Total pages in book: 28
Estimated words: 26021 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 130(@200wpm)___ 104(@250wpm)___ 87(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 26021 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 130(@200wpm)___ 104(@250wpm)___ 87(@300wpm)
Whatever he discovers on my face wipes the smile from his. He takes a step in my direction.
I immediately spin to the right and scurry into the crowd, trying to put distance between us. If he touches me right now, I'm going to lose it. I'll let him kiss me again, hold me again. I'll beg him to make love to me again. And that's the last thing he needs.
There's no way I hear him growl my name over the crowd, yet I swear I hear him.
It prompts me to move faster. Everything I needed to do tonight flies out the window in my rush to escape before I damn him. I push through the throng, my heart pounding like a jackhammer.
Coach MacAthie tries to get my attention, but I put my head down and keep going, pretending I don't see him motioning me over. He won't hold it against me. He may give the guys hell, but he's always been a big softie when it comes to me. I think he knows my diagnosis. He and my dad were friends. But he's always kept my secret for me.
I slip out the back entrance of the lounge into the staff hallway, breathing hard. The air is cooler out here. Sounds from the party inside fade. I lean my head back against the wall, drawing a deep breath.
"You weren't at the press pool after the game."
My eyes pop open.
Crap.
Kris stands in the doorway, one shoulder propped against the doorjamb. "You're avoiding me."
"I wouldn't have to avoid you if you'd stop chasing me," I remind him without heat. "We could go back to business like usual and forget anything ever happened."
"Is that what you want?" He pushes away from the door, strolling toward me. "You want to forget me, princess?"
"I…"
"You want to forget the way you melt when I touch you?" He grabs me before I can slip away from him, wrapping an arm around my waist to drag me into his arms. His lips glide down the side of my face. "You want to forget how good you feel when you're coming apart in my arms?"
"Kris, please," I whisper.
"Please what?"
I mean to tell him to let me go. Honest, I do. But that's not what comes out of my mouth.
"Kiss me," I plead. "Please, shut up and kiss me."
He groans as if I just unchained him from hell. His hand cups the back of my head, tilting my head back. "Goddamn, I've missed you and this mouth," he mutters. His lips touch mine, setting off a series of tiny explosions in my soul. The walls between us tremble, threatening to cave.
I cry out in fear, in confusion, in relief—I don't even know how I feel anymore. All I know is not having this man is torture. Trying to do the right thing is killing me. What's the point of surviving this damn disease if I'm sentenced to a half-life? One with no light, no comfort, no peace?
That's my future without him.
I deepen the kiss, trying to draw him into my lungs, to exist on him. I don't want to think about leukemia or the future right now. I just want to live.
"Christ, princess," he growls against my lips, boosting me up into his arms. He backs me up against the wall, grinding me on his erection. Our tongues battle before we break apart and then come back together, both greedy and desperate. "You need me, don't you?"
"Yes!" I sob, clawing at his jacket.
He shoves his hand down my pants.
"Kris. Oh, my god." I writhe against the wall in ecstasy as he goes straight for the swollen bundle of nerves begging for attention. I'm already soaked for him, already aching. I think I have been since the game started.
He watches me with hooded eyes as he plays with me, holding me up with his hips pinning me to the wall. "You look beautiful tonight, princess. You'd look even better if that was my name on your back instead of your own."
My core clenches at the thought.
"Maybe I'll get to see my woman wearing my last name at least once before I retire," he murmurs, grinding his thumb against my button. "It'll be your name then too."
"I…I…" I think he's saying he wants to marry me. Lord. Is that what he's saying? It is, isn't it?
The door beside us cracks open, raucous laughter spilling out into the hallway.
"Fuck," Kris growls, shifting us into an alcove to completely block me from view.
I hold my breath, barely daring to breathe as Theo and Charlotte slip out.
"We're not having sex in the hallway, Theo Kline," Charlotte hisses at her husband.
"Nah, baby," he agrees. "I'm fucking you in the locker room."
"Oh, yay for me!" Charlotte laughs happily. "Walk faster before we get busted."
They head in the other direction, their voices fading. I don't think they noticed us. Thank God. Theo is a little more circumspect than some of the guys on the team, but he would not have let this go easily.