Cam

 

I shouldn’t be here.

I should have been by myself tonight preparing for the game tomorrow.

But that had lasted for about twenty minutes before I said screw it. I was sick of going out of my mind over Reese’s silence. It was starting to affect my concentration on the game, something I vowed would never happen.

It ended tonight.

I would make her listen to me, one way or another.

As I stood in front of her hotel room door, the dinner I’d had earlier with my mom suddenly rushed back to me.

I approached the table in the hotel restaurant where my mom sat waiting for me. She greeted me with her usual warm smile and a tight hug.

“Hi, Cameron.”

“Hey, Mom.”

She was staying at her sister’s place while in New York, but she was kind enough to travel across the city to my hotel for a quick dinner. I’d seen her two nights ago after our Last 4 game, but had only spoken on the phone with her since.

“How’s Aunt Loretta?” I asked as we munched on an appetizer.

“She’s good. She and Phil are still getting used to having the house all to themselves now that Leigh Ann’s finally gone off to college. But everyone’s doing well.”

We made small talk for a while until she turned the tables on me and got serious.

“You know,” she said in a somber voice, “your father would be proud of you.” My fork froze in mid-air. “Win or lose tomorrow, it doesn’t matter. You’ve become a better player and a better man than he would have ever hoped. I just wanted to make sure you knew that.”

I’d been putting off this conversation far too long. It was time to man-up.

“Even if I don’t go on to play in the NBA? Would he still be proud of me then? Would you?”

She looked flabbergasted. “What do you mean?”

With shaky nerves, I proceeded to tell her the entire situation with my knee and what it meant for my future. Her expression didn’t become more and more horrified like I might have expected. Hearing that her son would not live up to the full potential she and her late husband had planned wouldn’t be something she wanted to hear. At least, I thought so. And I told her as much.

“Oh, Cameron.” She reached across the table and laid her hand over mine. “I’m sorry we ever gave you the impression that you had to go to the NBA. Or that we expected you to. That’s not the case at all. I just wanted to give you every opportunity to go if that was your dream. It doesn’t matter to me if you keep playing or not. All I’ve ever wanted was for you to be happy.”

Guilt slammed into me. “But you’ve worked so hard for my basketball career over the years. You worked long hours, took on extra accounts. I don’t want you to think that it’s all been for nothing.”

She chuckled and waved her hand at me. “My son is the best college player in the country. He’s playing in the National Championship game tomorrow. Do you think I see that as all of my hard work going down the drain?”

I grinned, tapping my finger against the tablecloth. “I just know that it was his dream for me to have this big, long NBA career like he couldn’t have. I don’t want to think that he would be disappointed.”

“I blame myself for that.”

My finger paused. “What do you mean?”

Her eyes got misty, but she fought back the tears. “After your father died, I was lost for a while. In the beginning, I wasn’t really sure if I knew how to raise you right. Your father was absolutely over the moon when I had you. He’d always wanted a son, and you two were always so close. When he was suddenly gone, I was terrified of screwing up and not bringing you up the way he would’ve wanted. So, I did everything I thought he’d do. I put you in those camps and tournaments. I went all over the place for travel leagues. I did all the things he’d always talked about doing with you. I guess I should have considered whether or not you actually wanted to.”

“It’s not that I didn’t want to do all of those things, Mom,” I insisted. “I love basketball. And you were seriously the best mom any kid could have asked for. I just learned a while ago that bad knee or not, the NBA just isn’t the path for me. I’ve been thinking lately that I might have more of a future in coaching.”

She let out a watery laugh as the tears finally fell.

I frowned. “What?”

“Not too long before your father died, he was watching you play at one of your camps. He turned to me in the middle of the game and said, ‘That kid is either going to be one of the best players in history or one of the best coaches in history. But either way, he’s going to leave his mark on the basketball world.’”

That was the moment I swear it felt like everything in my life suddenly clicked into place. My past, my present, my future, my relationship with my parents and with Reese. I couldn’t explain how or why, but everything just meshed together in a way that made complete sense.

“You never told me that,” I said, stunned.

“It didn’t occur to me until just now.” She smiled and patted my hand. “I promise you, he’d be proud of you not matter what path you choose. And so will I.”

That conversation had been a wake-up call. It was why I’d finally drummed up enough courage to confront Reese. If she forgave me and took me back, fantastic. If she rejected me and told me to go to hell…well, I’d just have to try again tomorrow.

Because I wasn’t giving her up.

With a deep breath, I knocked quietly on her door so no one heard me. Everyone on the team may have known about us, but I sure as hell didn’t want to get caught sneaking into her rom by Coach—her father. If none of the other guys were allowed to have girls in their rooms, I sure as hell wasn’t allowed to be in Reese’s.

I was relieved that she actually opened the door and—

Holy. Fuck.

She was wearing nothing but a white T-shirt that barely reached the top of her thighs. It was so thin I could see her panties underneath. Not to mention her puckered nipples that looked as if they were pointing right at me.

“Hi,” I said quietly.

She tucked her hair behind her ear. “Hi. What are you doing here?”

“Can I come in?”

Please, please, for the love of God, say yes.

She opened the door wider and waved me in. “Sure.”

It wasn’t overly enthusiastic, but I’d take it.

I stood in front of the bed and waited as she softly closed the door behind us. “Look, Cam, I—”

“No, no, I have some things I need to say first.” She lowered her gaze to the carpet and waved me on. “Okay, all that stuff you heard about your dad warning us to stay away from you… Well, I did stay away. But it was never about the fear of being benched or about wanting something I couldn’t have. I respect your dad, as a coach and as a person. I always have. And I was trying to respect his wishes by not getting involved with you.”

She turned her scrutiny on me, making me feel put on the spot. “I get that. But that still doesn’t seem like the full story.”

I sat down on the bed, not wanting to meet her eyes for this next part. “I guess another reason was because I figured you deserved better than me.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

I would have given my shooting arm for a fidget spinner right then.

“You were just this…this perfect girl, and you felt out of my reach. And I’ll be the first to admit I didn’t have a good track record with girls. I know I’ve hurt them—unintentionally, but it’s still happened. I didn’t want to hurt you, though. What I said that day in his office about being led around by my dick, I meant that for once, I knew I shouldn’t be selfish by just going after a girl I was attracted to if I wasn’t willing to give her what she deserved.”

She was silent for several moments. It was starting to unnerve me, so I continued.

“I did my best to ignore you, thinking it was the right thing to do. Hell, I was even an ass at times.” I finally raised my eyes to hers, waiting until she met mine. “But there is no ignoring you, sweetheart. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get you out of my damn head. That’s when I knew I had to have you or I’d go insane.”

She quirked an eyebrow. “Even though you knew you could be benched if he found out?”

I swallowed around my dry mouth. “Yes. Being benched seemed pretty insignificant next to maintaining the distance I’d tried to create between us. I was hoping your dad wouldn’t bench his best player just because he gave his daughter a few kisses. But it would have been totally worth it if he had.”

She bit her lip in thought. “So, I’m supposed to believe that the great Cam Donovan, reformed playboy extraordinaire, was being noble by trying not to screw me?”

Her voice was lighter than before, but I dared not smile yet.

“I once heard that being noble isn’t defined as being superior to those around you. It’s defined as being superior to your former self. So, I suppose in this particular case you could call that trying to be noble.”

This time both of her eyebrows rose to meet her hairline. “Quoting Hemingway now, huh? I’m impressed.”

My forehead scrunched in confusion. “Hemingway? I was just quoting a line from Kingsman: The Secret Service. It’s my favorite movie.”

A chuckle bubbled out of her mouth, despite the fact that she tried to muffle it. Sweet Jesus, thank you. Whether or not she still wanted to be angry with me, she was slowly thawing.

“Well, I’ve never seen it,” she said. “But they definitely got that from Hemingway.”

“I’m really sorry,” I said softly. “For not telling you everything. You were right. I had plenty of chances to and I should have.”

She met my gaze head-on. “Just promise you won’t lie to me again. At least not about the big stuff. If I get a bad haircut or something, then I give you permission to lie and tell me you love it.”

My smile escaped. “I promise. No more lies.”

 I watched in amazement as her face slowly relaxed. The corners of her lips even turned up in a hesitant grin. But there was one last thing I had to get out before I faced my judgment. I stood up and walked toward her, taking measured steps in case she refused me.

“There is one thing I said in that office that you didn’t overhear, you know.”

Her breathing became labored. “Which is?”

“That I’m in love with you.”

I couldn’t hold back anymore. I ran my hands through her silky smooth hair, cupping her head.

“I love you, Reese Bradley. I think I have from the second you walked in on me naked in the locker room and wouldn’t stop staring at my dick.”

“I wasn’t staring at it,” she said indignantly.

She had been staring at it. Hard core.

And we both knew it.

“Tell yourself whatever makes you feel better, sweetheart.”

I felt the last iceberg in my path melt away when she wound her arms around my neck. Even still, I didn’t expect her next words. I wasn’t prepared for them.

“I love you, too, Cam Donovan. Even though you basically accused me of being a stalker that first day we met.”

She loved me.

The girl of my dreams actually loved me back.

I just hit the fucking lottery.

“Can you blame me?” I joked. “Girls can’t get enough of this.”

She pierced me with a look. “Yeah, well, they better have gotten enough because I don’t share.”

There was nothing hotter than her looking at me all possessive like that.

I groaned. “I love it when you get jealous.”

“If I were you, I wouldn’t recommend making me jealous too often.” She leaned up to whisper in my ear, “Because I don’t play nice.”

I pulled her body into mine in a knee-jerk reaction. Damn. I could feel every inch of her through that stupid excuse for a shirt.

“I think I might like to see that.”

“So, what do you think my dad would say if he knew you’ve done more than just give his daughter a few kisses?” she asked coyly.

My eyelids drooped, my gaze falling to her mouth. “I’m sure he would kick my ass right off the team if he knew of the many indiscretions I’ve had with you. Why don’t we add another one to the list?”