I snap up my gaze from my phone, tension tightening in me. “What is it?”
She hums thoughtfully at her desk, then raises her face from the screen. “Lacey just emailed me. She says she has an all-day meeting tomorrow, but she lives in Hayes Valley and wants to grab a drink in an hour.”
My heartbeat races to the moon.
It’s fine, it’s fine, it’s fine.
I repeat that over and over.
I call up my yoga mantras too.
Yoga and wine and coffee and something. Yoga is how I pretend to be calm . . . and fuck! I’m not calm. I can’t settle down.
But I need to. I need to trust Harlan meant it when he said he’d be by my side.
I need to trust I’m not hurting him.
I take a deep breath, set a hand on my chest, and will my heart to quiet.
I send him one more message as we leave the office.
Katie: Hi!!!!! I’m freaking out. Is everything okay?
But I don’t hear from him as we head to the bar to meet Lacey, and I do my best to be the cool, collected businesswoman I am.
Or should be.
When I reach the lobby of our building, I’m anything but cool and collected. Especially not when Harlan walks through the revolving door and straight toward me.
29
Harlan
That was an exhausting practice.
But a damn good one. I knock fists with Cooper, then Jones as we leave the field. It’s been a long-ass day of stretching, game film, drills, and playbook review.
Then lots of time with the receiver’s coach.
“I feel good and ready for Sunday. You guys?” I ask.
“Hell, yeah,” Jones says.
“Bring on New York. If we win, we’ll clinch a playoff post,” Cooper adds.
“Gee, I hadn’t noticed,” Jones deadpans.
“Smartass,” Cooper says as we head down the corridor. “The wife is coming, and the kids, and I cannot wait to give her a kiss at the edge of the field once we secure our spot. It’s my lucky tradition, and I won’t break it.”
“I’ll do the same with my woman,” Jones adds.
“You two are too cute,” I say, shaking my head in amusement at their romantic antics.
But inside, my heart squeezes a little harder than I’d like. I want what these guys have. Want it badly.
Took me long enough to find the woman I want to share those moments with. But I’ve found her, and I can’t wait to start up with her for real.
In public.
In the light of every damn day.
The possibility of that someday, maybe next season, brings a smile to my face.
“What are you grinning about, chuckles?” Cooper asks when we reach the locker room.
“Just thinking about games and stuff,” I say. It’s sort of true, and sort of not.
I hit the shower and get dressed, and once I’m buttoning my shirt, I grab my phone from my locker.
“See you all tomorrow,” I tell the guys as I take off, powering on my cell as I go.
Once I’m in the hallway, I order a Lyft, then my notifications light up.
I check to make sure Danielle’s got Abby as planned.
Yup. All set.
Abby even texted me from Danielle’s phone with an I love you!!!!!!!!
Complete with eight exclamation points and, also, nine heart emojis.
I write back, telling my girl I love her too, then I find a text from the woman I’m crazy for, and I slide it open.
Whoa.
I read it twice.
Holy hell.
She did this?
She. Did. This.
She fucking did this.
Katie is brave and gutsy and sexy and all mine.
Also, she sounds worried AF.
That is not okay.
I pick up my pace through the hall, texting her back as I go.
Harlan: Is everything okay, you ask? Everything is amazing. You’re amazing. And that sounds like more than a busy day. I’m coming to see you.
NOW.
Do not worry about a thing with me. EVER.
I Google her work address, and when I get in the Lyft, I change my destination, giving the driver the address to Katie’s corporate headquarters instead.
As we weave through traffic, my mind time-travels to yesterday in Katie’s studio. How incredible it felt to make love to her. It slips back further to the days we’ve spent at my home, the conversations we’ve had. I wind all the way back to more than seven years ago when I met her.
How we clicked instantly.
But then fate threw obstacles at us left and right, up and down. Timing has always vexed us.
But look what Katie did today. She sped up time. She took it in her hands and said I’m doing this.
I grin as I think of her, my tough and sweet and sexy and strong Katie.
She made this happen.
She made us happen.
When my mind leaps ahead to this weekend, and the next one, and the one after that, I know what I can make happen.
I have no more questions.
Only clarity.
I text her one more time.
Harlan: Can’t wait to see you. Can’t wait to tell you something big.
30
Harlan
I only have eyes for her.
I march straight over to my Katie, sweep her up in my arms in the lobby of her building, and kiss the breath out of her.
She melts into my kiss in seconds, murmuring and sighing as I sweep my lips across hers.
It’s been twenty-four hours since I touched her, and already that feels too long. That only confirms what I’m about to do.
I set her down, and she gazes at me, woozy and happy. “Whoa. That was quite a greeting.”
I can’t wait a second longer to tell her. “I know what I want to do at the end of the season. And you’re the first person I want to tell,” I say with a newfound certainty.
And a calmness too. My brain is no longer full of questions—only answers.
But the sound of clapping reaches us. With Katie still in my arms, I swing my gaze to the right. A woman—I presume her sister—is cheering us on, and a guy in black glasses claps along with her.
Meanwhile, Katie grins at me, then holds up a finger. “I’m dying to know, but I do have to go see Lacey. We have a meeting with her in about ten minutes to let her know what’s going on and that I need to step back.”
Damn.
My heart craters.
I want to spend the rest of the night with Katie.
A throat clears, and the blonde who’d been cheering now closes the distance, stretching her hand out to me as I set Katie down.
“Hi. I’m Olive Madigan. You better be good to my sister or I will kick your ass,” she says.
I flinch, which I don’t do even when linebackers steamroll me. But there is something hella scary about that sister bond. Plus, I’m pretty sure Katie delivered a similar warning to Jones all those years ago. It’s just . . . hot when women look out for each other.
“I will be so damn good to her. You have my word, Olive,” I say from the bottom of my heart.
Olive lifts her chin and holds my gaze. “Good.” Then she turns to Katie. “Now, you’re excused from the meeting. Zachary and I can handle it. We’ve got this. Go be with your man.”