When Colton didn’t answer me right away, I looked up at him and saw he was staring at me intently.
“What?”I questioned.“It’s an easy answer.”
“Um, well, yes, I’d like too, but why do you need to wait until you’re gone?”
“What do you mean why?That is where I sleep,” I answered.
“What if…we changed that?”
“Colton, I don’t think I’m understanding.Where would I go?Or god, are you thinking that it’s time for me to leave, because we still have at least one more interview.”
He looked at me, a sly smile on his face as he watched me.“That wasn’t what I was thinking,” he said.
“Okay, well, I guess I can always sleep in the Murphy bed.At least?—”
“Whoa, I’m not asking you to sleep in the Murphy bed.I’m saying that we turn the spare room into the office, with either a pullout couch or Murphy bed, and you move in my bedroom with me.”
I raised my head and looked at him.I had so many questions running through my mind about what he’d said.
“What do you think?”
I hadn’t slept in that room since the night in the kitchen.In fact, I’d already brought all my clothes into his room, and I’d moved out of the other bathroom and into his.I swallowed hard as I looked at him.It was almost already official, but this would confirm what we both already knew.
“I’d like that,” I whispered.
“Me too.”
He shifted on the couch, making space for me to move in beside him, which I did.The moment I was in his arms, his lips were on mine.
Chapter Seventeen
Colton - End of November
“Fuck me.Four million views,”I said under my breath as I looked at the screen of my phone.Emma had been right; my face was now everywhere.I’d open up any social media platform and there I was.Shots of me and Emma together at games, out for lunch, even at the park last weekend when we’d gone to the Christmas festival together.
Now as the guys and I sat inside The Sip and Stir having a coffee before we made our way back home, people were taking pictures of us and asking for our autographs.
“She really blew up your career.You are now one of the most loved guys on the team, or at least your relationship is.”Dylan chuckled after I took a picture with a young girl who had recognized me.
“Yeah, I know I owe it all to her.Larson is finally off my back as well,” I said, taking a bite of my bagel.
“That is good.Honestly, that is the last person any of us want on our backs,” Knox muttered.
The interview with Offthe Ice Insidershad gone so well, they’d spent the day with Emma and me photographing us around the house.They sat down and asked us questions about our relationship, and they even joined us for dinner, which they also took photos of while we cooked together.I was grateful that Emma had coached me on all the answers, because otherwise I was certain I’d have messed them up.They’d even mentioned doing a spread in the coming months on each of the Dominators couples, which Emma thought was a fantastic idea.When they left, Emma promised she’d send them some highlights and information from some of the previous games I’d played this year and had done so immediately after they’d left.
“You’re telling me.”I chuckled.
The table grew quiet.As I sat here in this small local cafe, I still did not know what we really were to one another.I’d started thinking about that more than a week ago.I’d come home late one night from a set of away games and found Emma curled up in my bed sound asleep.She’d stopped doing the away games and only showed up for the home games like the other girls.I’d watched her sleep for a bit and then crawled in beside her, absolutely terrified of what would happen when all of this was over and she returned to her life.I realized shortly after that I didn’t want her to leave; I didn’t want to lose another chance at us.
“What is it, big guy?You look conflicted,” Levi questioned as he returned from the bathroom.
“Oh, well, now that things are rocking and rolling with my image again, in a positive light, I fear Emma is going to be leaving soon…”
“That doesn’t mean it has to be the end,” Clay added.
“No, it doesn’t, but before she came here, she had a life.”
“And you are worried she’ll return home, go back to that life, and forget about you,” Dylan said.
