AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yeah,” he says with a nod. “But it’s all flexible. And of course, I’m okay with you bringing family along when you do travel. Hell, we might have the next Olympic champion on the way there,” he adds, tipping his head toward Lis.
“Hell yes, and that kid is totally wearing Holden too,” Jeff chimes in, making me and Lis laugh.
I suck in a deep breath, letting it out slowly as I try to process all of this. It’s way more than I ever could have expected, and I quite literally have no idea what to say.
“I’ll support whatever decision you make, Nick,” Lis says, her words low, her mouth close to my ear as though she senses how overwhelmed I am by all of this. “I just want you to be happy. It’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
I curl my hand around the back of her neck and bring her close, so our foreheads are touching. “Yeah, and all I want is for you to be happy.”
She smiles now. “I am happy. I have you.”
“Always,” I whisper, giving her a quick kiss, before I turn back to our guests. “I really have no words for what you guys are offering me. Honestly it feels like way too much and so not what I deserve. But…” I pause, lifting Lis’ hand and pressing a kiss to her palm. “I would seriously be honored to do both jobs. So if you’re really sure about this, I’m in.”
Jeff claps his hands together as Ethan smiles. “We are, Nick, absolutely. Welcome to the team,” he says, standing as he holds out his hand to me.
Jeff and Ethanstay for another drink, the four of us talking over our ideas for the academy and staff hires and plans for the future. I actually can’t remember being this excited over something in forever and I still cannot believe how fucking lucky I’ve gotten.
Just before they leave, Jeff hands me an envelope, telling me to open it when they’ve left.
“What is it?” I ask, turning it over in my hands.
Jeff smiles, pulling me in for a quick hug. “Just something you deserve, Nick,” he says, slapping my back.
After Lis and I say goodbye, Lis turns to me and asks, “Wow, that was…”
“Yeah,” I reply, still blown away by everything.
“We should celebrate. What do you feel like for dinner? Do you want to stay in, go out?”
“Um, pretty sure I know what I’m having for dinner,” I say as I close the front door, grabbing her hand and hauling her against me. Lis laughs, her hands resting on my chest as I slide mine down to her ass and press her against me. “If memory serves, babe, you promised you were going to make something up to me?”
“Did I say that?” she teases, hitting me with a smirk.
Chuckling, I lean down and press a soft kiss to her lips. “Yeah, you did.”
She smiles, pressing up on her toes to kiss me again. “Well in that case,” she murmurs.
“Hang on, let me see what this is first,” I say, holding up the envelope Jeff gave me. Lis watches as I open it, my eyes scanning the letter, my heart pounding in my chest as I take in the words.
“What is it?” she asks.
“It’s…it’s… holy shit. It’s compensation,” I say, looking at her.
“Seriously?” she asks, knowing neither of us believed this was something I would get. To be honest, we both just hoped for me not having to pay my bonuses back, neither of us wanting to be saddled with that much debt before we’d even got started.
“Yeah, seriously,” I tell her. “Says here that Holden went after the coach and the team admin. Damaging an asset apparently, even though he insists in this letter I’m way more than just an asset to them.”
“Holy shit,” Lis whispers.
“Um, yeah,” I say.
“Can I…I mean, is it much?”
I pull the check from the paperclip and turn it toward Lis, watching as her eyes widen at the amount, at the number of zeros there are.
“Oh my god,” she says, her eyes flicking back to mine. “Nick, this is…this…”
“This is fucking huge, babe!” I shout, wrapping my arms around her as I press kisses to her cheeks, her jaw, and her lips.
