I’m looking around, but I don’t see her anywhere. I watched her slip out in the third with her uncle, and I’m just hopeful she’s catching this live from wherever they landed.

I need to see her. I need to confirm that what I saw on her face in the tunnel was real. I saw it when she said she was sorry. And I didn’t even need her to say she was sorry. I just needed to see something that showed me she still wanted me.

Kacey looks utterly disgusted right now, which makes me weirdly happy as I trail the others back down the mirrored tunnel to the locker rooms. I get ribbing after ribbing about my declaration of love, but it doesn’t bother me even a little bit. I know most of the guys are truly happy for me.

I take my time in the shower, and by the time I finish getting dressed, I’m one of the last ones out. It’s okay, though, because the moment I step out of the locker room and into the hallway, I see her. She’s so cute with her Crush t-shirt and her ponytail, and it’s only heightened by the anxious look on her face, a look that fades as soon as she sees me.

She runs. Full-on runs. She jumps into my arms, her legs around my waist, her mouth on mine. I hold her so tightly as we kiss that I’m worried I might break her, but I can’t loosen up, can’t let go. The minute I let those words out into the world, my only hope was she would hear them and come back. And she has.

She eventually slides her feet back to the floor. I rest my chin on top of her head.

“You heard my message?” It’s a stupid question. Of course she heard it.

“I heard it and I loved every word of it,” she says, kind of muffled because her face is buried in my chest. She backs away—only slightly because I refuse to let go just yet. “I’m such an idiot, Evan. I’m so sorry. I was scared.”

“I know,” I say, planting a kiss on the top of her head. “I know. I get it. The whole situation was fucked up.”

“We’re trending,” she says with a beautiful Holly-smile. “You made several housewives in Iowa spontaneously combust with that big display, I’m hearing.”

I laugh at this. “I think I made Kacey King explode, too. But not in a good way.”

“Good way for me,” she says resolutely.

“So, I have a question for you.” She looks up at me expectantly. “Would you like to see my apartment, Holly?”

“Finally! I was starting to get paranoid, Evan.” She looks so sexy when she laughs, it’s all I can do to keep things G-rated until I can get her all to myself.

So, I kiss her softly once on the lips and take her hand in mine as we head out of the arena to my car. The drive is short as it always is, and Holly wastes no time picking up on the fact my commute to work is pretty much nonexistent. “Evan! Why do you drive to work when you could walk this route in less than twenty minutes?” She’s a smart one, my Holly.

“Because I like my car?” I whine like a child, pushing my lips into a pout just to make her smile. “And I did walk to work…once.”

Holly rolls her eyes at me, a sexy smirk on her beautiful face. We hold hands as we head into the elevator, and once those doors close us in I have her pinned to the wall; my hands on her face and my tongue in her mouth. When the elevator pings and the doors open, we all but run to my door.

Inside, she takes a minute to analyze the space. It’s a really open floor plan, with a large living, dining, and kitchen area framed with a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows that look out over the Strip. It’s not a huge space, but it’s got a great view. I’m kind of a minimalist, so my furniture is really basic, my walls very neutral. I have a few pieces of artwork that remind me of home, lots of books on the shelves, a Peloton bike in one corner next to a rack of hand weights.

I show her around, my bedroom is big but not ridiculously so, again very sparsely decorated, with a California King bed covered in a down comforter. My bedroom has the same view as my living room, with black-out curtains to shut it all out as needed.

“This is a nice place, Evan.” She eyes the bed and grins, “And that’s a pretty big bed.”

“I’m a pretty big dude,” I say, pulling her into my arms. “There’s something else you should know, too.”

“Oh?”

“It’s new. The bedding, the mattress…all new since I got back from LA.”