And I love you, Riley.
“Let’s go celebrate your win.” He threads his fingers through mine, and we walk out together. I can’t stop my smile as I lean my head on Reid’s arm as we walk.
“Life is really good, Reid.”
He wraps his arm around me and pulls me close to his side. “Yeah. It really is, Baby.”
“I know it’s not perfect, but...” I look up at him. “It’s really good.”
He nods. “If there weren’t hard times, the good times wouldn’t be as good, Ry.”
I nod. “Yeah. We’ve had enough hard times; it’s time for some good times.”
He squeezes my hand. “Let the good times roll.”
I can’t stop my grin. As cheesy as they were, I agree wholeheartedly with his words.
Chapter 49
Reid
I slip inside just as the press conference starts. I find a seat in the back row and ignore the journalists that have turned my direction. The best way to deal with them is just to ignore them; eventually, they’ll realize I’m not here to give them anything. I’m here for my girl and my girl alone. I silence my phone and then look up at Riley. She’s absolutely beaming, coming off that amazing game. I test the bond between us and feel her happiness. I can’t help but smile when she sees me in the crowd. Her smile brightens, and it does something to me, knowing I put it there.You got this,I mouth to her; and her smile increases. My gut tightens, and I force myself not to think about getting her all to myself again tonight. My phone vibrates, and I glance down at it. It’s a return text from the realtor our pack works with. A quick skim of the text reveals good news, and I can’t wait to show it to Riley. I’m really hoping she’ll love it as much as I do. If not, we’ll find a different house. But there’s no way we can go back to sharing a house with everybody. We need our own space to be together and to let our wolves run. I pocket my phone just as Riley answers a question. She does an amazing job fielding questions, but I’m anxious for her to be done. It’s been too long since I’ve held her in my arms. There’s definitely a buzz in the room, and I wonder if Riley has any idea what she’s started. The game tonight was well attended, more so than the earlier games in the season. And they’re just going to continue to get more popular. Riley’s starting to draw attention, just as I knew she would. She’s going to change women’s college basketball. It’sstarted, and it’s only going to grow. I walked through the college store before I found my seat tonight. Already, there are more jerseys with her name and number. I stare up at her and wonder if she’s figured it out yet. She’s going to leave her mark here; that’s for sure.
Finally, the press conference ends. I stand and start towards her, but her coach stops her. I stay back, so I don’t interrupt. I can’t hear the conversation over everybody else talking around me. As soon as her coach walks away, I slip in behind her and wrap my arms around her. Her scent settles me, and I take it deep into my lungs. “You good?” She leans against me a moment, and I relish the feel of her. When she turns around to face me, I frown at the tears on her face. “What did she say?” I ask as I wipe a tear away. Anger rises in me at seeing those tears.
“She told me she think’s I’ll have an offer to play professionally after college,” she blurts out. “That’s the WNBA, Reid!”
I chuckle and pull her closer. “I know, Baby.”
“That doesn’t shock you?”
“Nope, not in the least. I always knew you could if you wanted to.”
Later, when we’re in the car, I take her hand in mine, just content to touch her. “So, I have something to show you.”
She looks over at me. “Okay.”
I take a left turn instead of right and start towards the house I’ve been looking at. It doesn’t take long to get there; it’s not far from school. The houses on this road are really spread out. When we get to the one I’ve been looking at, I pull into the driveway and park. “Uh, what are we doing?” Riley asks.
“Come on.” I climb out of the car and walk over to her door and open it for her.
“What are we doing?” She asks again and climbs out of the car. She takes my hand and reluctantly follows me towards thefront porch. But when we get to the first step, she pulls back. “Reid?”
I turn to her. “I want to show you the inside of this house.”
I start forward, but she stops me. “And get arrested for breaking and entering?”
I grin. “I have the code. Dan sent it over.”
She pauses. “You talked to Dan about this?”
I nod, and then I play dirty. “It’s got a fireplace.”
She looks at the house and then back at me. “It does?”
I know how much she loved the fireplace in the place we just stayed at. I grin at her. “You and your heat; you’d never know you were a shifter.”
“Quiet, you.” But she grins at me.
