Or anyone.
“Is it okay if we join?” Marcus, one of the linemen, asked. “It’s not every day we can get tips from a pro.”
I looked at Daniel to get his okay since he’d been the one to ask me first.
“Sounds great,” Daniel said. “We can work on some of our plays for next season.”
There weren’t enough guys out there to make two full teams, but I did my best to separate them into offense and defense roles. We spent the next hour and a half practicing. The kids were excited—and a little nervous at first—to be working with me. After a while, though, they stopped with the nerves and star struck looks and really got their heads into the game.
Honestly, I loved it. I’d never known that teaching could be so much fun. And rewarding.
There was one play I had the guys run several times, and the first time they got it down, the sheer expression of joy and pride on their faces touched something in my chest. Like I was really making a difference in their lives.
I wondered if that was how Hunter felt with his students.
Afterward, I walked with Daniel to the parking lot. I wanted to say more about what we’d been discussing earlier, but I was at a loss for words. I couldn’t come out to him and say it was okay to be yourself, when I hadn’t done the same in my own life.
To the world, I was still the All-American quarterback who was hooking up with the hottest female model in the industry.
“Thanks for everything today, Corbin,” Daniel said once at his truck. “It meant a lot to me and to all the other guys too. You’re a cool guy.”
“No problem.” A thought struck me as I walked toward my car, and I turned back to him. “Let me see your phone.” With his confusion on display, he handed me his phone. I plugged in my number before handing it back to him. “If you ever need to talk, about anything, give me a call, okay?”
He nodded. “I will.”
When I got home, I called Hunter and asked if he’d come over.
After the talk with Daniel, I felt like the worst person in the world. I didn’t deserve to be comforted, but I needed it. He must’ve sensed something in my voice, because he agreed without hesitation, even though he had a lot of papers to grade.
He dropped it all for me.
Once Hunter walked through the door, I pulled him into my arms and buried my face in his hair. And just like that, the broken pieces inside of me started to mend.
Chapter 19
Hunter
When March arrived, I realized just how comfortable I’d been in mine and Corbin’s relationship. Way too comfortable. It was hard not to be.
Corbin had been my best friend ever since kindergarten. We’d grown up together, and as our hormones started raging as teens, we’d experimented with each other, just to discover that we were two halves of the same whole. Soulmates.
With him back in Willow, with us spending all sorts of time together, I’d let my guard down—the one that used to remind me how temporary all of this was.
But as he sat across from me at the table that Sunday morning, laughing as he told me a story about his friend Austin during some after-party they’d attended, I knew I wouldn’t have given him up for anything.
Even if I only had him for one more week, one day, one more second…it’d be worth it just to know a world where he was with me.
“And then the drunk asshole fell into the pool, taking me with him,” Corbin continued before finishing off the last of his coffee. He stood and grabbed his cup before looking down at mine and grabbing it as well. “I’ll pour us another cup.”
I watched the muscles in his back flex as he walked to the coffee pot, and the view caused heat to spread to my groin.
I felt like a teenager all over again with my near constant state of horniness. Corbin just had to enter the room, and I’d instantly sport a hard-on, like he was the Boner Whisperer or something.
“I need to tell you something,” Corbin said, and his voice lacked the playfulness he’d had from his story. He carried our coffees back to the table, placing mine in front of me before taking his seat.
The sudden seriousness put a stop to my lustful thoughts and instead put an anchor in my gut. “Okay.”
“I have a photoshoot coming up,” he said, looking at me with apprehensive gray eyes. “I’ll have to travel to Florida for a few days.”
That was all? Not as bad as I feared.
“Oh, that’s cool,” I said, lifting my cup to my lips and taking a sip. “When is it?”
“I have to be there on the nineteenth, and it’ll only take like a day,” Corbin answered. He lightly tapped his fingers on the table. “It’s for a line of new swimsuits that’s going to be released in May.”
I smiled. “So you’re going to be all wet and muscled, modeling a speedo in the ocean?”
Corbin chuckled. “I don’t know what I’ll be wearing. I just wear whatever they tell me to. But probably.”
Tension rolled off him, and I knew there was more he hadn’t said yet. Was he about to tell me that he wasn’t going to return to Willow after the photoshoot? That he’d just fly back home and jump back into his old life?
“Just spill it, Corbin,” I said, tired of guessing. “I can handle it, whatever it is.”
I hope I can, anyway.
Corbin sucked in a breath before slowly exhaling, rubbing at the back of his head. “I’m not doing the shoot alone. It’s with Veronica.”
At the mention of her, my scalp prickled and the tops of my ears heated. I hated the spike of jealousy. It was such an unappealing emotion, but it wasn’t something I could always control. And the girl hadn’t even done anything to me to warrant the feeling.
Other than possibly fuck the love of my life. The bitch.
“Babe?” Corbin reached across the table and took my hand in his. “I was afraid to tell you because I know you still think we had something going on, but I swear to you, nothing has and never will happen between her and me. She’s a close friend. Nothing more.”
My heart hammered against my ribs, my pulse ran through my veins like fire, and I forced myself to take deep breaths.
“I’m sorry,” I finally managed to say, squeezing his hand. “I hate being like this.”
Corbin hanging out with supermodels just made me feel even more insecure. Made me question—again—why he’d want to be with someone as average as me when he could be with them.
“I understand why you’re like this, though,” he said, focusing on our joined hands. “You’re afraid I don’t need you anymore because I have everything. But without you, Hunter, I don’t have everything. No one compares to you. I wish you’d have more trust in me than that.”
I stood and went over to him, turning him to the side so I could kneel between his legs. I pressed my body to his and nuzzled my face in to his neck. His strong arms came around me, and I breathed in his scent, finding comfort in it.
“I do trust you,” I whispered against his skin. “If you say nothing’s going on between you and her…I believe you.”
“Good,” Corbin said, pulling back a little to peer down at me. He stroked my unshaved jaw before adjusting the glasses on my nose. “Because I want you to go with me.”
“What?”
“It’s during your spring break, right?” he questioned, moving his hand to my shoulder and tracing the lines of muscle there. I nodded and his smile widened. “We could do my photoshoot and then maybe do some sightseeing before we head back home.”
My stomach fluttered, and I leaned closer to him. “You said home.”
Corbin’s gray-eyed stare didn’t leave mine. “Yeah, I did.”
I wasn’t sure what he meant exactly, but for once, I didn’t question him. I pressed my mouth to his, and he opened for me with a soft moan. Our tongues danced, and as the taste of him exploded all around me, I gave in to the feeling. He pulled me from my knees and scooted his chair back before placing me on his lap.
With the new position, I grinded myself up and
down his firm body, tangling my hands in his short dark blond hair as we continued kissing.
This. This was home. In Corbin’s arms.
“Make love to me,” I whispered against his neck after breaking away from our kiss.
As he picked me up, I wrapped my legs around his waist and held onto his neck. I wasn’t exactly light, but he had little trouble holding my weight. He carried me down the short hallway and to my room before laying me on the bed.
I looked up at him and ran my hand along his collarbone, loving the softness of his skin.
Corbin hated any kind of hair on his chest, so it was always smooth.
He took off my glasses and set them on the nightstand before crawling on top of me and kicking my legs apart.
Unlike the past handful of times, Corbin made love to me; tender and slow, taking his time and dragging it out. Time seemed to stop as he drove his hips into me, hitting me in all the right places.
A moment of bliss turned to more. Countless. A sea of moans and sighs.
Sweat coated his chest, and as he moved his body into mine, he hit that sweet spot and I felt myself coming undone.
“Let go, baby,” he said, hugging me to his chest as I came apart in his warm embrace.
I shuddered as my orgasm hit me, adding to the slick wetness between our bodies. Only after I’d finished did Corbin let himself fall over that edge too. I held onto him and kissed the side of his head as he filled my ass and groaned.
And what made it even greater was not having to use a condom. We’d recently been tested, and since we were exclusive, we both agreed it was what we wanted.
Afterward, we peeled apart and showered. He kissed my nape as I stood beneath the water, and I pushed against him, reaching back and holding his side. Nothing happened in the shower, with the exception of intimate kisses and gliding of fingertips across sensitive skin.
Once we were showered, we changed into clean clothes and cuddled on the couch for a lazy Sunday.
We spent an equal amount of time at his house and at mine. In fact, for the past month, we’d spent every night together. It was to the point where he had a stash of clothes at my house and I had one at his, along with a spare toothbrush and deodorant—although the jerk had a habit of just using mine.
As we searched for a movie to watch, Corbin told me about how his coaching sessions with Daniel and the other football guys were going. He’d started regularly working with them after school, two days a week. Sometimes three if the weather was nice. The excitement on his face as he talked about it told me how much he loved coaching them.
He also mentioned how he still hadn’t listed Bill’s house for sale. That confession made me remember his comment about home from earlier. I didn’t want to get my hopes up, because it’d hurt way too much if they came crashing down, but maybe he’d decided not to sell the house at all.
“When we’re in Florida,” Corbin said, draping his arm around my shoulders. “We can stay the whole week, if you want. The shoot will only take a day or so, but we can use it as a mini vacation or something.”
“Don’t you think people will talk if you bring me along?” I asked, running my fingers up and down his arm. Going with him to Florida was going to be amazing, and I was more excited than I put off, but people liked to talk. If Corbin showed up with me at his side, they’d really talk.
“I’ll just tell them you’re my friend,” he answered before pressing his face against my neck. “It’s not a big deal.”
I stopped caressing his forearm as his words smacked into me like a train. The reality of them.
Even if we could find a way to make our relationship work after he went back to Kansas City…was I really prepared to be some secret he kept locked away? To be just his friend when we went out to dinner or to parties. Would he still flirt with girls to keep the act going and to prevent people from suspecting the truth?
“Do you ever plan to come out, Cor?” I asked, no longer paying attention to the movie on TV.
“Eventually. But not for a while,” he answered after several seconds. I shot him a look, and he shook his head. “Don’t look at me like that. It’s not that simple, Hunter.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s just not accepted yet in football. Okay?” He was visibly frustrated now, and he stood up from the couch. I knew he was really upset, when he started pacing. “Don’t you think I want to? I’ve fucking obsessed over it for years. But it’s not that cut and dry. Players have only come out after they retired.”
“So your plan is to wait until your contract is up?”
Corbin nodded and his gaze burned into mine. “I know it’s not what you want to hear, and I know it’s not fair to you…but will you wait for me?”
Butterflies fluttered in my stomach. We hadn’t talked much about our future, and there he was diving right in.
“Yes,” I answered. Staying a secret would hurt, but it wouldn’t be for forever. “It won’t be easy, but like an awesome guy once told me: relationships aren’t easy. They take effort, and sometimes they’re fucking hard. But we have to try.”
The tense lines in his face relaxed, and he strode forward, taking my face in his hands. His gray eyes stared into mine, and I noticed small flecks of blue in his irises. No matter how many times I looked into his eyes, I still felt as if I’d get lost in the sea of gray if I wasn’t careful.
“I promise you that one day I will shout to the world how in love with you I am,” he said, moving his thumb along my cheek. “Just not now.”
I rested my head to his. “Okay.”
He had a hold on me that no one else ever had.
Or ever would.
Chapter 20
Corbin
Spring Break
Hunter was afraid of flying. He’d never expressed that fear to me before, and it seemed like he hadn’t even known about it until we were sitting on the plane, waiting for it to take off.
“Fuck, I’m going to puke. Or have a panic attack. Or die,” Hunter said, holding my hand so tight that the circulation was being cut off. “Probably all three in that order.”
“Relax. I’ve flown countless times and nothing bad has ever happened,” I tried to reassure him. “Breathe, Hunter.”
We were in first class, so we weren’t too crowded, which I was thankful for. Being surrounded by a lot of people would’ve only enhanced Hunter’s anxiety and feeling of being trapped.
“I need a drink. Or five,” he said before deeply inhaling and slowly exhaling. His hand still squeezed mine.
“Once the plane is in the air, you can have as many drinks as you want.”
“That doesn’t exactly help me now, Sherlock,” he snapped, closing his eyes and leaning his head back on the seat.
I tried to suppress a smile, but he was just too fucking adorable when he was grumpy and I smiled anyway.
“Is he okay?” the stewardess asked me, motioning to the still anxious Hunter to my right.
“Yeah, he’ll be fine,” I answered, winking at her. “This is his first time flying. When you can, will you bring him a strong drink?”
“Of course, Mr. Taylor,” she answered. Her stare briefly flickered to our joined hands before she walked down the aisle.
As horrible as it was, I had the urge to jerk out of his hold once I noticed her stare. But I didn’t. He needed me too much right then. It was a painful dose of reality, though.
With William, I’d never held his hand in public—never had the desire to—so hiding my sexuality had been hard, but not really that painful. He meant very little to me, so keeping him secret hadn’t affected me one way or the other.
Hiding Hunter, though? I hated it.
I hated feeling like I couldn’t hold his hand on a plane in fear of how others would perceive it. I hated not being able to pull him into my arms whenever I wanted, just to give him a light kiss or just to feel his heart beat against mine.
“Oh shit. Shit. Shit,” Hunter said once the plane prepared for takeoff.
“This is the scariest part,” I told him, giving his hand a reassuring squeeze.
Yeah, I failed to mention that landing sucked too, but we’d get there when it was time. No sense in freaking him out even more at the moment.
“I don’t know if I can do this, Corbin.” Hunter opened his eyes and frantically looked out the small window beside him. I’d tried telling him the window seat wasn’t the best since he was anxious, but he hadn’t listened to me.
“Babe,” I said, not giving a fuck if someone heard me call him that. “Look at me.” His brown eyes found mine, and the fear reflected in them was like a stab to the gut. “You’re okay. We’re okay.”
“But what if an engine fails?” he asked, and his hands started shaking. “What if—”
“Don’t think about that,” I interjected, holding both of his hands now. “Recite Shakespeare.”
“Huh?” In that moment, his confusion outweighed his fear.
Good. It was already working.
Corbin Taylor: the master of distraction.
“Act one, scene one of The Tempest,” I said, not taking my eyes off him. When we were in high school, Hunter liked to randomly break out into quotes from his favorite Shakespeare plays. When he got nervous, he did the same. The Tempest was one he really enjoyed. “The play begins with a raging storm on the sea and men are freaking out on the ship. What happens next?”
Hunter swallowed and his gaze started to dart back to the window, but I took hold of his chin and turned his face back to me.
“Hunter? What happens next?” I repeated.
“The master calls to the boatswain,” he answered in a shaky tone. “But a sorcerer was using illusion and magic to conjure the storm, therefore, the ship was already doomed.”
He continued telling me the events of the play as the plane started moving. He didn’t let go of my hands, and he squeezed his eyes shut as he talked faster. When he would stop talking, I’d ask him another question. Just as I suspected, once the plane was in the air, he relaxed a little.
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