Page 10

Chapter Ten

NATE

Tell me what a woman can give you that I can’t .

I mull over River’s words, letting them sink into my brain. For months, I fought the attraction between us, the obsessive need to be near him. It’s always been this way with us. Never a push-pull. The two of us yank so hard on the strings tethering us, seconds from colliding, our paths on an inevitable crash course.

River props his hip against his car door, holding my gaze. He bites his lip, patient as usual, with a look of fear scrolling his face. The look says, please don’t break me or my heart . But to do so would shatter my own heart to pieces.

I hook my arms around his neck and pin his back to the car window. He sucks in a sharp breath, still waiting for me to give him the answer he wants to hear.

Our foreheads touch as I lean closer and let our lips brush.

“Nothing,” I say because it’s true.

There is nothing a woman can give me that River can’t. If anything, he can give me more.

His lips part, about to speak, but I claim his mouth with a kiss that could start a war. Holding him against the car, I rock my hips, rubbing our hard cocks together.

My heart beats faster for him. It always did and probably always will.

I find the hem of his shirt and dip my hands beneath the soft fabric, needing the skin-to-skin connection to calm my racing heart. While my hands explore his chiseled abs, he shoves his fingers through my hair and tugs at the ends.

River doesn’t understand I will never let him go. Since the day we met, he was it for me. Back then, I didn’t know how I would need him, only that he would be mine forever.

River moans into my mouth and throws his leg around me, kissing me like he wants to devour me.

This isn’t just a kiss.

He’s claiming me.

“ Tu es à moi ,” River says between kisses, breathless as he mutters, “ Je suis à vous.”

I love it when he speaks French to me. The words sound sexier when he says them, but I have no idea what they mean.

This time, I need to know.

I steal my lips from his and smile, a real one that activates every muscle in my face. “Say it again, this time in English.”

“You are mine ,” he says in that deep, primal tone that fills my veins with fire, his green eyes laser-focused on me. I am yours .”

A flush of heat spreads from my cheeks to my toes, filling me from the inside out. River is not just mine—he’s everything. He’s the reason I open my eyes in the morning, the reason I kept going during my darkest days. River breathed life back into me when I had nothing.

My cheeks hurt from the grin tugging at my mouth. I kiss his right cheek, then his left, and press another to his nose. “Fuck, you’re hot. How did I not notice it sooner?”

He smiles. “Because you had your head up your ass.”

“Give me your keys. I’ll drive us home.”

River stuffs the keys into my palm.

I steer him around to the passenger side and open the door, tapping his ass. “Get in. I’m taking you to dinner.”

River’s eyes light up. “Like a date?”

I roll my shoulders. “Sure, if you wanna call it that. We’ve eaten thousands of meals together.”

“Yeah, but this is different.” He sucks my bottom lip into his mouth and sighs. “We’re not just friends anymore.”

After last night, we’re far from it. There’s no returning to what we had before crossing the line.

“Which is good for me.” I palm his sweet ass in my hands. “I don’t fuck my friends.”

River laughs, and I love seeing his face illuminate after seeing him so damn miserable. “I’m your only friend, Nate. You’ve never had anyone else.”

“Didn’t need them. I had you.”

“You will always have me.” He moans as our lips collide. “I’m unsure about a lot of things, but not you. Never you.”

I give him a quick kiss. “Ditto.”

River gets comfortable in the passenger seat as I start the engine. He watches me the way he always does. Even as a boy, he stared at me as if I had all the answers.

“I have one more secret,” I confess as we exit the parking garage. “Samantha lied about her name. Her real name is Sofia Daly. The author of the book.”

River gasps. “Are you… what the fuck? Are you kidding me?”

I shake my head. “My dad sent me her picture earlier.”

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“I was mad at you.”

“Well, I deserved to know. We were… Fuck, we trusted her. We just walked out of her dorm, thinking we were okay because… Wait, is the NDA still valid?”

“Technically, it’s not illegal to sign an NDA using an alias. But in this case, I think the contract might be void. My dad and his lawyers are handling it.”

River scratches his neck and groans, “Fuck. She knows about us, Nate. We didn’t lie when she asked us if we were together because we thought the conversation was legally binding.”

“I’m sorry.” I put my hand on his knee to comfort him. “Try not to get too upset until we know for sure. My dad always finds a way to get what he wants.”

“I have to sign with a team,” he says, chest rising and falling faster, struggling to catch his breath. “I know you don’t want me to… But I have to do this before anyone finds out I’m gay. You saw the big deal the NHL made about Pride tape and jerseys. They’re not ready to accept gay men into the sport.”

While I know he’s right, I doubt they would reject River. He’s too good not to notice. Too good not to play professionally.

When River is on the ice, he’s in his element. He needs hockey. It has never been about the money or fame. My best friend was born to be a star and even better than his father. Denying him a spot in the NHL because of his sexuality would be a crime.

I think about what my father would do and how he would respond to threats. No matter what, he’s always calm and confident. He never shows any weakness.

When I was a boy, Dad handed me a rifle and said, “You’re either the hunter or the hunted, Nathaniel.”

So I fired the rifle.

I always shoot first.

River stares at me like he’s expecting me to make this easier for him—because I usually do. I promised to keep him safe, to protect him from our enemies because he’s mine .

“We’re the hunters,” I say with a smile, holding his hand.

He nods. “Never the hunted.”