“Please, Cormac?” She squeezed my hand. “Won’t you just think about it?”
“It’s not that easy,” I said slowly. “I can’t just jet off during the conference finals like that, even if it is just a few hours away. Those days are critical.”
Her shoulders sagged, and she closed her eyes. “Right. I know that. Of course I know that.” She swallowed, then forced a smile as she brought her gaze back to meet mine. “It was just an idea, of course. I can’t believe I even thought of it.” She chuckled to herself, but the sound was anything but funny. “I would never want to jeopardize…I know how much it means to you. I’m sorry.”
I saw straight through the polished grin to the pain underneath, and it cut me like a fucking knife. The magazine spread would be huge to her. It played right into her target audience and would get her brand in front of the whole world.
“Seriously. Don’t even worry about it.” She cupped my cheek.
I wasn’t worried, I was working the problem through. She was right. There were two New York teams facing off in the second round, which meant at least one of them was moving on. If we beat Boston in this next round, half the conference final games would be here in New York. How long could the shoot possibly take? A few hours?
“Cormac. Look at me,” she demanded.
“I like it when you’re bossy.” I grinned, then brushed my lips over her forehead. “I think I can make it work.”
“What?” She scooted back across the bed, out of my reach. “No. I’ve been responsible for messing with your career once. I won’t do it again. Besides, weren’t you the one who said ‘long distance relationships never work out,’ and ‘I’ll never put a woman before a game’ and all that?”
“Yeah, well, past me was stupid, and present me is in love with you.” I shrugged and laughed.
She didn’t.
“You meant it last night,” she whispered, her jaw dropping a bit.
“Hell yes, I did.” I lunged across the cream-colored comforter and tackled her, taking her down and under me. “Was there a question about it last night?”
“Sometimes people say things they might not mean when they’re in the middle of some pretty hot balcony sex.” Her lower lip trembled as she cradled my freshly shaved cheeks, abandoning her phone.
My arms locked as I held myself above her. “Why? Did you not mean it when you said it back?”
Her eyes flew wide. “Of course I meant it! I love you! Just because you said it first doesn’t mean I love you any less. It just means you had the literal balls to say it.”
I laughed, then slowly brought my mouth to hers. “I love you, Bristol McClaren. I said it because I meant it, and I still mean it. I love you. Get used to it, because I don’t think that’s going to change any time soon. If that means I need to juggle a few things to make sure we can both get what we need, then I’ll juggle. You can depend on me.” The kiss was long, slow, thorough, and as usual, never enough.
She sighed, running her fingers through my hair. “We’re together, then? This isn’t just sex? And yes, I know how high school that sounds, but I just need to know.” Her touch softened.
“I’m hoping we’ll still keep the sex,” I admitted. “It’s really, really good. But we both know it’s been more than sex for a while now.”
She nodded and hooked one smooth leg over my lower back. “So what do we do about it?”
“Make it work,” I answered. “I’m still not a believer in the whole long-distance thing. It hurts every day I don’t get to see you.”
“I know.” She tugged her lower lip between her teeth and raked her gaze over me like she was memorizing every detail.
“But here’s the thing.” I shrugged slightly. “It would hurt way more to never see you. It would kill me to lose you. So yeah, my heart is going to overrule my logical brain in this department. We’re going to make it work. Whatever this is, it’s ours. We’re together, if those are the words you’re looking for.”
The smile she gave me was worth any of the pain that might follow. Damn, this woman wasn’t just beautiful, she was exquisite. “I’ll fly down to Charleston on weekends when you’re at home.”
“I’ll fly up to New York whenever I can and more once the season is over.”
Her gaze flickered from my eyes to my lips. “We’ll make it work. And I won’t ever ask you to put me before your career, especially when I’m giving everything I have to Lusso right now.”
“Well, not everything.” I rolled my hips.
“Fine, not everything.” She laughed, then groaned. “How long do we have?”