“Hey, Rocky, I have a gift for you.”
“You got something for the dog?” Kane smiles as though he never expected me to warm up to his dog.
Turns out Rocky isn’t all that bad. He’s just a little too affectionate. Like the other night when we were watching a movie and he kept putting his nose under my hand to pet him.
“We have to go outside though.” I take his paws off me and walk into Kane’s house. I love the comfortable and cozy vibe, but maybe it’s just because it’s Kane’s space that I like being here so much. All the natural wood and dark colors are so him.
“No kiss?” he asks when I pat his stomach and pass him.
I step backward and rise to my tiptoes, kissing him. “Hello.”
His hand splays on my back to keep me in place and he lowers his mouth to kiss me more thoroughly. By the end, I’m breathless and wanting more.
“Hi,” he whispers.
The three of us go outside. I pull a new ball out of my purse and throw it toward the ocean. Rocky runs off the porch and chases the ball.
Kane comes up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist and placing his chin on my shoulder. “There’s something very erotic about you bringing my dog a toy.”
“I think you find most things I do highly erotic.”
His arms tighten and I inhale a deep breath, relishing being near him again. But Paisley’s words haven’t stopped replaying in my head.
We watch Rocky pick up the ball and fling it in the air, chasing it in the other direction.
“Want to go for a walk?” Kane asks.
I turn my head, and he kisses my lips. “Sure.”
We head toward Rocky, and Kane runs ahead of me and tosses the ball into the water. Rocky chases after it again.
After we fall in line together, Kane slides his fingers through mine. “Tell me.”
I feel my forehead wrinkle. “Tell you what?”
“I can sense that something’s up. What’s going on in that head of yours?” He tugs me closer to the water and I step away from the cool water covering my feet.
“Nothing.”
He raises his eyebrows.
I sigh. “Are you sure about the not having kids thing? I mean, things are progressing between us and I just want to make sure we’re on the same page.”
He laughs and Rocky brings us the ball. Kane bends down to pick it up and throw it again. “We’re on the same page. I told you, I would never want a kid to have a childhood like I had.”
“But your dad dying in a work accident is rare. That doesn’t happen every day.”
“True. But there are car accidents, illnesses, and a million other things. No one thinks it can happen to them until it does.”
I nod because he’s right. “And what about marriage?”
He chuckles and steps in front of me, stopping us from walking. Rocky brings the ball back and sets it between our feet in the sand, sitting down and patiently waiting.
“Your mind is in overdrive, eh?”
“Eh?” I mock his Canadianism like I do every time the word slips from his mouth.
He rolls his eyes and tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. “Enjoy the moment.”
“Rocky wants us to throw the ball,” I say, but Kane doesn’t move.
“What has you thinking so hard?” He wraps me up in his arms, which is the best place on earth.
I shrug and look down and off to the side. “Paisley was over, and she was saying how different things get after you’ve been together for a while.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Like how they argue about the dishwasher and stuff.”
“Uh-huh.” He ducks down to get me to look at him. “We argue now over much smaller things than that. But that’s us. Besides, I love it when we fight until we fuck.”
I smile because I do too. Sometimes I purposely pick a fight, but I’ll never tell him that.
“But they watch television separately and stuff.” My bottom lip juts out.
He nods and places his finger under my chin, urging me to look at him. “We’ll take things slow, but just go with what this is telling you.” He places his hand over my heart. “And stop listening to this.” He moves his hand to my temple. “And it will turn out exactly how you want it to.”
I rest my forehead on his chest, and he kisses the top of my head. I probably am overthinking everything. I need to just enjoy this moment because I haven’t been myself this much ever and Kane pulls that out of me. He makes me feel as though it’s okay to be exactly who I am, and he likes me anyway.
“Come on.” He puts his arm around my shoulders and bends over to throw the ball to Rocky.
Rocky runs into the water and Kane pulls me toward the water’s edge, but I refuse to go. He’s stronger than me, so I have to dig my heels into the sand.
“I’m gonna get you wet,” he says.
“I prefer when you do that in the bedroom.”
He chuckles and I get free, running along the water’s edge to get away from him. Rocky thinks I’m racing him and jumps in and out of the waves next to me.
“I’m going to get you.” Kane chases me, but his ankle isn’t one hundred percent, so it gives me a lead.
Right when we reach his house, his arm swings around my stomach and I fall to the sand, him on top of me. The waves dip under my back, getting me soaked. He stares at me for a moment and doesn’t say anything.
I gently touch his face, his beard. “What are you thinking?”
“Just how lucky I am.”
I can’t help but smile when he says things like that.
“I’d be your boyfriend for the rest of my life and die a happy man. My heart knows it and that’s all that matters.”
The shift between us is happening, I feel it. It scares me at the same time as it thrills me because I’m not even close to being sick of Kane Burrows.
“You’re amazing.” My whispered words carry on the wind, but I know he hears me when the corners of his mouth tip up.
His eyes catch mine, then he lowers himself on me, our lips meeting. Rocky circles us and nudges his ball into the crook of my neck, running in circles around us again.
But we’re lost in each other and oblivious to our surroundings until we hear Emma’s voice. “Get a room, you two!”
I bury my head in Kane’s neck, laughing. He lifts his arm and flips her off, which only makes me laugh harder.
“Now it’s my turn to undress you.” He gets up, holding out his hand. “How about a shower?”
“Sounds perfect.”
We walk up to his house, hand in hand. I’m unsure what the future holds, but I try with all my might to live in the moment because this moment is pretty great.
We all knew the winning streak would come to an end eventually, and it did with a tremendous loss to Toronto right in our own arena. I’m sitting in my office, stewing over the 4–0 loss, pissed that we couldn’t score one fucking goal. It was like they knew every one of our plays.
There’s a knock on my office door and I assume it’s a player. “Yeah?” The door opens a sliver and Jana peeks her head in. “Probably not the best time.”
She comes in and shuts the door. “I figured I could cheer you up a little. We’re still sitting number one in our division. Give yourself a break.”