Hard to Hold

by K. Bromberg

  I feel off.

  Something’s fucking off.

  And I have half a mind to send Lennox a one-way, first-class ticket to Heathrow so I can lay it all out on the bloody line to her. So I can tell her I fucking love her and I don’t care how it works, but that it has to work.

  I even considered calling one of her sisters at their office to see if she’s as miserable as I am, but nothing reeks of desperation more than calling the family to help you with your game. It’s utter tosh.

  These feelings aren’t one-sided. At least they weren’t when we parted ways last month or whenever it fucking was. And if mine haven’t gone away, then sure as shit hers haven’t either.

  “Here, mate,” the bartender says as he slides a glass of ice across the bar top to me.

  “That’s not mine,” I say but then immediately sit taller.

  Nah. It’s not possible.

  “Yes. It is. A gift—if you want to call it that—from the lady in the corner over there.”

  My head whips up in the direction he points, and I’m already on my feet before I see her.

  Because it’s her.

  It has to be her.

  LENNOX

  MY HEART STOPS AT THE sight of him, and I know every moment of heartache and worry was so worth it when his eyes lock on mine.

  When the love and uncertainty and longing that is in my gaze reflects in his.

  He’s at my table in a second, his arms going around me and pulling me in, and his lips finding mine as if I were the only home they’ve ever had.

  He chuckles against my lips. “You’re here. You’re really here.”

  My hands run up his sides, over his cheeks, and into his hair as if they need to make sure he’s really here and I’m really touching him. But it’s his smile when he leans away to look at me as I do him that tells me the true story.

  He wants me here.

  I am wanted.

  “What are you doing here?” he asks with an incredulous expression on his face, as if he’s afraid if he looks away that I’m going to disappear.

  “A wise person once told me that I needed to find the roar of the crowd and chase my own happiness. So that’s exactly what I’m doing.”

  “And what exactly would that entail?” he asks, toying with a lock of my hair.

  “I’m thinking of opening a KSM branch here in the UK. It’ll allow me to be on my own, and yet still be part of a team.”

  The look of shock on his face is priceless. “Here, here?”

  “Yes, here, here.” I wait to see his reaction but other than the surprise in his voice, he doesn’t show it.

  “That’s all you came for?”

  “Maybe to catch a football match or two.”

  “I hear the new team captain is incredible.”

  “You have, have you?”

  “Yep.” He takes a sip of my water on the table beside him. “And if you’re planning on living here, love, you need to order something stronger than this when in a pub.” He presses a kiss to my lips that makes me wish we were somewhere a little more private. “What else are you hoping to find in the UK?”

  “Some absolutely horrible sex.”

  His grin lights up his face. “I think I can help you find that as well.” His fingers lace with mine.

  “Good thing, because I was getting desperate.”

  “We can’t have that now, can we?”

  I can’t believe the absolute calm I feel sitting here with him. I thought I’d be more worried or nervous, but I feel like I’m right where I belong.

  “But that’s just all part of finding my crowd, I still need to chase my happiness.”

  “Are you chasing after me, Kincade?” he asks with a sheepish grin.

  “If you’ll let me.”

  Our eyes hold and time feels like it falls still as the pub moves on around us. “There’s only one problem.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I’ll have to be your first client. I mean, it’s only fitting.”

  “I can’t steal you away from Finn. He got you this deal. I might hate the fucker but he delivered what you wanted.”

  “But he did insult my girlfriend and implied that she slept with athletes to win them over to her client roster.”

  “So wouldn’t you being my client prove just that to him?” I ask, wondering which one of my sisters told Rush the backstory.

  “Fuck Finn,” he murmurs against my lips.

  “Fuck Finn.” I laugh.

  “Besides,” he says running a hand up my thigh. “It might look odd for a woman with my last name not representing me.”

  “What?” I sputter.

  Rush shrugs like a mischievous little kid, gives me a slight smile, and humor owns his eyes. “Just a way off in the future thought.”

  “You’re talking serious commitment here for someone who hasn’t even declared love first,” I tease. Rush’s smile falls slowly and his eyes grow more intense.

  He reaches out to run the back of his hand down the side of my face. “Lennox Kincade, I’ve been a miserable sod without you. My game is off solely because you turned my life upside down and since then, I don’t think I ever want it to be set right again.” He gives a half-smile, half laugh that would have stolen my heart if it wasn’t stolen already. “I love you. I loved you before I left, but was too damn afraid to tell you. Then I got here and I was too scared to say it because I thought you had moved on . . . but I fucking love you. And now that you’re here and in front of me, you better get used to me saying it.”

  “Oh my,” I murmur as I pull him into me and pour my fear and frustration from the past month into one single kiss. “I love you too, Rush McKenzie. And I’m here, ready to start whatever this is together with you. It better start with some of that horrible sex I’m fond of, and it better start real soon.”

  “Thought you’d never ask,” he says and then grabs the glass of ice off the table to bring with us.

  LENNOX

  “SO THIS IS WHERE THE uber rich go when they want to escape life?” I look at the beauty surrounding us, and it’s hard to pick one thing to focus on. The crystal-turquoise water below me where my feet are swinging. The over-the-water bungalow at my back. Or the palm trees on the shore behind us.

  Rush looks at me from where he sits in a chaise lounge beside me with the slyest grin on his face. “No, this is where a football star goes after he’s won both the Premier League and the Champion’s League and wants to escape with his woman.”

  His woman.

  It still gets me when he calls me his. It’s been almost a year since my move to England, and the fact that I get to wake up next to him every single day is still exciting.

  I hold my face up to the sun to feel its warmth but also to mask the tears that threaten when I realize I almost lost this—I almost lost him—because I was too stubborn to believe love was real.

  “Hey?”

  I look toward him and smile when I meet his eyes. My heart flips over in my chest. “Hmm?”

  “You know I feel that way too, right?” he asks softly.

  “What way?”

  “The way you’re looking at me right now. Like you can’t believe you knew how to breathe before you met me. Like you can’t believe this is real.” He leans down to kiss me, the warmth and familiarity of his kiss is all I need. “Like life didn’t have a purpose before this,” he murmurs against my lips.

  I set my glass of wine down, stand from the edge of the patio, and then sit beside him. His skin is warm from the sun as I snuggle into him and put my hand over his heart.

  “To those who wander,” he says softly, as his heart beats beneath the tattoo on his chest.

  “To those who wander,” I repeat, a smile painting the corners of my lips, the good fortune that we’ve found warming my heart.

  “I’ve been thinking,” he says as he twirls his finger in my hair.

  “About?”

  “About when you chased me to England.”

  “Mm-h
mm.”

  “I told you that I had to be your first client because it wouldn’t be right if you had my last name and I wasn’t.”

  I still momentarily. “You did.”

  “Well, you’ve set up your office, you’ve contracted new clients, I’ve won everything that can be won . . . and I’m thinking we need to finish what we started.”

  When I lean back and meet his eyes, every kind of emotion flows through me.

  This wild child who’s not so wild.

  The rebel who rebelled for all the right reasons.

  This man, who could have anyone but only has eyes for me.

  How did I get so damn lucky?

  “You’re all I need, Rush. I don’t care in what form, last name, plastic ring, marriage certificate or not . . . I don’t care. You’re it for me. That’s all that matters. You.”

  He gives me the softest of smiles—shy but serious. “McKenzie never meant anything to me, Nox. It was a name given to me by a man I never met. But I made it into something. I made me into something . . . and yes, we don’t need any of that shit, but it would mean everything to me if you were proud to be a McKenzie with me.”

  Tears well in my eyes when I lean up and press a kiss to his lips. It’s tender, and has a reverence everyone should get a chance to experience at least once in their life.

  But I’m lucky, because I get it every single day. I get the kiss, the man, and the life I never expected but now know I could never live without.

  And when the kiss ends, I rest my forehead against his. “I love you, Rush McKenzie, and I’d proudly be a McKenzie with you.”

  There’s a hitch to his breath and then a whisper of a chuckle. “Marry me, Nox. I can’t promise you perfection, but I can tell you that my favorite place is beside you.” I lean back and look into his eyes. “I can’t promise you I won’t screw up, but I can promise you that you have my tomorrow and forever after. I can’t promise you we won’t wander, but I can assure you we’ll always roam together.” He forces a swallow as his eyes fill with tears. “And I can’t promise you things won’t get crazy sometimes, but I’ll always make it better with some horrible, awful sex.”

  I laugh. God, I love this man.

  “Marry me?” he whispers.

  I nod, unable to get the words out at first. “Yes. Of course. Forever. Always.”

  And this time when our lips meet, the world feels a bit more right.

  It feels like I’ve found my tomorrows, my sunsets, and my forever.

  We may have wandered to many places in our lives, but we’ve finally found our home.

  Our place.

  Beside each other is the only place we’ll ever rush to be.

  Did you enjoy Rush and Lennox story in Hard to Hold? Fall in love with the rest of the Kincade sisters and their love interests in the rest of the Play Hard series:

  Hard to Handle—Out Now

  Hard to Score—Out February 16, 2021

  Hard to Lose—Out March 17, 2021

  Just a quick thank you to all the love and support everyone has shown me over the past seven years. When I challenged myself to write my first book, Driven, I never could have imagined anyone liking it, let alone this becoming my career.

  A million thank yous for letting me take that chance and for helping it to grow in to all of this.

  —Kristy

  New York Times Bestselling author K. Bromberg writes contemporary romance novels that contain a mixture of sweet, emotional, a whole lot of sexy, and a little bit of real. She likes to write strong heroines and damaged heroes who we love to hate but can’t help to love.

  A mom of three, she plots her novels in between school runs and soccer practices, more often than not with her laptop in tow and her mind scattered in too many different directions.

  Since publishing her first book on a whim in 2013, Kristy has sold over one and a half million copies of her books across twenty different countries and has landed on the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal Bestsellers lists over thirty times. Her Driven trilogy (Driven, Fueled, and Crashed) is currently being adapted for film by the streaming platform, Passionflix.

  With her imagination always in overdrive, she is currently scheming, plotting, and swooning over her latest hero. You can find out more about him or chat with Kristy on any of her social media accounts. The easiest way to stay up to date on new releases and upcoming novels is to sign up for her newsletter or follow her on Bookbub.