It was now bedtime. Having already washed up, I was in bed with a magazine, one about steel fencing that would earn me a chuckle from Ryan. The bathroom door opening drew my attention to the man in the doorway. Just like every other time, my heart flipped at seeing him like this—in his boxers and nothing else, freshly showered with damp hair. I closed the magazine and gave him my full attention as he moved to what had become his side of the bed.
While the tension from earlier seemed to have eased, something was clearly on his mind. Even as a kid he’d get this way when he was worried or something bugged him. Then, shooting some hoops had been my go-to distraction, breaking him out of his funk and getting him to open up. Somehow, I didn’t think that would be the answer today.
Ryan slid between the sheets next to me, shifting in close, his intention as surprising as it was clear. I looped my arms around him as he rested his head on my chest, his hand moving to my stomach.
While we were tactile and made the most of touching whenever we got the chance, this was different. Ryan needing comfort was a hell of a thing. My heart thundered in my chest while my stomach did somersaults. I wanted to be Ryan’s everything so much, but his reaction added to my anxiety about him leaving.
More than that, Ryan seeking comfort was an anomaly that worried me.
“What’s wrong?” I kept my voice low, attempting not to destroy the peace and comfort I tried to offer. As I stroked my fingers through his hair with one hand, I used the other to dance my fingers across his back.
“Does something have to be wrong?”
I hesitated but didn’t have the patience to keep quiet. “You can cuddle me anytime you want, happily so.” My lips made purchase with the top of his head. “But you doing this after a call with your agent makes me think everything isn’t okay.”
A weary sigh escaped him, and he rubbed his hand over his face.
“You don’t have to tell me,” I said, not sure how convincing my offer was since I really wanted to know. That way, I could at least try to help or just let him vent.
“They’re talking about a trade.”
Surprise shot through me. “What, tradingyou? To where? Can they do that?”
Nate angled to peer at me. “League contracts and rules are a mindfuck. It’s why my agent has a sweet deal to sort all this stuff out for me.” He shook his head before resettling on my chest. “They’re saying maybe Vegas. And no, I do have a choice if they want to do a deal. I know the Eagles could probably do with freeing up some cash by trading me.”
“Bloody hell, okay, wow, and what did you say?”
“That I was still on vacation for another week, so he needed to get everyone off my back.”
Laughter bubbled out of me. “You didn’t seriously?”
“Like fuck I didn’t. Shit, he knows I’m on vacation. I shouldn’t even be traded next season. Life’s complicated enough without that bullshit. Plus there’s the guys, you know?”
I squeezed him hard. With no idea how these things worked, my advice wouldn’t fly. “Is it possible to ignore this till you get back?”
“No. I’m fully aware I’m being a petulant fuck, so you don’t need to point it out to me, okay?”
My lips twitched, despite the seriousness of the conversation, because seriously, his tone was the exact one he’d used when he was eighteen and sulking about not getting the last Tim Tam.
“You want tea and a Tim Tam?” I asked, smiling inside.
Once again, he glanced at me. “Make it a packet and not one, and that’d be awesome. Thanks.”
The barest of smiles he gave me was worth it. I dotted a kiss on his mouth, and he grumbled as he moved away so I could get off the bed. “You know a packet will mean at least an extra two-kilometer run tomorrow, right?” I received a pillow in my face as answer. Chucking it back, I legged it out the room, laughing, impressed it made contact with his head.
Three Tim Tams later, I was pathetically chocolated out. Unlike Ryan, I didn’t have a massive sweet tooth.
“You got enough sugar in your system to talk?” I asked.
“I said I’d call him back in the morning. Then tomorrow night I need to talk to someone from the team. Not sure if it’ll be one of the suits or Coach.”
“Can they trade you without you agreeing, you know, since you’re not a rookie?”
Ryan shrugged and placed his empty mug on the bedside table. “Yeah. I don’t have free agency until the end of next season, and while trades are perhaps rare in the off-season, it’s not unheard of.” He stopped short and shot me a glance. “I’d started to think about telling a couple of the guys about you and me.”
Air escaped me so fast I struggled to think, let alone remember how to inhale again. We’d still not discussed anything about when he left. It looked like that was about to change.
“Jayden and Sutton?” I went with the safe question, amazed my words sounded steady.
