“Yes, exactly.” His head tilted, and then his lips grazed my cheek, barely missing the corner of my mouth. “Clean slate. Just you and me, start fresh. We deal with Hunter, then decide on us.”
“No.” The word startled him because he jumped, but it also startled me because I hadn’t expected to say it. But I meant it. “Vanya, I don’t want to wait to decide on us. I like you, okay? So this—us—whatever it is, we’re good. We can deal with Hunterandfigure out what we want to be. Okay?”
“I can kiss you?” he asked, his voice all but trembling. “I really want to kiss you. Micah, please?—”
The sound of him nearly begging was too much. I grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pressed my lips to his—half-desperate, half-needy. His tongue pushed into my mouth, tasting me, and he groaned loudly as he backed me up until I hit the wall.
“We’ll finish this later,” he gasped after a short forever. “First sleep, then I make you so happy. Okay?”
I wrapped my arms tightly around him and held him against me. “I’m going to make you happy too. I want to be clear about that. I’m done running. I want this. I want you.”
He kissed me again, then let go but only far enough to guide me to the bed. And as I peeled off my shoes and jeans and crawled beneath the sheets, I knew I would sleep soundly so long as I was safe in his arms.
I woke up confused, face down in a pillow, surrounded by unfamiliar smells and sounds. For a moment, I had no idea where I was. I had no idea how long I’d slept. But the memory of Vanya showing up at Caleb’s came back in small fits and little bursts until I remembered that I was in a hotel.
Vanya’s hotel.
Or was it ours?
He’d kissed me silly, then put me to bed, wrapped around me, and then…
My hand darted out to the side and came into contact with a sizable, bare, hairy thigh. A moment later, Vanya chuckled. “Good morning, sunshine.”
“Is it morning?” I pushed up on my arms and scrubbed at my face. My eyes tended to leak a lot while I slept, so my lashes were nasty and crusted.
It was a wonder Vanya had seen that more than once and still wanted to fuck me.
“No. Is late afternoon. Maybe evening? I thought you might sleep all night.”
My stomach chose that moment to give an almost violent rumble, which made Vanya burst into laughter. My face heated as I rolled onto my back.
“Shut up. I haven’t eaten much in days.”
Vanya’s giggles died off, and then the bed shifted as he rolled toward me. “You’re not taking care of yourself?”
“I was trying. Things were just…” I didn’t have the words. Chaos didn’t really fit. Painful was an understatement. And there wasn’t a way to describe how underwater I felt with the way Hunter had robbed me of every single one of my safe spaces.
“Come,” Vanya said. He gripped my shoulder and rolled me toward him until suddenly I was lying on his front, my nose to his. “You are so pretty.”
“So are you,” I told him, running the tips of my fingers over the short hair on his jawline.
“You make me blush.” He tilted his head and stole a quick kiss. “I have some bad news though.”
My spine stiffened. Was this where he told me his brother couldn’t help? That I was shit out of luck? That I needed to just do a press conference and tell the world that there was a tape out there of me having failed sex and that everything everyone thought about me was a lie?
“I can only take one scratch. I have game tomorrow.”
I sagged against him. “Oh my god, that’s…fuck. That’s not what I thought you were going to say. That’s not a big deal.”
“I don’t want you to be alone,” Vanya insisted, holding me tighter.
“I’ll come to your game. I can hide out in thelocker room or whatever and ride home with you. It’s a home game, right?”
“Yes. We have ten days of home games before four-day roadie.” Vanya pushed his fingers through my hair, the motion so soothing I probably could have fallen back to sleep. “I don’t want to leave again. What if something happens?”
“I promise I will stay safe. Besides, Ben’s not going to let me take more time off than this week. I need to get back out there and prove to Hunter he’s not going to ruin me.”
“Make sure he have a lot of security for you. I can call some guys?—”
