Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 64366 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 257(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64366 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 257(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
Damn. So much for changing the subject.
“I don’t know,” I told him.
The pouty lip came out again, so hard to resist. “But I shared my dream with you.”
“Mine is different.”
“So you do remember it,” Jamie accused. He sat up in the dark, haloed by the pale dawn coming in at the edges of his blinds, and stared at me like I was about to reveal the secret to everlasting life.
“No,” I lied. “I don’t remember it. And that’s exactly why it’s different.”
“Come on, tell me. Don’t shut me out. When a guy wakes me up in the middle of the night clinging to me like a little kid and squeezing the breath out of me, I think I deserve to have some idea of what he’s dreaming, don’t you?”
“Fuck off, Jamie. I mean it.”
“But I want to know, Kage. Pleeease. I’m worried about you. It might help to talk to someone about it.”
I rolled him roughly beneath my body and pinned his shoulders to the floor with my hands, putting my entire weight on him. “I can make you shut up, you know.”
“I want to know,” he grated, instinctively struggling against me. He couldn’t do much, but somehow in his hampered flailing his hand scraped hard against my wounded side at the same time his knee accidentally found my groin. The searing pain in my side crippled me just enough while the nut strike was back-loading. Then the pain hit, followed by the sickness.
“Fuck.” I rolled off of him, the combined pain of the two injuries causing me to writhe and blow out loud, shallow puffs of breath.
“Kage, I’m sorry,” Jamie was saying. “Oh, God, I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“I’m okay,” I squeaked out. “Just give me some time. There’s a reason they give you five minutes for a groin strike in MMA.”
“Um, hello. I know what it feels like to get hit in the nuts. If you hadn’t noticed, I have a couple of my own. Want me to kiss it?”
“I want you to stop talking.” I clutched myself for a good minute and a half, breathing through it, counting the seconds.
“I thought you laughed at pain,” Jamie teased.
“Not this kind.” I tried to smile at him through the ache, which was now slowly starting to subside. “Besides, you don’t want to hurt that piece of equipment. I do important things with it— things you might miss.”
He ran a hand across my chest. “Speaking of things I might miss… do you think my friends suspected anything last night?”
I chuckled weakly. “I don’t know. How drunk were they?”
“Pretty drunk, I think. That keg was dry by the time you got here, and I think they were smoking some, too.”
“They were definitely smoking. I had to walk through a cloud to get to your front door.”
“So maybe they didn’t notice, right?” he asked hopefully. “It’s not like we kissed or anything crazy like that. Or at least I don’t think we did. Hell, I was so freaked out to see you, I didn’t know what was going on half the time.”
“Same here,” I admitted. “But honestly, I don’t think anyone caught on. And I was pretty subtle when I was threatening your friend.”
“Really?” Jamie hacked out a laugh and stared at me. “You call that subtle? You picked him up by his collar, and then I jumped on your back. Subtle is not the first description that springs to mind.”
“I meant the words, smart ass. I kept my voice down. I may have been mad enough to kill ten men, but I still kept it together enough to keep from screaming out our business.” I bit my lip and hesitated before asking, “Does that make you happy?”
Jamie looked confused. “Happy?”
“Yeah, are you glad I didn’t give us away?” God, I hated the way asking that question made me feel. Like I was a dog, ducking my head and waiting to be petted for not barking when someone came to the door.
“I’m glad you didn’t give yourself away. That’s what I care about. Remember when you told me you were the one with something to lose? You were right about that. You’re getting famous now, and people are watching you and judging you. Nobody gives a shit who I’m sleeping with.”
“You have plenty of people who care about you.”
“Yeah, but it’s a different way. A personal way. My love life is not going to make headlines on the sports blogs.”
“Actually, it might.” I pulled his face down to mine and kissed him on the lips. Those pillow-soft lips that I had missed so much.
“I’m sorry,” he said, his eyes glistening with moisture. “For what happened at my parents’ house. I’m so sorry. I wish I could go back and do it all over again. I swear to God, I would walk into that house holding your hand if that’s what you wanted. I would kiss you on the lips in front of my parents, tell my sister to go fuck herself, and tell my dad you were sleeping in my bed. I’d do that for you if I could.” He flopped over onto his back and sighed. “But it’s not smart for anyone to know about us because of your career. Only because of your career.”