Chapter Ten #3
Her phone was on the floor.
For once, she did not care where her laptop was.
Tyler’s fingers moved lazily through her hair.
“You awake?” he murmured.
“Barely.”
“I have an important question.”
“If it’s about whether Jack can sleep with the trophy, the answer is no.”
“He’ll be devastated.”
“He’ll recover.”
Tyler’s chest moved beneath her cheek with a quiet laugh. Then he sobered. “Where do you want to live?”
Hailey lifted her head.
He looked adorably nervous for a man who had won a championship that afternoon and convinced her to stay in California by evening.
“I don’t mean here,” he said quickly. “Unless you want to. But not right away. Or yes, right away, if you want. I’m flexible. This house is small, but there’s room. I mean, not a ton of room, because of the volleyballs, but I can move the volleyballs. Some of them.”
Hailey stared at him.
“You’re rambling.”
“I know.”
“It’s cute.”
“It feels undignified.”
“It is.”
He winced.
She smiled and touched his chest. “I don’t know yet.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll probably need my own place at first.”
“Okay.”
“Something near the beach. With a real desk. And enough room to run a business without using my bed as an office.”
He nodded solemnly. “Professional.”
“Very.”
“And I can visit?”
She pretended to consider. “Occasionally.”
“Occasionally?”
“If you behave.”
“I just won a championship. My behavior is excellent.”
“Debatable.”
He rolled her gently beneath him, bracing himself on one arm. “I’ll prove it.”
Her pulse warmed.
“You are very confident for a man who almost knocked over his own trophy.”
“I saved it.”
“Barely.”
“I perform under pressure.”
Hailey laughed, and he kissed her until the laughter dissolved into a sigh.
The rest of the night unfolded slowly.
Tenderly.
Without hurry.
Outside, the waves rolled in and out, patient and endless. Inside, Hailey let herself be loved without turning it into a problem to solve.
When morning came, sunlight spilled across Tyler’s room in soft gold.
Hailey woke before him.
For a moment, she lay still beneath the sheet, Tyler’s arm heavy over her waist, the sound of the ocean faint in the distance.
She waited for panic.
It did not come.
There was fear, yes.
Of course there was fear.
There would be calls to make. Decisions to face. A boss who would not love losing her. An apartment to pack. A business plan to revise. A life to rebuild from the inside out.
But beneath the fear was something stronger.
Excitement.
Hailey smiled at the ceiling.
Tyler stirred beside her. “What are you smiling about?”
She turned her face toward him.
His eyes were still closed. His hair was a disaster. His voice was rough with sleep. He looked nothing like the golden athlete on the championship platform and everything like the man she loved.
“My future,” she said.
His eyes opened.
Slowly, he smiled.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
He pulled her closer. “Does it include me?”
Hailey pretended to think about it.
Tyler narrowed his eyes. “Careful.”
She laughed, then kissed him softly.
“Yes,” she whispered. “It includes you.”
His arms tightened around her.
***
Several hours later, Hailey stood barefoot on his porch with a mug of coffee in her hands while Tyler spoke to Jack on the phone inside. From what she could hear, Jack was insisting that the trophy needed shared custody. Tyler was refusing. Loudly.
The sun climbed over Santa Monica, bright and sprawling, turning the street gold. Somewhere beyond the houses, the beach waited. The courts waited. The ocean waited.
Hailey’s phone buzzed.
A text from Meagan.
Meagan: Amanda says you’re becoming a California woman. Confirm or deny?
Hailey smiled.
Before she could answer, another text appeared from Amanda.
Amanda: Also, I already checked. Greenwood PR Professionals works beautifully as a California-based sports/entertainment crisis firm. You’re welcome.
Hailey laughed softly.
Tyler opened the front door behind her. “What?”
“My friends are already reorganizing my life.”
“Do I need to be scared?”
“Yes.”
He stepped onto the porch and wrapped his arms around her from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder. “Good.”
Hailey leaned back against him.
For years, she had thought ambition meant never stopping. Never needing. Never choosing anything that could slow her down.
But maybe ambition could look like this too.
A beach house porch.
A business with her name on it.
A man who made her laugh, challenged her, and never asked her to become smaller so he could feel bigger.
A life that did not require her to abandon herself to be loved.
Hailey lifted her phone and typed back.
Hailey: Confirm. But I’m not becoming a California woman.
Amanda responded immediately.
Amanda: Then what are you becoming?
Hailey looked at the ocean beyond the rooftops.
Then at Tyler’s arms around her.
Then at the sunlight warming her skin.
She smiled and typed the truth.
Hailey: Myself.
Tyler kissed the side of her neck. “Good answer?”
“The best.”
He turned her gently in his arms.
The championship medal was gone now, left somewhere inside with the trophy, the sand, and the proof of the dream he had finally earned.
But Tyler’s eyes were still full of victory when he looked at her.
Not because he had won the title.
Because she had stayed.
Hailey rose onto her toes and kissed him as the morning stretched bright and endless around them.
She had come to Santa Monica to escape.
Instead, she had found sunlight.
A champion.
A beginning.
And for the first time in her life, Hailey Greenwood did not feel almost anything.
She felt here.
She felt whole.
She felt lucky.
THE END