life in the back of my mind like a spark illuminating a dark room. Maybe while helping him with his superstitions, I can show Tenny that he’s perfect the way he is.
Tenny has loads of confidence on the field. I’m always interviewing him because hetruly isone of baseball’s best players. But knowing that there’s this tender underlayer to him makes my chest contort. I want everything for him—success on thefield, incredible friendships, a life filled with the kind of joy he gives others.
I want to be the one there for him at the end of a bad game—and not just for a sound bite. I want to press my thumb to the divot that forms between his brows and then distract him with kisses. My mind wanders into a daydream about all the ways I could show up for Tenny when an annoyed voice shouts his name.
My stomach drops when I realize the person calling for Tenny isunmistakenlyfemale.
Chapter 31
Alex
Iwiggle out of Tenny’s strong hold just as the voice complains loudly about our discarded wetsuit hoods. It’s then that I realize this isn’t my worst fear—being vulnerable only to learn that I’m one of many. The irritated voice clearly belongs to Tenny’s sister, Arizona.
“She must have gotten home from her mid-morning classes while we were in the surf,” he murmurs.
“Get out of the shower, you goon. Didn’t you hear me calling?”
The shower stall door flings open just as my feet touch the ground, but Tenny’s arms are still twined around my back.
