Page 171 of Chasing Hope

I thought that by not giving into the bunnies all these years, that by not giving them an inch, they’d leave me alone and take the hint. They have, but it’s also done something I’m not comfortable with—it’s turned me into a prize. I’ve made myself into a damn unicorn and I feel like I’m under a microscope.

Who can bag the untouchable?It makes my skin crawl what the bunnies say about me.

Nothing can distract me from the attention, not even when I try to think about the close win we had—a very tight three to two, where Crawford scored in the last ten seconds. That is, until my gaze roams the room and lands onher.

The electric energy of the bar seems to brush off my skin as I home in on my best friend, the girl I have loved ever since I knew what it meant to feel such unending warmth in my chest for another person. Evie’s hair is glowing, her blonde strands swaying along her lower back as she throws her head back and laughs. The bar’s sounds dissipate the moment I lock on and hear it.

It’s music to my soul.

Walking deeper into the bar, I’m finally able to relax the muscles in my back, finally able to drop my shoulders, finally able to let go of the tension in my jaw as I stop at the booth. Evie’s radiant smile and spark in her eye make my heart leap.

My salvation. My joy. My other half.

“Hi, Dove,” I drawl.

Evie turns those glacial eyes on me, her nose slightly red from the cold.

Oxygen seeps into my lungs, my mind jumpingoff the hamster wheel it has been spinning on for the past hour. Everything comes to a slow stop as her lips part.

“Hi, Valenti.”

Sliding in beside her, I don’t care for everyone else’s seating arrangements—they can sort it out. All I care about is that I’m beside my girlfriend.

I search her face for any sign of anxiety or stress but come up short. Fisting my hands in my lap, it takes immense control not to touch her, at least until I know she’s ready to take the leap into the limelight with me.

“Have you seen?” I ask.

A slow dip of her chin. “It’s everywhere.”

“Are you okay?”

Evie leans back slightly, assessing me. “I’m used to being in the spotlight. It happened when Caleb was recruited and they thought I was a bunny,” she says with a roll of her eyes and a gag.

Snorting at the memory and how disgusted both Ellington siblings were, I lean forward and lower my voice. “This is different, though.”

“It’s a witch hunt.”

That’s one way of putting it.

Her hand slides along my thigh, my skin instantly pebbling, heat rushing through my veins. Swallowing the lump of emotion in my throat, Evie keeps her hand on me, her touch marking me as hers.

The corner of her lip twitches. “You can take the kiddie gloves off, Valenti. I can hold my own.”

“Are you sure? Because?—”

“I swear it.”

The buzz of the bar fades. The lights, the sounds, the people, the chatter—everything disappears and all I can see is her sitting in front of me.

Every pretense I had of trying to protect her from the chaos of my high-profile job goes out the window as she leans farther into my space and whispers against my ear, “Now stop being a gentleman and kiss me.”

“I’ll never have to be told that twice,” I say darkly before sliding my hand into her hair and pulling her against my lips.

Somewhere in the background I hear cheers and whistles but I can’t find a single fuck to give. Not when the woman I love has her lips against my own, not when her hand snaps out and fists my shirt, pulling me closer to her, and certainly not when I slide my tongue against hers and feel her moan against me.

I rip myself off her purely because I know we can’t get carried away and I’m one second away from dragging her out of here. I’m heaving, my forehead pressed against hers as I squeeze my eyes shut in pain.

“About time you started getting more handsy with our girl,” Cindy murmurs across the booth.