Page 107 of Against The Boards

“I didn’t. Well, not really. I just wanted the option to go to Boston if they traded me. If I have to leave Philly, I want to be near my family.”

She pulled away from me and wiped the tears from her eyes. “Oh. Oh, God. I’m an asshole, aren’t I?”

“No, you’re not. You have a right to be upset. I should have at least told you instead of catching you off guard.”

She wiped her face again. “I’m sorry for overreacting.”

I brought her hand up to my lips and kissed her tattoo. “I want to stay here. I want to be with you, and I will do everything in my power to do that, but…”

“What?”

“Your brother was right; this job can be tough on relationships. One minute, I’m lacing up my skates, and the next, I’m on a plane to a different city. I can’t control that, so if we’re gonna do this, understand it will be hard. This relationship will essentially be long-distance for half the year, and that’s with me living in the same city as you.”

“This will be hard,” she agreed.

She looked up at me with tear-stained eyes. I cupped her face and kissed her. “I love you. You know that, right? I love you so much, and I hate that I made you cry. It’s breaking my heart, but you let me know now if you can’t do this,” I said.

“What?” she asked, and her face fell into disbelief.

“Rox, I’m serious. If you can’t handle the hockey girlfriend life, maybe we shouldn’t have started this.”

“I love you. I don’t want you to leave me. I didn’t expect to find love so soon or with someone I hated.”

“To be clear, I don’t think you hated me. You loved fighting with me. You got off on it.”

That got a laugh out of her. “That’s not true.”

“Bullshit! You always looked at me like you weren’t sure if you wanted to punch me or suck my dick.”

That got me a playful punch in the shoulder. “I changed my mind. Go to Boston, you ass,” she said with a smile cutting through her tear-stained face.

I smiled back at her and pulled her into my lap. I rubbed her back soothingly while she leaned into me. “Do you want me to go talk to the GM? To make my case that I want to stay here?” I asked.

She shook her head. “No. Whatever happens, happens. I’m sorry I overreacted. Tristan always tells me I self-sabotage all my relationships.”

Huh. That was interesting.

“Not this one. I’m not letting you go. I told you, I’ll always fight for you. For us. We’re not breaking up, Roxanne.”

“You’re too good a man. I don’t deserve you, not after all the torment I put you through over the years. I’m such a bitch.”

She looked up at me, her pale face stained with tears, and it wrenched something inside me. I caressed her face. “I don’t care because I love you. You’re so worthy of my love. Don’t make yourself think you don’t deserve what I can give you.”

I kissed her hard on the mouth, sighing when she melted into the kiss and opened her mouth to my tongue. My hands went into her hair, wrapping that luscious dark mass around my wrist.

“I’m sorry,” I blurted out when I pulled away. “I hate seeing you cry because of something I did. It gutted me to see you like that. I’m sorry. Forgive me?”

“I’m the one who should apologize, not you. Let me make it up to you.”

I smirked at her. “Oh, no one’s stopping you.”

“Asshole.”

“Your asshole.”

“Damn right.”

“C’mere,” I ordered huskily. I pulled her into another searing kiss and showed her just how sorry I was.