Page 25 of Goal Line (Boston Rebels #4)

Eva rubs herself along my side and nuzzles her face into my chest like a cat who wants its back scratched.

The cute little moan she lets out has my entire body on notice, but then she lifts her head and looks up at me.

Pure panic floods her face and she mutters, “shit,” and springs backward so fast I’m afraid she’ll launch herself off the side of the bed.

Given that there’s barely room to stand between the edges of the bed and the walls on either side, I’d probably have to drag her out by her feet. The mental image has me chuckling.

“What are you laughing about? Did I drool on you or something?”

No, you’re just as perfect asleep as you are awake.

“I was just imagining how I’d get you out if you fell between the bed and the wall. ”

“Why were you imagining that ?” She sounds offended.

Because it’s better than thinking about the look of horror on your face when you realized you were cuddled up next to me.

“Because the way you just threw your whole body backward made me think it was a real possibility.” I turn on my side to face her. “How are you feeling this morning, Mrs. Hartmann?”

“Oh my god,” Eva groans. “Mrs. Hartmann is your mother. Do not call me that!”

“When in your lifetime have you ever called my mom Mrs. Hartmann?” My parents have always been Uncle Frank and Aunt Elise to Eva.

“Whatever, you know what I mean.”

My chuckle fills the space as she rolls her eyes.

Based on her reaction to me calling her Mrs. Hartmann, I’m pretty sure I already know the answer to the question I’m about to ask, but I ask anyway.

“Okay, what I really want to know is if you’re freaking out today like you were last night, or if you’re good now? ”

“I still can’t believe we got married. Oh shit...” She lets out a deep sigh. “We have to tell our parents. I wonder if they’ve been looking for us?”

“We each had our own hotel room in Vegas, so they may not have even noticed our absence yet. Hold on, let me grab my phone.” I scoot to the end of the bed and walk over to the couch.

My pants from last night are folded on the space where the seat cushions would be if they weren’t spread across the floor.

I find my phone in my pocket and check the time and my texts as I walk back to the bed.

Luckily, I’ve got no missed calls or texts. I’ve never been so relieved to have had no one reach out to me in the past twelve hours. When I turn back toward the bed, Eva’s got her phone in her hand and she glances up at me, a look of worry instantly turning into one of annoyance.

“I thought you said you weren’t going to walk around in your boxers once we were married?”

I glance down at my body, and there’s no mistaking that I’m semi-hard, like I normally am when I wake up.

It’s actually a miracle I didn’t wake up with a raging hard-on, given the way she was wrapped around me.

“Sorry, I didn’t think about it. Besides, how many times have you seen me in a bathing suit? ”

Eva always jokes about how short my swim trunks are, but I hate the way wet material feels when it bunches up between my thighs, so I don’t care. I didn’t wear longer swim trunks even when that was the style.

“Swim trunks and boxer briefs are a little different,” she says, raising an eyebrow. “I’m not going to walk around in my bra and thong, so you shouldn’t walk around in boxers—okay?”

The desire to tease her about her modesty is overwhelming, but I can tell she’s not in the mood for that, which makes me wonder what’s on her phone screen. So, I sit next to her at the head of the bed and make a point of covering my lower body with the sheet instead.

“I don’t have any messages. You?” I ask.

“Yeah, my mom texted me half an hour ago, saying she and my dad were going to the breakfast buffet before the flight home, and asking if I wanted to join. And then she texted me, like, ten minutes ago, asking if I was awake yet and reminding me what time the plane leaves.”

Eva’s family had come on our private jet with us, which means in an hour and a half, the car will be at the hotel to take everyone back to the airport. “We probably need to tell them before your parents start looking for you and panic when you don’t answer the knock on your door, yeah?”

She rests her head back against her padded headboard and sighs. “Yeah. God, I knew that breaking this news was going to be hard, but I wasn’t really prepared for how scared I’d feel.”

I glance over at her and give her a small smile. “Just remember how much easier this is going to be than if you had to tell them the truth.”

“I know,” she sighs as her shoulders sag, calling even more attention to the fact that she’s not wearing a bra.

I don’t dare tease her about the double standard—that I can’t walk around in my boxers, while it’s okay for her to sit here in a skimpy tank top without a bra.

Another time, that will be funny. But not right now, when she’s obviously on edge about having to break this news to our parents. “I just hate disappointing them.”

“So what you’re saying is, marrying me is a disappointment?” I say it teasingly so she won’t catch the vulnerability in my question.

“No, I’m saying that learning that I’m pregnant and got married in secret without including them will be disappointing to them.”

“Listen, Eva,” I say, turning slightly onto my side so I’m facing her. “How your parents respond is on them, not on you. You haven’t done anything wrong. Yes, you didn’t mean to get pregnant, but you’re dealing with it in the best way you can?— ”

She rests her hand on her belly, and her tone is defensive as she says, “I don’t regret this baby.”

I drop my phone onto the bed and reach out to cup the side of her face. “I know you don’t. I only mean that we’re doing the best we can in the situation we’ve found ourselves in.”

She tilts her face into my palm and gives me a small smile. “It’s weird to hear you say ‘we’ in relation to this situation.”

“That’s what it is, though, isn’t it?” My thumb strokes the line of her cheekbone and her skin heats under my touch. “Us against the world. We’ve got this.”

“All right,” she says with a slight nod. “Did we decide on how we want to break the news?”

“I still think my idea of a picture of our wedding rings is the best option. Unless you’ve thought of something else.”

“No,” she says. “You’re probably right.”

Reaching down to grab my phone, I find the photo we took last night, of my hand with hers crossed on top of it, both our wedding rings clearly visible. I tap the icon to add the photo to a text message and ask, “What do we want to say?”

She bites her lower lip, deep in thought. “Maybe, About last night... ?”

I laugh. “Are you trying to give them a heart attack?”

“I don’t know what to say! You write it out if you think you can come up with something better, College Boy.

” There’s laughter in her voice as she uses the nickname she gave me in the four years after high school.

Eva’s incredibly smart and was a great student in high school.

She probably could’ve had her choice of any college, and I know she feels a tad insecure that she never got her degree.

But there was no way she could have managed it while also skating competitively.

She’s taken a bunch of classes over the years, but never fully pursued a degree.

“I don’t think that a sports medicine degree is going to come in particularly handy right now,” I say. “But I’ll give it a shot.”

She laughs and leans in, watching over my shoulder as I type.

Luke

Eva and I made a big decision last night. We’re taking some time to figure out what our lives will look like moving forward, and we’ll be back in Boston in a few days. We look forward to seeing you all and sharing this news in person once we’re back.

Her body shakes with laughter. “That’s ‘selling it’? It sounds like we just signed off on a business agreement. You couldn’t sound less in love if you tried.”

I go back to the first sentence and erase it, then rephrase.

Luke

Eva and I have been keeping our relationship a secret for too long, and last night we decided to make it official. We’re taking some time to figure out what our lives will look like moving forward, and we’ll be back in Boston in a few days. Can’t wait to see you once we’re back.

“Better?” I ask, after I finish adding the last sentence.

“It’s fine for a text, but you better be sickeningly in love with me when we actually see our families again.”

That won’t be a problem .

“Obviously I’ll make sure I can’t keep my eyes, or my hands, off you. But you can’t seize up like a freaking statue, the way you did at our wedding, in front of them either.”

“I didn’t seize up!” she says as she swats my bare shoulder.

I didn’t want to push this last night on the plane, but it bears repeating. “Yeah, you did. Honestly, Eva, you’re going to have to get comfortable with me touching you and kissing you in front of other people. Otherwise, no one is going to believe that we’re in love.”

“Maybe...” She pauses, sinking her teeth into her full lower lip again. I can’t take my eyes off her mouth. All I want to do is lean in and kiss her.

When my eyes flick up to meet hers, the worried look on her face has me wondering what she’s thinking, and what she was going to say. I’m about to ask if she’s worried that we can’t sell this, but then she says, “Maybe we should send our parents that message and prepare ourselves for the fallout.”