sent to Florida. I’m lucky enough to be considered a franchise player, the kind of player a team can be built around because I’m thought to be really good. It’s why my contract is talked about so much. And, yeah, I have made it clear I’m open to offers from big teams.”
“So, you are leaving,” Olivia stated quietly.
His heart raced with thoughts of what was coming next. “Most likely, yes. Denver made an offer already when I was traded. They wanted me to sign a one-year extension straightaway, but I figured that was only because they were two centers down. And I’m keeping an open mind. But there are other interested teams too. Mainly East Coast and Canada. But it doesn’t need to be the end of us, Liv. I know how much the distillery means to you. So, we can do long distance. And all that money I earn that you hate to be spent on you can be spent on tickets. I’ll see you when we play the Rush, when we play out west. I’ll stop over when I can, you fly out to me when you can. Whatever happens with my contract isn’t the end of us.”
Olivia shook her head, and Anders’s heart sunk to the pit of his stomach. Did she want all or nothing? Because he couldn’t give her that right now. He couldn’t stay in Denver when he wanted to play elsewhere. But that couldn’t be the end of the two of them, could it?
“Liv. In case I’m not being clear here and you need me to spell it out, I’m falling in love with you.” Tears spilled over Olivia’s lashes and he used his thumb to wipe them away.
“You are?” she asked, surprise etched on her features.
“Yeah. I didn’t expect to, but here I am. Here’s where you tell me how you feel about this, given I just laid my heart out on a platter for you.”
“Of course, I love you, Anders, but—”
“There is no but, Liv.” He slipped his hand around her neck and kissed her as he allowed the weight of her words to steady his racing pulse. Relief flooded him when she kissed him back. In a matter of moments, he’d experienced a sliver of what it might feel like if she wasn’t with him, and it had terrified him. He broke their kiss. “There are just compromises we have to make. We’ll make it work.”
Olivia sighed deeply. “It’s a lot of compromises. I can’t leave the distillery. Not when they’re working through a mess I helped cause. It wouldn’t be fair.”
Anders shook his head. “I’m not asking you to right now. I won’t have to move to wherever I’m traded until the fall. That’s six months for us to be in one place. Together. The season lasts eight months if you make the playoffs and go all the way. And while I’d love for that to happen every year, the probability of it actually happening is low. I can come back here in the off-season.”
“I manage events, though. I don’t know how easy travel is going to be for me, and I need to put—”
“Liv. Do you want me? Do you want us?”
Olivia placed her hands on his cheeks. “More than you know.”
“Then we work out the rest as we go. I get it. You have issues from last year you feel you need to put right, which requires you to stay put. And it’s going to take a lot of time-consuming work to get there. And I’m trying to figure out where I’ll be next year, and to ensure it’s a place I want to go, I need to work my ass off right now. But somehow, we’re making it work, right?”
Olivia dropped her hands to his. “Something just dawned on me.”
From the look on her face, he couldn’t tell if it was a good or bad thing, and he braced himself for the worst. “What’s that?”
“Neither of us are living right here in this moment. I’m still in the past, still stricken by what happened, still focused on trying to make it right. Trying to be the woman I was before all this happened. Trying to find my way back to her instead of embracing me, here, accepting it’s possible for you to love me as I am right now. And you’re in your future. You’re thinking about where you want to go and where you want to be and the kind of player you can become.