Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 100873 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100873 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Danny looked up, held her gaze with the dark brown of his. “You think so?” All at once, it was no longer just a conversation between one former nemesis and another; it was deeper, more intense.
Swallowing, she nodded. “Yes. You need the time-out, and you’ll love the experience—and the memories.”
Danny reached up to touch her jaw. “If I go, do you think you’ll have downtime where you can come join me? We could see a bit of Japan together. That’s where I’m leaning toward.”
Catie stared at him, the ground under her feet shaky and uncertain. “You don’t want to use your downtime to get drunk in some disreputable bar in a back corner of Tokyo?”
“Not without you to rescue me,” he quipped before his face turned solemn. “Maybe I’ll make the odd stupid decision, but I’ll miss my nemesis. Will you come?”
Catie knew she should say no, should cut things off clean and fast rather than letting it fade slowly and painfully as he moved into a whole new life… but she wasn’t ready, couldn’t let go. And shit, shit, shit, she was in so much trouble. She had to stop this before it went too far, before it broke them both.
“It’s going to be strange being so far from home for an entire season,” Danny mused, and she knew he’d made his decision. “Looking forward to your visit will keep me from losing it.”
Her walls crumbled into rubble. Unspoken was that their relationship would progress in fits and starts, around her training and events and his commitments to his club team.
“You’ll love it,” she reiterated, trying not to imagine him having so much fun that he forgot her.
Danny blew out a breath. “Yeah, I think it’s time the baby of the family grows up and figures things out without the rest of his family riding to the rescue.”
Catie tugged gently at his hair. “Not everyone has that support structure.”
“I know. And I will never, ever be sorry to have a family like I do. They’re my fucking world.”
God, the way Danny loved. So openly. So without boundaries.
“It’s just that they tend to take care of me without realizing they’re doing it.”
Making herself think about it instead of just reacting, Catie nodded slowly. “They’re always there, ready to step in with an assist.”
“Exactly. I’ve never had to fall on my own and pick myself back up.” He bent one leg at the knee. “Maybe that’s what’s been bugging me. The need to grow up in a way I can’t here.”
Catie thought suddenly of how she’d called the hospitals that one time. Danny’s life, she realized, was the exact opposite of hers—and strange as it was to think, such a life, such a family, could have its downsides.
Especially in a small country where the Bishop-Esera clan had a huge profile. Danny couldn’t fall, could never fail, without it becoming a major incident. He couldn’t stretch his wings. He had to leave New Zealand for that.
And he was asking her to stay with him while he flew.
Catie knew he’d pull away as soon as he found his feet, and oh, it would hurt. But so be it. Danny needed this, and she found she couldn’t say no. Not to this man who never asked for anything.
“Family’s going to figure it out,” Danny murmured. “About us.” A question in his eyes.
“I know.” Leaning down, she pressed her lips to his, the promise within the touch a thing of dazzling hope that hid the panic in her heart.
27
GOODBYE, HOTSHOT
Things seemed to move at the speed of light after that, though Catie knew that was in her head. It took time to set everything up, arrange what was effectively a limited-time transfer. But with Catie away at international meets during large segments of that period and Danny in training at other points, they didn’t have much time together.
It felt as if the string that had begun to tie them together was fraying with every day that passed, until by the time she stood at the airport with his family, ready to wave him off for his flight to Japan, she thought it would snap with only a little more pressure.
Ísa slipped her arm through Catie’s, squeezed. “Hey.” Soft eyes. “The Bishop-Esera men? They hold on tight. And you’re unforgettable. It’ll be fine.”
Catie wasn’t even mad that her sister had figured out the truth. Leaning her body slightly into Ísa’s, she said, “We’re so new, Issie.” It was a hard thing to admit even to herself just how much Danny meant to her. “And he’s getting to experience a part of life that he’s never before done. I’m going to come a far distant second to all the new experiences he’s about to have.”
Issie gave her a searching look. “Oh, baby girl.” Rising on tiptoe, she stroked back Catie’s hair. “Danny’s not the kind of man to forget or to make empty promises.” In her eyes was the knowledge of another man, the one who’d made Catie so many promises—and broken all of them. “Trust him.”