The Long Game (Seattle Sentinels #1)

Chapter Three

Lexi

I can still feel the lasting effects of Tucker between my legs after spending all night with him, doing things I’ll be blushing about on the plane ride home today, as I relive each spine-tingling moment. I know I’ll be walking like a duck to the terminal, but I don’t regret a second of it.

Still wrapped up in Tucker’s arms, he runs a trail of kisses over my shoulder.

"Don’t leave. Stay just one more day," he says.

"I’m sure you have a packed-full day of media. Everyone’s going to want a piece of you but I won't apologize for getting my piece first." I smile as I twist around in his arms to face him and kiss his lips. He pulls my naked body on top of him.

"I have media but no one’s getting a piece of me except you," he says as he grips my ass with both hands. "Stay at the spa or go sightseeing today and when I get done, we’ll spend the evening together." He pulls me in for another kiss.

"I'd like to, but I can't. The owner of the resort is flying out to the Grand Caymans to meet with me personally. I can't keep her waiting. I already delayed my trip a day to be here and watch you win a Superbowl."

"You should have told me you were here. I would have wanted you on the field with me when the cannons went off." he says.

My heart squeezes. "You would have kissed me?" I ask, surprised by his admission.

It's been years since we've seen each other, with the last time being at my family's beach house when he asked me to give up my dreams to be with him and I turned him down. I wasn't expecting him to leave his Super Bowl celebration to come find me.

"You were one of the first things I thought of when we won. I would have kissed you under the confetti."

I pull myself tighter to him. "Then kiss me now."

He does, moving closer to press his lips to mine, and then lets out a groan. "You're sure you can't stay one more night?" he asks.

I nod.

"Then we have a lot to talk about before your flight. I'll order breakfast," he says.

Tucker

I order breakfast in bed, trying to keep her naked under the covers for as long as possible as we catch up on the last six years. Most of which I knew since Luca, her older brother and my best friend since first grade, had patched things up from me leaving him high and dry in high school – opting to go to Ole' Miss instead of Alabama, like we had planned since elementary school. Once he realized that Alabama already had solid running backs and that Ole' Miss was in need of a standout RB, he understood that our best shot at playing in the NFL together, our real goal, was for me to play for a college where I'd get to show my skill. I still regret that he ended up hearing it around the school campus instead of from me. I didn’t handle that right and he had every right to be pissed. We didn't talk for a year. That was the longest year of my life. The Bensons are like a second family to me.

Tom and Shiela Benson are still my biggest supporters, though it's never been the same between Luca and me ever since I changed colleges. I still talk to Tom regularly, and the ice between Luca and I is finally thawing. I talk to Luca and Tom regularly now, and whenever they drop morsels of information about Lexi, I soak up every word.

Lexi knew a lot already too about my last six years. I guess that’s what happens when you’re in the public eye. My life was on full display, and I cringed at some of the headlines Lexi had probably seen.

Tucker Evans, Ladies’ Man!

Tucker Evans Spotted with {fill in the model or actress I was with at the time}.

Worst of all, were the headlines I was starting to get.

Tucker Evans; Commitment-phobe Playboy.

Will Tucker Evans Ever Settle Down?

Personally, it didn’t bother me, even though it wasn’t true. I could do commitment…but not with just anyone. I had a successful long-term commitment to my friends, my family, and to the football franchise. And for the last six years, making it to the top of my profession, hoping Lexi was watching.

The problem was that I knew these articles and occasional sports network comments were getting back to Lexi.

I could feel it in the few text messages when she would engage in the conversation. She felt further and further away from me.

That’s why I was surprised when her name lit up on my phone last night.

She was calling.

She never called.

"I need a timeline, Lexi," I finally say when there's a break in the conversation. "When am I supposed to know when it’s okay to sweep you off your feet again and ride into the sunset?"

Her hand stalls with her coffee cup up to her lips. I looked at her by surprise.

"Umm, I don’t know. Can we wait and see what happens this summer for the franchise? We know where I will be…we don’t know where you will," she says.

"I have the money and enough time off. I can live in two places at once, Lex."

Her eyes break from mine as she sets the coffee cup down.

"Say the word, Lexi. I’ll have my sister find me a condo in Chicago tomorrow."

Her fingers reach up to my lips and she smooths her fingers over them. The tenderness makes me angry I haven’t fought for this harder over the years.

"I know you would. I’m grateful for it. I don’t want to pull out of the gates with grand gestures and massive sacrifices—mostly on your part. And I don't think you've considered how my brother would take this news. Remember how he took it when he found out that you weren't going to Alabama with him? It's not something we can spring on him."

She has a point. Luca had sworn me off Lexi when we were eighteen. After I realized I had feelings for her when I saved her from drowning at the family lake house years ago. Those hours in the ER were when I realized I didn’t see Lexi as the younger tag-along anymore. She was a true contender for my attention, turning my football focus into something else.

I take her hand in mine. "It’s not a sacrifice for me to be with you. It’s just geography. Luca on the other hand…"

"Right," she interrupts.

"…is a grown ass adult. Just like we are. We’re not those kids at the lake house, messing around, anymore. He might not handle it well at first, but he’ll handle it."

Or at least I hope he will.

"Please, Tuck. Give it the summer at least? Then we can reassess the situation. I need to close this deal."

She’s pulling away from me, as always. I can’t let her go, not this time. "I won’t distract you from your work. I promise you."

"It’s not you I’m worried about. I’ll want your distraction. It wouldn’t be hard to put you above all else in my life. I could do it easily with zero hardship."

"I feel a ‘but’ …"

"But…" she laughs and pokes my chest. "I’m rarely in town during your off season. Summers are usually the best time to assess a resort's potential. See how they operate at max capacity. And if I land this next deal, it will be a huge boost to my resume when I try to go for the V.P. position. Word is going around that our current Vice President is retiring in three to four years. These next few years are the most crucial. The company has a lot of incredible talent that are qualified for the position. I have to stand out. Unfortunately, I don’t have a seasonal schedule like you. I won’t know from year-to-year where I might end up or how long I’ll be there."

If that was supposed to discourage me, she's going to have to do a better job because I just spent six years in the NFL to be right here with her.

"Perfect. In the off-season, I’ll come with you. We’ll make a long vacation out of it. I’ll test out all the spa treatments and food items on the room service menu and give you my honest opinion. At night, we’ll test out the strength of the beds." I smirk.

She laughs and swats at me but I know she’d enjoy that as much as I would.

"You don’t exactly blend in. It would be incredibly unprofessional of me to have my pro-football boyfriend following me around."

"Fuck…"

"What?"

"My dick just twitched at the word ‘boyfriend’. That’s never happened before." I rub my hand over my forehead, trying to grasp how hard I’ve fallen for a girl I’ve known all my life.

Her head falls back as she laughs.

She moves on past the dating titles quickly, and I’m both disappointed and relieved. Yes, I guess that’s what I’ve been asking her for. A relationship with titles. It just occurred to me.

It’s a little tougher than I thought to wrap my head around. I’ve been dodging women for over half my life, begging me for exactly that commitment. And here I am, on the opposite side, practically begging a woman for the thing I’ve been against since freshman year of high school. Except for the short stint with Julia Arnette in middle school. She thought football was a stupid pipedream. That was the end of that short-lived puppy love. That’s the moment I decided that women were trouble, and they would only hold my dreams back.

But not Lexi. She was the opposite. She was pushing me towards my career and instead, holding us back.

"You and I will barely ever see each other. At best, I’ll see you a couple times during your regular season when I have time to fly out to the west coast, which will be practically never. Then in your off-season, we’ll see each other occasionally when I’m in between projects, assuming I don’t have to put in my usual sixty hours at the office. Seeing you a couple times a year isn’t a relationship. That’s my regular scheduled visits with my gynecologist," she jokes.

"Yeah, and your GYN and I both know how incredible your pussy is."

She shoves my chest playfully but there’s also some frustration in it too. She thinks I’m not taking this seriously. I get it. But I’ve been on the other side of this where we don’t try and that’s not making me any happier.

"You’re not listening…" she says.

"I am. I swear I am." My hand slides slowly up her thigh. I never want to forget what she feels like under my fingertips. "But I can tell you from experience, distance is never going to make me want you less. Distance isn’t going to make me want to try less."

She looks like she is going to deny it. I react on impulse, standing and head over to the bedroom dresser. My typical dump spot for my wallets, keys… now added to the list, Super Bowl ring.

I don’t know if it’s from the lack of sleep, or if all the blood from my cock hasn’t returned to my head yet, but I reach for my ring and a roll of athletic tape, before climbing back on the bed with her.

I turn to her, and she sees the ring in my hand. Her face turns a little pained, her brows squeezing together and lips thinning into a line. She tries to give a bland smile to hide it. I should probably read into this more but it’s two in the damn morning and she’ll be on an aircraft before I know it, putting thousands of miles between us again.

"Oh…"

"Just…listen. I’m not proposing."

She audibly exhales, and I won’t lie, it kind of hurts.

"I need a sign, Lex. I can’t keep wondering what you’re thinking every time we end up in bed together. Every time we end up in close proximity to each other. I need a sign when I see you next, to know where you stand." I hold up the ring between us and she stares at it. "Wear the ring. I don’t care how. Wear it on a chain around your neck or as a toe ring for all I damn care but wear it where I can see it." I take the athletic tape and start wrapping a small sliver of material around the ring to size it a little closer to her ring size. I’m shooting for thumb or index finger but if it fits her ring finger, it would be a happy surprise. Not that I’m ready for engagement rings, yet.

"Wear the ring if you decide you want to be with me. But if you decide you’re done, if you decide I’m not worth fighting for anymore, send the ring back. This way, the next time I see you, I’ll know where I stand."

"You earned this ring, Tuck. I can’t take it."

"This ring means nothing to me without you. I get you and the ring or nothing at all."

"Tucker…" Her eyes fill with unshed tears. I don’t know what the tears mean and I’m not strong enough to find out. I pull her against me and kiss her forehead where the scar from the worst day of my life is barely noticeable along her hairline. But I know where it is…I’ll never forget the accident at the lake house where I realized my true feelings for Lexi.