Total pages in book: 122
Estimated words: 114951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 575(@200wpm)___ 460(@250wpm)___ 383(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 575(@200wpm)___ 460(@250wpm)___ 383(@300wpm)
Her voice dropped to a whisper. “What does that mean?”
“It means we’re taking him down,” I said, the resolve settling fully into place now.
“Shane…” Her fingers flexed against my chest, fear threading through her voice.
“Together,” I said gently but without wavering.
“How? Where do we even begin?” She swallowed, shaking her head. “Fuck, this scares me, too. It feels big.”
“That’s because it is,” I said quietly. “If what we suspect is true, then this is federal-level, career-ending, freedom-ending shit.” I exhaled, scrubbing a hand over my face. “I already filed an anonymous report with the league’s integrity office. It buys us time. It puts eyes on him. And once that happens, he won’t be watching you anymore — because he’ll be too busy watching his own back.”
Her breath hitched.
“You mean…” she started, then stopped, like she was afraid to finish the thought.
“I mean that if this goes where I think it’s going, Nathan won’t have power over you,” I said. “Not your schedule. Not your money. Not your fear. If we can work together to gather what we need to solidify proof, he’ll be under investigation. Everything he’s built to control you will start collapsing in on itself.”
She stared at me, something fragile and luminous breaking through her expression. I recognized it as the same emotion that had wrecked me since she’d come back into my life.
Hope, tentative and stunned yet indestructible.
“So… there’s a way out,” she whispered. “A real one. One where you don’t lose your job. One where he can’t hurt either of us.”
“There is,” I said, my voice steady even as my chest burned.
Then her brow furrowed again, reality crashing back in. “But that doesn’t fix everything. The prenup. Georgie. The money. I signed things, Shane. I don’t have access to anything, and I don’t know how long it would take to untangle all of it.”
“We’ll handle that, too,” I said without hesitation. “Together.”
She shook her head faintly. “You can’t be responsible for—”
“I’m not trying to save you,” I interrupted gently, forcing her to meet my eyes. “But fuck, Ari. I love you. I always have.” The admission scraped out of me, rough and unavoidable. “I loved you when we were kids. I loved you from afar. I loved you when you rightfully walked away from me in Boston on that cold winter night, and I loved you when you walked back into my life this year. It doesn’t matter that you’re married. It doesn’t matter that there’s a risk here for both of us. I love you, and that’s just the way it is.”
Each word from my lips had her fingers curling more and more in my shirt, a smile spreading on her lips even as tears slipped from her eyes.
“And I’m not trying to become another man who runs your life. I know you need this to be yours.” I swallowed, the words tightening in my throat. “But if you let me… I’ll stand with you. I’ll make sure you and Georgie are okay while you figure out your next step. And his. For as long as it takes.”
Her lips trembled.
“You don’t owe me anything,” I went on. “This isn’t a transaction. This is me choosing you.”
“And Georgie?”
“And Georgie, too. I won’t disappear again. Not when things get hard. Not when it’s inconvenient. Not when staying costs me something. I left because I thought it was best for both of us, mostly for you, but I was wrong. I know it now.”
She pressed her forehead to my chest, her hands clutching my shirt like she needed proof I was real.
“Let me stay this time,” I murmured into her hair. “Let me prove to you that I’m not walking away again.”
Her breath shuddered as she finally nodded, and when she looked up at me, the fear was still there — but it was no longer alone.
For the first time, it was standing beside hope.
“Kiss me,” she whispered, fingers digging into my shirt and pulling me closer. “Please, Shane. Kiss me. I can’t think about anything else. I just… want you. Your touch. Your warmth. Your voice. Everything about you. Let me be with you, even if just for tonight. We can live in reality tomorrow. We can fight and… God, I don’t know, put everything on the line to try to find our way out of this. But tonight, please, just… hold me. Kiss me.” She wet her lips, the next words even softer. “Touch me.”
My hands were in her hair without hesitation, threading through silk and skin as I pulled her into me and covered her mouth with mine. The kiss was slow for exactly half a second before it wasn’t, before weeks of restraint and years of history collapsed between us. She made a soft, wrecked sound against my lips, and it went straight to my spine.