Page 143 of On the Breakaway

His voice is quiet when he says, “If I’m being too clingy, you can tell me. I know we’re not, um... together, exactly, but–”

“It’s not that.” I cut him off before he finishes.

My chest aches because the truth is the exact opposite.

“Clingy is good,” I admit, leaning my shoulder against the hallway wall as I stare out at the patterned carpet stretching toward the elevators. “This is good.”

We sit in comfortable silence with nothing but the soft hum of the hotel air conditioning and the distant ding of an elevator somewhere down the hall.

Then he chuckles. The sound is low and warm, and the tension drains from my body immediately.

“Then hi, baby.”

God, I’m in trouble.

I push away from the wall and head toward my room.

“Congratulations on the win,” I say, desperate to steer my brain toward safer territory. “That overtime goal was insane.”

“Thanks.”

I can hear the grin in his voice.

“You looked pretty happy afterward.”

“You watched?”

“I watched.”

I roll my eyes even though he can’t see it.

“Hopefully we can finish it next game. Not quite a sweep, but four-to-one isn’t bad.”

“You play them away next?”

He groans. “Unfortunately. We leave tomorrow.”

The timing couldn’t be worse.

“Right when we get back.”

After ten days of hotel rooms, all I really wanted was to curl up beside him and finally rest. The thought of walking into my apartment alone suddenly feels far less appealing. I force myself not to examine that too closely.

The door to my room swings open, and I switch on the lights before kicking off my shoes and collapsing backward onto the mattress. The bed bounces beneath me.

Grayson must hear something in my voice because his own softens. “It’s only two days.”

“I’ve survived much longer than two weeks without seeing you.”

“That was before you liked me.” I can hear the smirk on his face.

My stomach betrays me with a ridiculous little flip.

“Who says I like you?”

Instead of answering, my phone buzzes. The incoming FaceTime notification lights up the screen.

When his face appears, I forget how to breathe.