Vegas Aces: The Wide Receiver Complete Series

CHAPTER 17 TRISTAN

It feels good to confess some of the trauma I’ve been dealing with to someone I trust as much as I trust Tessa. I’ve told very few people the truth about Savannah, only those I’m closest to, but somehow it just all fell out of me as she looked at me with those earnest blue eyes.

“Now you go,” I say. One confession for another. An eye for an eye.

She laughs softly. “I think that’s enough for today.”

Our server brings over our food, which I dig into hungrily. She pours about a pound of mustard on top of her cheeseburger before cutting it in half—one of the only people I’ve ever seen cut a cheeseburger in half before eating it, and mustard drips out the back of it as she lifts it to take a bite.

“Who was the man sitting next to you at your dad’s funeral?” I ask. “Certainly not your boss…right?”

She holds up a finger while she chews, and when she swallows, she says, “That was the married guy.”

My brows dip. “He’s married and he had the audacity to not only attend your father’s funeral, but he held your hand during it?”

She narrows her eyes at me. “How’d you know he was holding my hand?”

I laugh. “A lot of years separated us since the last time I saw you, babe. You really think I wasn’t studying everything about you?”

Her cheeks flush a little as she keeps her eyes on her burger, and I find I really enjoy making the color rush to her cheeks like that.

“The way your hair was so silky as it fell just in between your shoulder blades, a little lighter than you used to wear it but still beautiful. The way the black dress hugged your hips and didn’t give me nearly the view of your ass I wished it did.”

The flush in her cheeks deepens as she finally lifts her eyes to mine.

“The way you were even more beautiful than I remembered, and then when I finally got to you after an achingly long wait and held you in my arms for the first time in far too long…the way it felt so goddamn right even though so many years had passed, and the way it was far too short even though I took my time.” I shake my head as I try to push away the haze I feel thinking about that moment we shared. My voice lowers to a gritty rasp. “The way it all came back to me and how I wanted to kiss you more than I wanted to breathe.”

She lets out a soft gasp, and her eyes reflect the same desire I feel. She wants it, too…wants me . But there’s still something holding her back.

And I don’t know if it’s the thing that drove us apart seven years ago or if it’s something more recent. My hunch tells me it’s both.

Either way, I will get to the bottom of it.

The rest of our lunch is filled with small talk—details about her life as a nurse in Chicago, details about my life as a wide receiver in the NFL. On the ride back home, she’s quiet, both of us lost in thought about our lunch discussion and the confessions we made.

When we pull onto Oak Tree Lane and I park in front of my parents’ house, we both spot an unfamiliar car parked across the street—an unusual occurrence in this little town not to know everyone who comes and goes from our block. We’re distracted by that, but I have something I need to get off my chest.

I cut the engine, and she moves to pull the door handle to get out of the truck. I stop her with a hand on her arm. “Can I say something?”

Her brows dip as she waits for my words, and she nods as she pulls the hand on the door handle back into her lap.

I draw in a fortifying breath. “I just want to say I understand where you’re coming from. That married doctor from your office…he was an asshole, and to find that out at the same time you were learning of what your father was doing on the side—it’s a lot. But not all men are like that, and if confessing everything to the commissioner to get out of this joke I have going with Savannah would give me half a shot in hell with you, it would be worth it.”

Her eyes soften as she glances down where my hand is still on her arm, the heat flying between us despite the chill in the air. She lifts her chin so her eyes connect with mine, and I feel like this is our moment. I need to take it. I need to leap into it and stop being scared.

I lean in toward her, and I move my hand from her arm to her neck. Her hand comes up to cover mine, and I lean my forehead to hers. I draw in a deep breath as I breathe her in at this proximity. I tilt my head back a little as I gaze down at her, and I move slowly in to close the gap separating our lips.

I’m millimeters away from getting everything I’ve wanted for seven long years when a loud thump on the window beside her head shocks the shit out of both of us.

She gasps and I jump, nearly hitting my head on the roof of my truck. Standing on the other side is a woman I’ve never seen before.

“Stephanie,” Tessa murmurs.

My brows dip. “Stephanie? You know her?”

She turns and looks back at me, nodding. “She’s um…she’s my sister.”

She opens the door and greets the woman, and I’m still stuck in the moment where I almost kissed her.

I blow out a frustrated breath.

Our time will come.

I hope.