“No Maxim talk,” I said, and the smile fell off his lips. “Not unless it’s about you and him,” I clarified. “Because while I’m more than willing to hear that story when you’re ready to tell me, I will not become a median between you two. Loyalty is important to me. So is family. I’m not going to be the go-between with whatever is happening between you two.”
Something resolved settled into his features, and my stomach plummeted the longer he kept those gorgeous lips sealed. God, why did I have to put a stipulation on it? Why did I have to blow my shot at spending more time with the man who legit drove me bat-shit crazy and deliciously wild at the same time?
Because you don’t want to come between them.
Right.
“Fine,” he said, and I swear the breath I released was heard even downstairs in the locker room.
“Really?”
The smile was back. “You sound surprised,” he said, leaning one muscled arm on the wall next to us. The motion brought him another inch closer to me, and if I wanted—which I so didn’t—all I’d have to do was reach up on my tiptoes, and our mouths would brush. “And excited,” he added.
I kept my feet firmly planted on the floor and fastened him with a glare for good measure. “Oh, yes,” I said, rolling my eyes. “I’m so excited to plunge myself headfirst into situations that literally incapacitate my body.” A tremble vibrated through my muscles. In truth, my therapist had been gently nudging me in this direction for a while. And the idea of doing it with him by my side? It didn’t seem as terrifying as I once thought. Why was that? Was it simply because I’d already been in one such situation with him before and lived to talk about it? Or did it have more to do with the connection I couldn’t deny pulsing between us?
“You don’t have to worry,” he said, his voice low and hushed between us. “I’ll take care of you, London.” He held my gaze for a few burning moments before he pushed off that wall and walked down the hallway.
Leaving me standing there breathless, aching, and this side of terrified.
“He wants to help you?” Savannah—my best friend and partner in crime—asked a few hours later as I sat across from her at her kitchen table. She also happened to be in the professional athlete career, having grown up with a dad who happened to coach the Raptors’ NFL team. She’d gone into contract management, and currently did so for Charleston’s MLB team, the Hurricanes. “Like…what? Take you to certain places and talk you through it?”
I shrugged. “I think so?”
It had been a couple weeks since his offer, and I was still mentally battling what would be the best course of action.
Savannah smiled, leaning back in her chair. “Hell, that doesn’t sound too bad to me,” she said. “If it helps you, then I’m all for it. I mean, you’ve been wanting to work on it forever. This condition might be the push you need.”
“I know,” I said, sighing. And how had he realized that from just that small encounter with me? Had it been that obvious? Or could he just understand me on a level I wasn’t used to? “And I agreed because I have to get him to stop trying to pummel his brother every other second…”
“But,” she asked when I hadn’t continued.
“But I don’t really know him that well.” And I hated the truth in that statement. I’d known Maxim for two years, sure, but he was nothing like Sterling. Maxim was all dark flames where Sterling was a bright, blazing light—almost like a star.
“You want to, though,” she said, eying me. “Know him better.”
I nodded. I’d never lied to Savannah, and I wasn’t about to start now. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about him since that night,” I admitted. “Not that I want anything from him. Honestly, the last thing I need is a relationship with someone on my team.” I shook my head. “But…friends? I wouldn’t mind that.”
Savannah looked at me like she might argue. Like she might call me out on what she could likely read in my eyes. That my thoughts toward Sterling were anything but friendly. Her phone rang, and she scooped up her cell, rolling her eyes as she answered the call.
“Yes, Maddox?” She had that professional tone she’d adopted since becoming the contracts manager for the