Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 136296 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 681(@200wpm)___ 545(@250wpm)___ 454(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136296 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 681(@200wpm)___ 545(@250wpm)___ 454(@300wpm)
“I’m okay. Fine. Worried about you and all this shit with Gabriel. I knew he was a problem. I just didn’t realize he was this dangerous.” He massages his temple. “If I’d met you at the cabin, it wouldn’t have happened.”
“You can’t take the blame for this, Maverick.” I settle a palm on his chest, feeling the heavy beat of his heart. “Talk to me. Tell me what’s happening in your head.”
“I don’t know. It just . . . It could have been so much worse.” He picks up my hand and brings it to his lips. “I want to keep you safe.”
“You have, and you taught me how to take care of myself. That’s even better, don’t you think?”
He nods. “I might be a lot to handle for the next little while, so I’m going to apologize in advance. If I’m driving you up the wall, let me know, and I’ll try my best to tone it down.”
“I think we’ll probably be two peas in a pod.” I lean down and kiss his lips, then rest my uninjured forearm on his broad chest. “Tell me how the weekend went. You were offered a spot at training camp?” He’s on the fence about what he wants, so I can imagine that getting the offer is both good and bad.
“Nashville offered, but I haven’t agreed to go yet.”
“Because you’re undecided?”
He reaches up and traces the contours of my face. “I keep going back and forth, trying to figure out what I really want. For a good while, I wanted the contract not because of the career, but because it would make the optics for you and me better.”
I nod. “I could turn that around and say that because of who you are, the stigma would most definitely affect you, because you’d own it.” I curl the rogue wave swooping over his forehead around my finger and let it go.
“Mmm . . . Yeah, which is what I realized and why I had to do a mental reset and take into consideration not just how it impacted optics, but how it would impact the rest of my life. I started thinking about what it would look like if I don’t accept the offer. Am I going to regret walking away?”
“And what did you decide?” My heart is in my throat, because I can see the changes that have slowly been taking place over the past few months—how instead of putting everyone he loves before himself, Mav is finally also taking his own needs into consideration.
“I don’t think I’ll regret it if I don’t accept. I had a talk with my dad, and I laid it all out for him. When I put the money I could be making aside—and I know that’s not an easy thing for people to do—but when I take out the paycheck and look critically at what I’m being offered . . . Maybe I could rise, do well in the league. But I’m always going to be compared to my dad, and he’s had a legendary career. He’s blown records out of the water as both a player and a coach. I don’t want to live in a shadow. And if I take the offer, that’s what I’m signing on for.” He laces his fingers with mine. “I want to build my own legacy. When I look five years into the future, I don’t see me playing for the NHL. I see me working with my dad, getting kids ready for their own shot. I see myself running a self-defense program. I see a normal life.”
“Then that’s what you should have.” I lean down and press my lips to his.
He runs his fingers through my hair and parts his lips, inviting me in. I sink into the kiss and the connection, wanting to get lost in him. In us.
His hand eases down my side but stops at my hip.
“Are you okay with this? It doesn’t have to lead to anything,” he murmurs.
I nod. “I want you. I need the closeness.”
“Can I take care of you, then? Make you feel good?” His lips move along the edge of my jaw.
I suck his bottom lip between mine. “I would love that, but I would love it more if we could take care of each other.”
He pulls back, eyes roving over my face. “I’ll just get you ready, then?”
We undress each other carefully, and his face falls when he sees the bruises that have formed over the past twenty-four hours. He kisses every single one before he settles between my thighs and brings me to orgasm with his mouth. I get lost in feeling good. In his attentiveness. In his love.
When I’m sated and boneless, he sits up and settles me in his lap. “Is this still okay? I want you to have full control.”