Page 35 of Guarded Goalie

“What if you regret it and hate me later?” The question leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, but I need to hear it, to say it.

“Austin,” he says in that sexy voice of his, somehow commanding and soft all at once. “I’ve been regretting my decision in Sheffield these past months. I’ve had a long career, and I look forward to the future we’ll have. I can’t regret following my heart.”

Oh. He’s trying to kill me, isn’t he? My pulse is racing, my knees are getting weaker; I’m losing all sense of self-control in the best way possible.

I trace his lips with my thumb and lean in to kiss him. I let my lips say what my words fail to capture. I want to tell him that this, right now, is a dream I’ve never dared to hope would come true, that I’ve replayed these moments a thousand times in my head. For now, I let my kiss convey every ounce of relief and desire I feel.

Roland lifts me up effortlessly. “You need to shower,” he says. “And I was thinking, since you have the weekend free, we can go to Prague and just lay low for a few days. Michael sent me a very disturbing message about him doing something out of character, but I haven’t been able to reach him.”

“You’ve had a really stressful twenty-four hours,” I say, pressing a quick kiss to his forehead. “The doctor did say I should rest and even added it in the discharge papers, so . . . yeah, I think I can go away for the weekend, see my coach after we get back. He doesn’t sound angry in his text message to me.”

I wrap my hand around the back of his neck, pulling Roland close and inhaling the scent of him, letting myself soak in thesteady beat of his heart against mine. I still can’t believe that I get to have him to myself, or that he could ever love me. But for now, I’ll live in this moment and let everything else wait.