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“I leave for camp on Sunday.”
“Yeah.” She eyed him warily.
“So I think we should talk about things.”
“I don’t expect anything from you if that’s where you’re going with this.” She shifted her weight, so she was leaning against the arm of the sofa, no longer touching him at all.
His jaw clenched. “Maybe I want you to expect something.”
“I thought we agreed to keep this casual.” She looked at her lap instead of looking at him.
How the hell she could consider what they were doing casual was beyond him. “We also agreed that if I was fucking you, then I wasn’t fucking anyone else,” he growled. He knew he sounded like an asshole, but it pissed him off she was acting like what they had meant nothing to her.
Kia’s head snapped up. “Yeah, that’s what we agreed.”
At the sign of fire in her eyes, he bit back a smile. That’s what he wanted to see. “So I’m just checking that’s still what you want once the season starts.”
“Why? Do you want to sleep with other people?” She scowled at him.
“What? God, no.” That was the last thing he wanted to do. But Kia was so jumpy about their relationship he wasn’t sure what she was going to say once the season started. “I’m just trying to figure out what this will all look like once our schedule changes.”
She rested her back against the arm of the sofa. “Um, I don’t really know.”
“What don’t you know?” He studied her silently, waiting for her to give him some hint about what she wanted.
“I don’t know. Everything is just so new. We’re barely starting to figure out anything and now you’re off to training camp and then the regular season and you’ll be away all the time. From everything you’ve told me, and I’ve read, that can be hard.”
“You’ve been reading about this?” He nudged her foot with his knee. That had to be a good sign, didn’t it?
“Shut up.” She dropped her head, but not before he saw the blush rise up her cheeks.
“I just need to know how you see this playing out with the season starting,” he pressed.
“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “Why does anything have to change?”
“Well, because I’m not going to be around much.”
“Exactly, so why mess things up by changing anything? Who’s to say you don’t start the season and remember how much you liked your single life?”
His spine stiffened. “And what, somehow, I’m just going to go back to partying every night and forgetting I have a kid at home?”
“I don’t know.” She shifted uncomfortably on the sofa.
“That’s bullshit and you know it. When have I ever given you any indication that I’m not going to put Max first?”
Her shoulder dropped. “Max? Never but—”
“Oh, so you just think I’m going to be that guy with you, is that it?”
“I don’t know, Jeff. I’ve never been in this situation before. I’ve heard the stories and I’m trying to be realistic that this could be challenging.”
“Yeah, so?” He stared at her. Man, he wanted to grab her and just shake her till all the damage her family had done to her fell away. He didn’t have the first clue how to get her to trust him, really trust him.
“So I just think we shouldn’t label things yet. I’m not saying I don’t want to try because I do. I’m just saying I’m aware it will be difficult, and just in case things are harder than either of us realizes, I don’t want to change anything and have Max get hurt.”
“He’s not a stupid kid. He knows something is going on with us.”
“What he knows is he’s five and likes his parents hanging out together, isn’t that what you told me? But if he sees us touch or kiss or whatever, it’ll make things messy.”
