Page 133 of Tangled with the Tight End

I can’t help the laugh that escapes me. Cass is usually so self-contained. Nothing puts her off balance.

She grabs up our burritos and hurries down the hall toward the kitchen.

“Sorry. She’s a fan. She’s actually normal most of the time.”

Declan nods. “Can we talk?”

“Yeah. Of course. Have a seat.”

I wave my hand toward the living room and take my place back on the couch where I’ve been sitting for nearly an hour now.

Declan follows me, resting his crutches and sitting where Cass had been.

“Winona.” His hand lands on my knee and I glance down at it—so large and strong it nearly engulfs my kneecap.

He clears his throat. His eyes pinging between mine.

“Why are you here, Declan?”

I ask the question even though I’m inwardly hoping it’s for the reasons I’m imagining. He’s touching my knee, after all, and now his thumb starts caressing a spot, gently moving as if he can’t help himself.

“I had this thought that you might be freaking out when you didn’t answer my text.” He searches my eyes. “Were you?”

I nod. I may as well admit my state of mind. What do I have to lose? Besides, before our kisses, we were friends. And I could tell him pretty much anything.

So, I take a breath and confess. “I was. A little. But also … not. And then I was. I just needed space.”

Declan nods. And then he scoots a little closer.

“I’m serious about you,” he says, staring into my eyes with that deep intensity I’ve come to both admire and crave. “I don’t know what happened this morning. One minute we were enjoying a little time in the kitchen over coffee, and the next a woman my mom invited shows up and you’re dumping your coffee and rushing out.

“I didn’t ask Snow to stop by. I don’t even remember her.”

I glance at Declan’s hand, still resting on my knee as if he needs to keep me here.

He sighs. “I’ll be honest with you. Women like Snow are a part of my life. Not by choice. They just exist around the fringes. I’ve learned to live around them. And it probably isn’t fair for me to ask you to put up with women throwing themselves at me, but I want to ask if you would consider it.”

His eyes plead with me even more than his words.

I set my hand over his.

He smiles softly, his voice careful. “I want to see where this could go between us. I really like you, Winona. If I didn’t make my feelings for you clear last night or this morning, I wanted to make sure I made everything clear now.”

“I really like you too,” I say. I don’t add a lot. I definitely don’t tell him how I like him better than any man I’ve ever liked before. We’ve only known one another for a month and a half. But it’s been intense. We’re together nearly every day. Like it or not, Declan has become one of the most important people in my life in that short span of time.

And mostly, I like it—a lot. Except when women like Snow blow into town.

“How will this work?” The words are out of my mouth before I second-guess them.

“This, meaning us?” he asks.

“Yes. I mean … I’m a woman who does odd jobs to pay her bills. You’re a professional athlete … Right now, we’re just Declan and Winona. But what about when you go back to playing full time?”

“We’ll still be just Declan and Winona,” he says. His hand stills on my knee, the grip slightly firmer as if he’s holding on to me, unwilling to accept if I were to say no. “I know my life comes with a lot of spotlight. But I’ll keep you out of the fray as much as possible. I want to protect what we have. The media could make a mess of it. You’re better than all that.”

“Better?”

“So much better.” His eyes meet mine in a sort of sincerity that passes my defenses and hits me like an arrow to the heart.