he might in the spring. If he can get more sponsors and funding for the tournament, he’d like to hire someone to coordinate the event while he deals with the daily functioning of the facilities.”
“You would be amazing at that.” Her smile was shaky but genuine. “Then again, you’d be amazing at anything you chose to do, Lucas. You have to know that.”
Fuck. If she kept being so sweet, he wouldn’t be able to finish this without either kissing her or crying.
Squeezing her hand steadied him. “I volunteered to help him plan and promote the event this fall, so I can get a better sense of what the job would entail. But I think I would enjoy it, and I think it would suit my strengths. The ones you forced me to enumerate in detail, because you’re relentless and loving and fierce.” Unable to resist, he pressed a quick kiss to her soft lips. “In the meantime, he said he could hook me up with people who might want coaching from a former top-five player.”
“You’d have work in Marysburg,” she said slowly.
He inclined his head. “I’d have work in Marysburg. I could line up clients ahead of time, before the end of my contract here.” Ducking down, he made direct eye contact, because this was important. “Let me be clear, though. Whatever you decide tonight or next week or next month, I’m leaving this island at the end of the year. When that happens, I’d like to move to where you are. If you object, I won’t. But I’ll still leave here, even if you don’t want a life together. I’ll still adopt a school, even if it’s not yours. I’ll still find work I love in a community where I can set down roots, even if it’s not Marysburg.”
Her hands weren’t trembling anymore, or cold. When she intertwined his fingers with hers, their warmth felt like a benediction.
Maybe this time, he’d aimed true.
Maybe this time, he was winning more than a point.
“All this”—he pointed to the laptop screen—“is about you. I won’t deny that. But it’s also about me and the kind of future I want. I’m not simply drifting passively in your wake, Tess. I want to be your partner. In every sense of the word.”
He leaned forward. Another two taps on the touchpad, and the e-mail he’d written the resort’s recreation supervisor appeared on screen. “No matter what, I’m taking several weeks off this fall. If necessary, I could spend that time looking for work and housing outside Marysburg, but I’d rather spend it with you instead.” When her forehead creased anew, and her lips parted, he held up a staying hand. “I know you can’t take that amount of vacation during the school year, and I don’t want you to. My goal is for us to experience a few weeks of your normal schedule together.”
This time, she didn’t even try to interrupt. Instead, she appeared to be waiting patiently until he was done, her eyes wet, her lush mouth tipped at the corners with the beginnings of a smile.
“Consider it a test run. I can stay at a hotel, or I can stay with you. Either way, I’ll volunteer with Sasha, nail down plans with the players’ association, and look at rental housing while you’re at work. Maybe I’ll even schedule a few lessons with potential clients. The evenings and weekends, we can spend together, and if you need to work at home or decide to have dinner with your friends instead of me some nights, so be it. I want a real taste of what our life together would be like.”
One by one, he was anticipating her objections and fears. Controlling as many of the variables as possible, so she could take a risk and give them what they both wanted.
“The visit might be disastrous.” He smiled at her. “But I doubt it. Either way, we’ll know more than we do now.”
Lifting their joined hands, he pressed them over his heart.
It wasn’t really his, though. Not anymore. Not for almost two weeks now.
“One more thing.” Softly, he rubbed the tip of his nose against hers. “I love you. You can tell me it’s too fast, too much, but that won’t change anything. It’s a fact. A scientific truth. The sun rises in the east and sets in the west, the tides come and go, we’ll eventually grow old and die, and Lucas Karlsson loves Tess Dunn.”
Her cheeks were damp now, her voice thick. “I think