Page 82 of Astor Hill

“And how would that work?” I ask him, pretending to pick a piece of lint off his shoulder. “With me still at school and you…” I glance away, the reminder that a life of professional basketball also means one where he’s frequently gone. “... on the road.” I look back up at him, surprised to find him grinning.

“Well,” he starts, his hands traveling down my back until they rest, somewhat possessively, on my ass, “Astorisonly less than an hour out from the city. So you could commute. And I—” he pauses, regarding me seriously. “I will always make coming back to you a priority, Liv.”

“And once I’m done with school?” I ask him, my heart in my throat. We’ve talked around this before, but one of us has always veered the conversation in a different direction. Like we haven’t wanted to scare each other with the implication of us, long term.And I don’t know if it’s the Bing Crosby, or the snow outside, or that I’m meeting his family next week, but I want to know.

“And once you're done with school… I would never ask you to stop your life for me, Liv. So if staying here, or moving to wherever, is what you want to do, then we’ll figure it out. And if you want to come on the road with me, then we’ll figure that out, too. Whatever it is,” he tells me, brushing a strand of my hair back, “we’ll figure it out. Together,” he grins.

“Together,” I sigh, wrapping my arms around his neck. “I love that sound of that,” I whisper in his ear, my lips trailing the side of his neck before he sweeps them up in an all too brief kiss.

“We have lots of time to do lots of things together, Beckett,” he smirks, that charming smile of his almost enough for me to forgive the way he redirects my advances. “But if traffic is anything like it usually is, we’ll barely make it before they close the doors.”

I groan, knowing he’s right, but not before mentally calculating just how icy Gen would be toward me if she found out I was late. With the newness of our friendship, it’s not worth the risk.

“You know…” he starts, his eyes twinkling with mischief, “Pop’s town car has a pretty good privacy screen from what I remember.”

“And you’re just now telling me this?” I grab his hand, leading him toward the front door. “Whenyou make the first draft pick, I expect a town car with a privacy screen to be the first thing we buy.”

“Oh, I already have ideas on the first thing I will buy.” He kisses my hand, I swear I feel his lips brush purposefully against my ring finger.

I grin up at him and his eyes sweep over me like I’m his most prized possession. Like everything could go to hell, but as long as we are here together everything will be okay. He laces hisfingers through mine as he leads me into the courtyard, the trees glistening with Christmas lights as the first snow of the year makes its way down, a flake hitting the tip of my nose. He gently uses the pad of his thumb to wipe it away.

“I love you, Olivia Beckett,” he says, the tenderness of his gaze warming me despite the cold outside.

I wrap my arms around his neck and meet his gaze, unable to stop the grin from spreading across my face. The perfection of this moment isn’t squandered on me, the lights twinkling around us like a universe in which only we exist as a white blanket of snow seems to envelope the world at our feet.

I stand on my tip toes, grazing his lips with mine as I whisper, just for him to hear, “I love you too, Ben Cabot.”