Right as Raine (Aster Valley 1)

Mikey’s nostrils flared, and annoyance simmered in his eyes. “Yeah. That. That’s how Dad is. He’s all supportive and shit until it’s actually going to affect him and his reputation.”

“Has he been that way to you when you’ve brought guys around?”

Mikey let out a laugh. “It would take an act of god for me to bring a guy around my family. I’d have to be pretty sure he was the one. He’d have to love me like crazy in order to put up with the goon squad and my dad.”

Pim appeared with our breakfast plates as the word “love” echoed in my head. Falling in love hadn’t really ever been on my radar for this time in my life. This time in my life was about loving football and taking advantage of the opportunity while I could, while my body allowed it. My father had always drilled it into my head that “There’d be time for girls later, son.” But hearing the l-word spoken in Mikey’s voice did something to me.

I wanted to love and be loved. I wanted my life to be about more than my job. When Mikey talked about relationships and life outside of football, I began to realize how much I was missing. Time was passing, and life was short.

I pressed the side of my foot against his again and started eating.

12

Mikey

I had a massive crush on my boss. It was fine. Totally fine. This kind of shit happened all the time, right? Like… like when I had a crush on my last boss and jumped into bed with him like a dick slut.

Dick slut? Was that even a thing?

“You’re frowning again. Need help?” Tiller was stretched out on the sofa by the fireplace in the kitchen watching a game on TV. It had been four days since we’d hooked up the first time. Since then we’d spent every spare minute touching each other and trying to make each other come with our hands, mouths, or dicks. I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

I blinked down at the little tomatoes I was chopping. “No. I pretty much know how to chop salad tomatoes,” I said with a little too much snark. I was all mixed up inside. Even though we were fucking like bunnies, we hadn’t talked about the elephant in the room.

Tiller’s eyes widened. “Okayyyy.”

“Sorry. It’s just…” I let the words trail off as I tried to gather my thoughts. I didn’t want to be that guy who made a big deal out of a hookup. But I also didn’t want him to think I was a… dick slut is not a thing… serial boss-fucker.

Also, hopefully, not a thing.

“Mikey,” he said with a concerned tone in his voice. He stood up and came over to me. I put the knife down and wiped my hands on a nearby kitchen towel.

I stood up straight and looked right at him. “I want you to know I don’t normally do this.”

The teasing glint in his eye made my heart rate tick up.

“That’s funny. I’ve seen you chop tomatoes quite a few times. When you say you don’t normally—”

I smacked his chest, grateful he no longer had a sling there. “Shut up, you know what I mean.”

He grabbed my smacking hand and pulled it to his chest, pressing it over his heart and damned near making me light-headed. “You don’t owe me any explanations. I want you. Full stop. There are no conditions involved. Whoever you are or were or will be… it’s all irrelevant to how attracted to you I am and how much I enjoy spending time with you. I know we talked about how impossible it would be to pursue something long-term, but can we just enjoy our time together here in Aster Valley while we have it? I want to be able to touch you and kiss you and stay up late talking to you the way we do at home, but this time I want to be able to hold you while we’re doing it.”

His words made me feel special which was a rare treat. Tiller always made me feel valued and appreciated, but this was different. “Me too. That sounds really nice.”

“And I feel a little giddy getting you all to myself without Sam staying over or teammates dropping by for dinner.”

I stepped closer to him, moving one of my legs between his. We’d returned from a long walk in the woods and changed back into lounge pants, so I could feel the curve of his thigh muscle and the rough texture of his leg hair through the thin fabric.

I cupped the side of Tiller’s neck with one hand and kept the other on his chest. “One night, when the guys were over watching a replay of that week’s game, I got so turned on fantasizing about you, I almost came in my pants right there in the movie room.”