Chapter 62
Sixty-Two
Tweetie
We went to Tedi’s after the gala, and she packed a bag, then we came back to my place.
I ran out this morning and got us bagels. She’s still sleeping when I get home, and I watch her for a moment, loving the image of her sleeping in my bed. Her dark hair is strewn across the pillow, her arms tucked underneath. I love the fact she’s naked under that sheet because of our incessant need to touch one another as if each of us still can’t believe the other one is really there. Those light touches led to a lot more several times throughout the night.
I lean down and kiss her shoulder, but she pushes me away with her hand.
“Not yet,” she groans.
After last night, I’m not sure what to expect, other than that she’s going to lose her job, and I’m more than likely either getting traded or retiring. One thing is for certain—with Bud as the GM, Chicago is no longer an option for me.
My phone blew up last night in my guys’ text message thread—both Chicago and Florida—but I ignored them, just wanting to be with Tedi. We need to figure out this next step together without anyone else’s opinions or advice.
I go into the kitchen and put the bagels with cream cheese on two plates. I pour two cups of coffee and walk back to my bedroom, figuring I’ll take my time admiring her, waiting for her to wake up. She stirs, sliding over when she feels me climb into bed, and wraps her arm around my waist while placing her head on my side.
She moans and wraps one of her legs around mine. “Ew, sweatpants.”
I laugh, and she kicks my legs as she tries to get comfortable. I push her dark hair away from her face.
She peeks one eye up at me. “Time to face the real world?”
“I got you bagels.”
She lays her head back down. “I’ve been spoiled the last couple of years.” After a kiss on my stomach, she sits up, and when the sheet falls to her waist, I admire her tits out for my viewing pleasure. “That’s the first place we’re going when you visit New York. We’re getting bagels.”
“Visit?” I raise an eyebrow.
She gets out of bed, wrapping her arms around her body as if she’s cold, and tiptoes to my closet. She grabs a sweatshirt and puts it on before crawling back into bed.
“I don’t want to be presumptuous,” she says, sitting against the headboard, crossing her legs, and grabbing her plate to bring it closer.
“Be presumptuous, Tedi.”
She glances at me, then back at the bagel, taking off the paper. “Then I would say when we visit together. A weekend trip maybe.”
I tilt my head, not understanding.
She sighs and concentrates on getting her bagel free of the parchment paper. “I don’t think I can do long distance.” She slowly lowers the bagel to the plate and places it on the nightstand. Swiveling, she faces me but doesn’t look me in the eye. “I made my decision when I agreed to start us back up. And I don’t want you to fight it. This is what I want, and it has nothing to do with what happened… well, that’s not true.” She grows quiet again.
“Tedi, you can tell me anything.” I place my hand in hers, and she cups her other hand over mine. “I want us to do this together. Make these decisions together because we come first.”
“I’m going to resign.”
“No.” I shake my head, and she tilts hers.
“I told you that you couldn’t fight it, and I don’t have a lot of choice. I’m probably going to be fired if I don’t anyway.”
“Fuck, Tedi, I hate this.”
She picks up my plate, reaches over me to put it on the nightstand, and climbs into my lap. “Listen, the minute I went to your hotel room in Anaheim, I knew a decision had to be made with my job. When I was reading your journal, I saw how stupid I was for not going to Nashville. I was so hell-bent on being independent and not needing anyone that I just threw us to the wayside, expecting us to survive. There’s no reason I couldn’t have found another job. I’m a talented woman.”
I laugh, and she does too.
“And the same applies now. I found my love of working in the hockey industry because of you, doing your social media and all the Florida Fury players. So it was a natural progression for me to get to the national office, but I can find another job in a different market. You can’t. You have a few years left, maybe more if you keep working out like you are.”
I smirk, my hands falling to her hips.
“So, I’m going to follow you. That is, if you want me to.” She raises her eyebrows.
My hands glide up her body until they’re cradling her cheeks. “I don’t want you to have to make that sacrifice.”
“I’m not. You trump it all. I want this more than I want anything else. And I’m confident I’ll find my footing and the place I’m supposed to be. But I don’t want any of that if I don’t have you.”
“I’m prepared to retire,” I admit, and I am.
She laughs and shakes her head. “And I would never be able to live with myself. Plus, I’m invested now. I’d like nothing more than for Bud Caldron to eat his fucking words.”
Fuck, how did I ever get so lucky to get her?
“Are you sure?”
She inches forward on my lap, and even through my sweatpants, I feel the heat of her bare center. “I’m positive. Now, kiss me so I can go eat my mediocre bagel. And don’t take that as I don’t appreciate you getting it for me. You’ll understand when you have a New York bagel.”
I’m not an idiot, so I do what she says, and I seal our future with a kiss.