Page 49 of Reckless With the Rookie
“Thank you for coming,” he says.
I put my coat and bag on an empty chair at our table and sit down.“Thanks for the invite.”
He sits down, too, and our server comes over to take my drink order.
I request a glass of white wine to soothe my nerves.I’m careful about how much I drink after growing up with a mother who wasn’t.I don’t drink often, I never drink alone, and I never have more than one drink in a day.
He clears his throat, saying, “I wanted to take you on a date so we could talk alone, but I thought you might not want to come, so I asked Jules to help.”
I knit my brows together, confused.“Why did you think I wouldn’t want to?”
“For the same reason I’ve gone back and forth about asking you out since the night I fed you dessert.”
The server brings my glass of wine and I take it before she can set it on the table, taking a drink.I set the glass down, then pick it back up and take another drink before I speak again.
“For me, it’s about my kids.And honestly, if you’ve hesitated to ask me out because of my kids, that hurts.”
A wrinkle appears between his brows and his lips part with surprise.“No, I meant my contract situation.I might not be staying in Cleveland.Your boys are on the list of many reasons I do want to ask you out, Blair.”
The relief I feel is physical.Maybe I was being defensive, but it’s kind of a reflex for me.
“Oh my god,” I whisper, my heart pounding with excitement.“Did you get a contract with Cleveland?”
He shakes his head.I cringe inwardly, wishing I hadn’t blurted the question out like that.
“The way hockey works is that Cleveland is the only team that can make me an offer now, and they haven’t.I do have interest from another team, but they can only have informal conversations with my agent until after the season ends.”
“Right.Okay.But you’re playing extremely well, so you’ll get something.”
He acknowledges that with a slight nod.“I’m going to level with you.I may not be staying in Cleveland.I figured I shouldn’t start anything with you if I might be moving.I’d never want to hurt you or Coop and Eli.But I did a lot of thinking on the road trip.After Elin was injured, I stayed in the Swedish league even though I could’ve come to the US.I wanted to be there for my family as much as possible.The only reason I came to the US was to make more money, because I want her to have the best rehab and care.I’ve never seen anything I do for my family as a sacrifice.”
His selflessness and sincerity are two of my favorite things about him.When I was younger, I thought cocky, sarcastic guys were hot.I was so wrong.
“I live at a hotel and save and invest every dollar I can,” he says.“There are things I don’t do because I’ve considered them selfish.I don’t take vacations.I don’t drive an expensive car.And I don’t really care about that stuff.But you ...you’re the one thing I’ve been denying myself that I want badly.”
The server approaches our table, but he puts up a hand, silently asking her to give us time, and she retreats.I lock my eyes on Magnus’s, trying hard not to get lost in their icy-blue depths.
“I keep my heart in a lockbox inside a lockbox,” I say softly.“I don’t take chances with it, because when I love someone, it’s with my whole being.I understand why you might have to move.I admire you for it.But I can’t risk the heartbreak, Magnus.For me and for my boys.”
He puts his elbows on the edge of the table, resting his forearms on the surface and looking at me intently.
“It’s early February.That gives us at least four months.If I have to play for a team other than Cleveland after that, it doesn’t mean we can’t be together.I know it would be hard.I understand if you don’t want to.But Blair, I’m thirty-one years old, not twenty-one.My shoulder’s not what it once was.Best-case scenario, I have a solid four more years in my career.I have a great money manager, and if I can get the kind of money the team that’s interested in me is offering, I can cover Elin’s care for the rest of her life and we’ll still be set financially.I’ll still work, too.I don’t plan to retire from hockey at thirty-five and do nothing.”
I lean back in my chair, reeling.“But ...we’ve never even kissed.You could meet someone in Seattle, and?—”
“How do you know about Seattle?”
My face heats.“Oh, I ...kind of saw it on Jackson Hodge’s Substack.The Chirp Box guys think you’ll go to Seattle, too.”
His grin is like the sun bursting over the horizon at dawn; it lights up everything.
“You’ve been following hockey news.”
I shrug a shoulder.“Well, there’s this superhot guy who has me interested in it.”
His expression turns serious again.“I’m a man of my word.If you and I are together, I can’t develop feelings for another woman because I won’t be single.I don’t take any of this lightly.I didn’t mean to meet the woman of my dreams while I’m living out of a hotel and grinding to get what may be my last contract.But it happened, and I know I’ll regret it if I don’t tell you how I feel and what I want.”
I dig my teeth into my lower lip, my mind racing almost as fast as my heart.What he said hit home for me.I’ve told myself it’s selfish to have a man in my life for years.I never thought I’d meet someone who cares for my kids, too.
