I shrugged. “You’re welcome.”
Chris tilted his head. “Can I hire her full-time?”
“No chance,” Jordan said, not missing a beat. “She’s mine.”
I laughed, but something about the way he said it lodged deeper than expected. He’d become really possessive lately, but not in the red flag kind of way. Kind of like he knew the outside world was creeping in again and wanted to keep me close.
He turned back to serve another ball, but for just a second, I caughtsomething flicker across his face. Just brief. Not quite tension, but focus sharpening into something heavier.
I spent the rest of the afternoon watching him, cross-legged on the sideline bench, cap pulled low, sun warming my legs. He was quick. Precise. He pushed himself hard, but the casual ease I’d seen in D.C. wasn’t quite there.
I didn’t say anything. Not yet.
But I tucked it away; the change in his mood, the pressure in the air.
Something was coming. I could feel it.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Jordan
The sun was startingto dip low behind the trees, drenching the park in a soft, golden glow. Everything looked hazier at this time of day. Slowed down, like a scene out of one of those films she loved. The kind with warm light, sweeping music, and a kiss at the end.
Kate walked beside me, hand in mine, her hair twisted up in that messy knot she did when she got too warm. She’d stolen me away after showing up at practice, tearing all my tells apart with that sly smile, and gave a look that made Chris roll his eyes and wave me off early. When it came to her, she could have what she wanted—and apparently today that was me, all to herself before the sun went down.
Her skin was sun-kissed from too many afternoons stretched out on hotel balconies, her laugh low and breathy as she told me about some wild true-crime podcast she’d binged on the flight. Something about a missing brother, a fake identity, maybe a cult. I wasn’t completely following.
Not because I wasn’t listening to the story. I was too caught up listening to her voice. Watching the way the light caught on her cheekbones, the line of her neck, the curve of her smile.
God, she made everything lighter. Easier. Like I could finally exhale after holding my breath for years.
I looked at her; this smart, complicated, beautiful-as-fuck woman, walking next to me inmyhoodie, in a city that didn’t feel like mine until she stepped into it and took root.
This wasn’t just fun anymore, not for me. Wasn’t just sex, or insane chemistry, or even the rush of falling for someone new. It was starting to feel so much deeper, maybe even scarier.
She made me feel safe in a way I’d never known I needed. Like if I had her beside me, I could face anything. The media. The pressure. The loneliness that used to sneak in after dark when the adrenaline wore off.
I didn’t have to beonaround her. Didn’t have to perform. With Kate, I could just be. I gave her hand a gentle squeeze.
“You okay?” I asked. “You’re not finding this all boring?”
She glanced up at me, smiling like she already knew what I was really asking. “It’s perfect.”
We kept walking. Her thumb brushed mine, lazy and sure, and I swear I felt it straight through to my ribs. Every tiny touch from her seemed to light me up in ways that hours on a court never could accomplish.
The thought of her leaving before I arrived in New York pressed in like a weight I couldn’t shake. Too bloody soon. It would be empty without her. We hadn’t spoken about it, not properly. I didn’t have the balls to bring it up yet. Part of me was terrified of the answer to the question that was lodged in my throat.
So I just let myself hope. Quietly, selfishly. Hoped she’d realise on her own that she needed to stay. That maybe, if I played this right, if I kept showing her she wasn’t just some fling, that she was already stitched into my bones, she wouldn’t want to go.
And until then, I’d make damn sure she had a reason to stay.
“I could get used to this,” I said quietly.
She bumped her shoulder into mine. “Don’t go getting all soppy on me now.”
But the words were already building in my chest. Sitting there like a pressure valve about to blow. I’d been holding onto them for too long, afraid if I let them out, everything would change. Afraid they’d land too heavy. Or not enough.
But now, with the gold light catching her lashes and the wind blowing the soft wisps of her hair…I couldn’t hold it in.
