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“Aspen!” Kendra half-yelled and let go of one of Aspen’s hands to knock on the desk behind her.

Aspen smiled, leaned forward, and cupped Kendra’s cheek.

“You are who I want, okay? All of you. I think you are amazing. You’re so smart, babe. You understand the game in a way not many people do. And you’ve helped us with that knowledge. You care about the sports you cover. And don’t think I don’t see you trying to cover as many women’s games as possible. I know you turned down some NBA games last year so that you could cover indoor volleyball, even though the network wanted you there. That’s badass, Kendra. Plus, you’re funny, and you care so much, and I just want to be with you.”

“How do you know it won’t be a problem later?”

“I don’t. But anything could be a problem later. You could end up hating me for any number of reasons.”

“I could never hate you, Aspen.”

“You know what I mean, though. We could do this for a while and end it because of something completely unrelated to this. We could also maybe last forever, and one day, you might just–”

“Aspen…”

“I’m not getting my hopes up. I’m just saying that it’s a possibility. Kendra, you know I’ve already seen it, right? Maybe for only a second, but I’ve seen it. The only thing I care about is that you are healthy; that what they did to make that scar fixed the problem with your heart because I want you to be around for a very, very long time. Like, forever, maybe, if you’re interested in that at all with someone. Or, me. Mainly me. I’m asking for me.”

Kendra chuckled and said, “I want forever with someone, yes.”

“Okay. Can we maybe try that, then? Starting with a date tonight?”

“You’re really not worried?”

“No, I’m not. But I’m also trying not to say that I’m not worried because I think we’re going to be just fine because you’ll tell me that you don’t want me to get my hopes up again.”

“Aspen, babe, I…”

“Kendra, you haven’t even noticed, have you?” Aspen smiled and picked Kendra’s hand up, turning it over in her own and kissing the inside of her palm.

“Noticed what?”

“In the car, after Mark’s birthday party, you unbuttoned your shirt. I didn’t look, but I noticed. I noticed that you did it, and that it was right there for me to see if I looked down. I’ll be honest and admit that I would’ve been looking at your cleavage instead, but I could have seen it. You showed me. I don’t even know if you noticed that you’d done it.”

“I forgot about that,” Kendra said softly. “I guess I didn’t notice, no.”

“I guessed that was the case because you just did it again right now.”

“What?”

Aspen pointed to Kendra’s white button-down. It had been buttoned up all the way to the top when they’d gotten into the room, but when they’d started talking, Kendra had undone one of the buttons. She’d just undone another one. She still had an undershirt on beneath it, so Aspen couldn’t actually see much, but she could see just a little of the scar Kendra seemed so worried about revealing. Kendra looked down and noticed it, too. She placed her hand over her chest and looked back up at Aspen.

“So, now that that’s out of the way, can you please go on a date? With me? Now?” Aspen asked, knowing that she was taking a chance.

Kendra nodded.

“Okay. I’m going to go out in the hallway and knock. I want to do this right. Do you want to change out of your work clothes? Personally, I’m hoping that you don’t because I think you look amazing in everything you wear, including that shirt, that hot-as-hell blazer, and those slacks that make your ass look great, but I probably shouldn’t say all of that before we go on our first date.”

Kendra smiled and said, “I’m good. You don’t have to go outside and knock, Aspen. I think we’ve done a lot of this out of order already. What’s one more thing?”

“We’ve done it in our order. That’s what matters.” Aspen stood up. “And I’m still going to pretend like I’m picking you up. On the plane, I checked out the area, and we have a few options, so think about if you want Thai, burgers, pizza, or French.”

“What do you want?”

“No,” Aspen said.

Kendra stood, so Aspen pulled the woman into her and kissed her on the nose before she wrapped her arms around her.

“You decide,” she whispered into Kendra’s ear. “Do you know that I don’t even care that we lost to Norway? All I wanted to do, when you told me that we needed to talk, was get back to you.” She kissed under Kendra’s ear. “I’ve never wanted anything more than volleyball before, but that’s changed now, Kendra. So, you decide where we go to dinner, and when we get back, I’ll decide on the movie we’re going to watch before sleep.”