“No,” I correct, grabbing her hand. “I don’t want to be your friend, because I want so desperately to be more. If being friends is all you’ll ever give me, I’ll be happy with it.”
I close my eyes, wondering if I’m ready to even say this. “If I have to watch you move on after this show with another man and fall in love and give him everything I always wanted with you, then I will. I was prepared for that before this show, and I’ll be able to do it after.”Even if it’ll hurt so much more.“But if you’re asking me if I honestly think that we could ever be friends, the answer is going to be no every time. Because I want nothing more than to be far more than that with you.”
Her breath catches, her eyes wide. “You don’t mean that.”
“I do.”
She looks at her lap, and I grab her chin, forcing her to look at me again. “I may have hurt you before, but I mean it when I say that I’ll do anything I can to make up for the past. I need you to know that, Sweetheart.”
“Don’t call me that,” she whispers, forcing her chin out of my grasp.
I fall silent.
With a sigh, Amara quickly gathers her things and gets out of the car, making a beeline for the door into the building.
I give her a second before following, catching her right as she entered the elevator.
And I immediately shut the elevator down, the lights dimming as it comes to a stop.
Turning, I watch her eyes grow weary as I take a step toward her, capturing her against the wall.
“I know that we’re both trying to figure things out here,” I say, bringing myself eye-level with her. “But I think we can both agree that one of the last things either of us wants to do is air out our dirty laundry, right?”
She nods, her jaw ticking as she looks up at me with a look that I can’t quite describe. I’m not sure if it’s her trying not to punch me, or her hoping I’ll kiss her.
“Then why don’t we just pretend like we’re a couple falling in love for the rest of this show, and figure it out after. Give them what they want with minimal issues. Make sure they don’t have anything that they could use to make us look bad, and if you want to run off into the sunset without me after this, then so be it. But at least we can say that we gave it all we’ve got with no regrets, right?”
She nods again, no words leaving her lips.
“Okay, good,” I breathe out a sigh of relief, letting her go and flipping the elevator back on.
It doesn’t take long to walk through our front door to the cameras and lights. “There you are,” Eddy grumbles, his hands flying up.
“Go back outside the door and come in again. We need a clip.”
Exchanging a look with Amara, we step out, shutting the door behind us. “That’s weird,” I mumble.
“I’d like out of this fresh hell,” she agrees. I’m about to respond when I feel her cool fingers brush against my palm, sliding between my own.
She holds my hand so tightly that I almost forget to breathe.
Like I forgot that she ever let go all those years ago in the first place.
“Come in!” Eddy calls.
I’m not sure what Amara has had to drink lately, but she’s been on a roll.
“Oh, he was amazing,” she says, her eyes wide. I’ve never seen her so animated and, maybe, excited? At least, not in a long time.
She almost looks as if she’s enjoying this.
“I haven’t seen him play in a long time,” she looks at me with a smile that sends a ringing through my skull. “It was genuinely the best thing in the whole world. Seeing someone you’re falling for playing football, a game they love?” She places her hand on her heart, closing her eyes. Her dimple deepens, and all I want to do is kiss it.
“Cooper, how does it feel to have someone there supporting you?”
I flex my leg, my fingers brushing Amara’s arm as mine drapes over her. “I couldn’t believe it,” I say honestly. When I first saw her, I almost passed out. Forget the game. Forget the nerves. “I didn’t know she was going to be there. Seeing her there in my jersey was something else, that’s for sure.”
She looks at me with those wide, brown eyes that seem to see right through me, and I desperately wish everyone were gone. That I could ask her if she’s telling the truth.
