Page 61

Tobie

“I’m going to see Javier,” I whisper.

Caleb smiles in his sleep when I kiss him on the cheek and slip out of his bed.

I’m bending to pull on my sweatpants when his fingers circle my wrist, and he tugs.

He kisses me. “Tell Jay I’m sorry for keeping you so long. I know you wanted to see him, and he wants to see you.”

“I will. Love you.”

The corners of his eyes crease. “I love you, Myers.”

I finish dragging my clothes on and slip out of his room. Only to halt when I spot the man in black jeans and a white button-down shirt leaning on the wall opposite, hands stuffed in his pockets. Javier.

His expression is impossible to read. “Hey.”

I think he’s happy to see me, but his dark brown gaze lands on me, then darts away again like a nervous butterfly. “What’s wrong?”

“Reid said you were back,” he says. “He said you would probably come to me yourself, and I told myself to let you do that, but?—”

I don’t care if he’s happy to see me. I’m happy to see him .

“I missed you so much.” I walk into arms that open the moment I move toward him. And I breathe in the scent of his skin, my eyes burning as I wrap my arms around him. I don’t know how close I came to losing them all, but it was close. Too close.

“I missed you, too, Gatinha, ” he says against my hair, squeezing me tight enough to hurt.

I peer up at him. “I was going to come see you sooner, but I fell asleep in the shower and I have no idea what time it is.”

“Not that late. Around five.” He steps back and takes my hand. “Let’s go.”

I don’t move.

“Tobie?”

Because I’m looking for it, I see it. Guilt. Suddenly, his unreadable expression makes sense. “I just spent God knows how long beating myself up for Caleb winding up in the hospital.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” he says instantly.

“And me running away wasn’t yours.”

His smile drops. “I should have told you about Daniela turning up. Then it wouldn’t have mattered what picture your ex took. You’d have known why she was here and what she was trying to do.”

“She made the biggest mistake she’s ever made, and she can’t let it go.”

He cradles the side of my face. “And the mistake was?”

“Letting you go. That’s why she keeps coming back, and it’s why she can’t move on with her life.”

“What makes you so sure that’s what it is?”

“I know you, Javier. If I lost you, I’d be kicking the biggest can of regret you’ve ever seen down the street.”

His laugh shakes his entire body, and he hauls me into his arms, giving me a hug so all-encompassing I never want it to end. “I love you.”

“I love you too. I don’t know that I deserve all this love, but I will always be grateful for it.”

“More,” he softly corrects me. “You always deserve more.”

And I ruin the moment by yawning so wide my jaw cracks.

He grins at me, slides his arm around my shoulder, and tucks me against his side. “You should have stayed in bed, Gatinha . Not come to see me.”

I yawn again as he leads me down the hallway. “I wanted to see you. Caleb said sorry for keeping me so long.”

He kisses the top of my hair. “It’s an easy thing to do. Reid said he would swing by his room in a bit and bring him some food. We’ve been keeping an eye on him as much as he’d let us, but he’s never been good at staying still and resting up.”

“More soup?” I grin up at him.

He chuckles and presses the button to call an elevator. “Maybe one day Caleb will tell Reid to quit with the soup. I think he’s afraid of what else Reid will bring him if it’s not soup.”

“Are we going back to my room?” I’d never been to Caleb’s room before, but I was so excited to see him that I didn’t even think of the elevator. I charged up four flights of stairs and nearly died. My poor thighs have never worked so hard.

“Nope. Or mine. We’re going somewhere a little nicer than a dorm room.”

Fifteen minutes later, we’re in his car, headed downtown, and he has my hand in his as if he can’t let go of me for a single moment.

Changing gears goes slowly because of it.

“It might be easier if you weren’t holding my hand,” I tell him.

“It would,” he agrees, brushing a kiss across my knuckles. “But then I wouldn’t be holding your hand.”

I smile at him. “What happened when I was gone?”

“To Nebraska?”

“Reid told you?”

“He did. We had a couple of hours on the ice, talking about you and the game.”

“The arena is still open during spring break?”

“Contractors are getting it ready for the big game, and sometimes the team stays on campus so we can use the ice whenever we want.”

“I saw Caleb’s knee,” I tell him quietly. “He said it was healing, but it still looks bad.”

His smile fades. “Yeah.”

“What?” I ask, worried. “Is it Caleb?”

Javier sighs as a red light stops us. “He’s not a hundred percent. He’s resting and getting physio as much as he can, but Coach is thinking of benching him.”

A fist clenches my heart. “But it’s the big game. The one you’ve all been working toward for years. He has to play.”

“If Caleb heard you say that, he’d marry you on the spot, Gatinha .”

My stomach clenches. “Because I don’t mind hockey now?”

He kisses the back of my hand. “Because you understand him and what’s important to him. And you care.”

“Oh.”

The lights change, and we drive on. Downtown Lamont isn’t as hectic as it usually is. With most of the university emptied out for spring break, there are thousands fewer people in town than usual.

“What about you? Is your family coming to the game?”

He pulls to a stop outside a glass and stainless-steel hotel that stretches into the sky.

“I don’t know, Tobie. Nessa has been trying to convince our parents, but they’re stubborn. I finally told them how I felt about hockey and how much it means to me.”

“And?”

His smile is sad. “Nothing. I’ve heard nothing from them. I made my choice, and I guess it was the wrong one for them. Who knows when or even if I’ll ever see them again?”

“I could get Nessa if your parents agreed,” I offer. “You said they wouldn’t want her sitting alone, and she wouldn’t be if I went to Boston to bring her here. I would be with her.”

He tugs on my hand. “Come here, Gatinha .”

Confused, I unsnap my seat belt, and he urges me into his lap so I’m straddling him. A valet is standing literally right outside his window, but Javier neither seems to notice nor care.

“For that,” he says softly, leaning in to kiss me, “I would marry you on the spot.”

My eyes widen. “You don’t mean that.”

“There are fewer things I’ve meant more.” He gives me a searching look. “We all need to talk about what comes next. Together.”

“I know,” I agree, looping my arms around his shoulders. “After the game and once we’ve gotten Caleb better so he doesn’t miss it.”

He kisses me so long and deep that when we eventually get out, my knees give way. After he saves me, he tips the valet and leads me into the hotel, the glass doors silently sliding open.

I’m too busy ogling our sumptuous surroundings that when I glimpse my reflection in a mirrored wall, I blanch.

This is not the done-up Tobie.

This is the sweatpants-wearing, hair just short of a tangle, glasses not sitting straight on my face version of Tobie, safe for my dorm room on a weekday evening when no one will see me but Max. And I didn’t even realize it until now.

I’m not just out in public. I’m in a five-star hotel.

“ Gatinha ?”

My eyes fly to Javier. “Yeah?”

He draws me closer to his side. “Everything okay?”

I try to work out how to tell him I can’t believe I’m out here looking so scruffy. It’s hard to do with the woman at the front desk literally right there .

And then I realize I don’t care.

Not as much as I would have before.

Not because three men love me, and I love them. Or… not only.

Because over this last semester, I started to accept me for me. Not just my body, my wants and needs, but all of it. So what if I’m out in sweatpants with my hair a tangled mess?

I’m never going to see this woman again, and the only people who I want to think I’m beautiful do.

I squeeze his hand. “Fine. Everything is fine.”

He gives me a longer look and refocuses on the blonde at the check-in desk. “We’re staying for the night. Late check out. I’ll want the room with the best views and amenities. You want a pool, Tobie?” he asks me.

Shit, this hotel is insane.

“Um, I guess if there’s one available,” I say, playing it cool.

“Not all rooms here come with a pool,” he explains with a smile.

“We have the penthouse suite with the infinity pool available,” the woman says.

Javier pulls a black card from his wallet and slides it across the counter. “We’ll take it.”

Upstairs, I’m relaxing in an infinity pool with insane views overlooking the city, but I’m not interested in those views. I have my arms crossed on the edge, chin resting on them, watching Javier as he stretches out on the bed.

I asked him to join me, but he said if he got in this pool with me, the last thing I’d be doing is resting.

He’s still fully dressed, though he’s kicked off his shoes.

“Javier?”

“ Gatinha ?”

“Why do you like buying me things? And you ask me how I feel after.”

He studies me for a beat. “Would you prefer if I stopped?”

I take in the lap of luxury we’re in, and I’d be an idiot to say no, please keep your money and take me away from this disgusting place.

“Not really. I’m just confused. I’m not used to someone being so generous. And I figured rich people like to hoard all their money like gremlins.”

His lips kick up in a grin. “ Gremlins ?”

“Shut up,” I grumble, embarrassed at what now seems like a stupid thing to say.

He gets up and walks over to me, sitting on the edge of the pool, and pulling the legs of his pants up before he slides them into the warm water. “Come here.” He holds out his hand to me.

“I’ll get you wet,” I warn him.

“Then I’m wet.”

I take his hand, and he pulls me toward him until I’m resting my chin on his thigh, and he’s combing his fingers through my hair. He doesn’t seem to care that I’m soaking his pants.