20. Catherine

20

CATHERINE

“Have you told him yet?”

I laugh and shake my head. I’ve never seen this side of Holden. He’s so excited that he can barely contain himself. “No, I didn’t tell him. I thought you should be the one.”

He walks to the door of the kitchen and hollers up the stairs, “Cole, you about ready?”

Almost instantly I can hear Cole stomping down the stairs, and he comes into the kitchen with his backpack on and a smile on his face. This has been planned for a week, and he’s excited to be going to his friends’ house to spend the night. “I’m ready.” He grins.

Holden is nodding his head. “Okay, so I know you’re staying the night at Brad’s, but I was wondering if you two would like to do something before you went to his house.”

My laid-back child shrugs his shoulders. “Yeah, sure. What’s up?”

Holden leans against the wall. “Well, I thought you and Brad may want to go check out the Bears game tonight.”

Cole’s mouth drops. “The Bears game? Tonight?” His mouth is hanging open, and he’s so surprised he doesn’t know what to do.

Holden smiles, nodding his head. “Yeah, I thought we could get there early and I could give you a tour of the locker room before the game. And then I thought we’d sit in a box—”

Cole’s eyes get even bigger. “Like a VIP box?”

Holden nods. “Yep, I had them stock it with food, but of course you guys can order whatever.”

Cole literally clutches his chest. “Are you for real right now?”

Holden nods. “Yeah. You want to call Brad and see what he thinks?”

I’d already called Brad’s parents so they knew what was happening, but I let Cole walk out of the room to call his friend. As soon as he’s gone, I put my hand over my heart. “Do you have any idea what you just did for my son? Thank you, Holden, really. Thank you for doing this… I hope you guys have a great time.”

Holden shakes his head and walks over to a box on the top of the kitchen counter. “You act like you’re not going.”

I point to myself. “Oh, am I invited? I just thought…”

I let my voice trail off as he pulls some jerseys from the box. “Nope, you’re going with us.” He hands me a shirt. “Here you go, put this on.”

I grab the shirt. “Are you sure about this? I don’t want to ruin boys' night or anything.”

He crosses his arms over his big barrel of a chest. “First of all, you could never ruin anything. Second of all, I want you to go. I want to sit side by side with you at the game.”

I hold the shirt up. “I’ll be right back.”

I go up the stairs and don’t realize I’m holding my breath until I’m behind my closed door. I remove the shirt I’m wearing and pull on the jersey over my tank top. I put on some jeans and tennis shoes and after reapplying my makeup and tousling my hair, I look at myself in the mirror. I turn to the side and then point my butt at the mirror, wanting to see myself from all angles, and seeing the name Gray on my back is like a jolt to my system. All of a sudden, I feel hot all over, but before I can analyze any of it, I hear Cole hollering up the stairs, “Come on, Mom. I’m going to Holden’s truck.”

“I’ll be right there,” I holler back, and then after taking a few calming breaths, I grab my purse and walk downstairs. Holden is waiting for me by the front door, and I stutter to a stop when I see him looking me up and down.

“What is it?” I ask him, pressing down the front of my shirt as I try to figure out what he’s looking at.

He twirls his finger. “Turn around.”

I turn my back to him, and he grunts. I look over my shoulder. “What is it? Something wrong? It’s too tight, right?”

He clears his throat and walks toward me. “No, it’s perfect. I like seeing my name on you.”

I want to tell him that I like it too, but I just shake my head. “Oh, you’re a charmer.”

He pulls me into his arms. “I’m serious, Cat. I’ve seen hundreds of women wearing this same jersey, but it’s never affected me how it is right now. It just does something to me… the rest of the world thinks you’re just wearing my jersey, but me, I see you in this and it says you’re mine.”

It feels like my heart does a flip in my chest. I want to challenge him and tell him that nothing can come of this… it’s a fling and nothing more, but I don’t say any of those things. I wish I could claim Holden, but it’s just too risky. I reach for the front door. “We should go.”

He seems disappointed, but he follows me. We ride the thirty minutes into Jasper with two excited boys in the back. This is only the second game that Cole has been to, and that was nothing compared to this time. Holden takes us in a side entrance that is for players and their families. He introduces us to the people at the family box and adds Cole and me to his family list and gets a guest pass for Brad.

The boys can barely contain themselves as Holden shows us around the empty locker room. They get to see his locker and all the indoor training equipment, the therapy room, and everything else. It’s all overwhelming to them, and they just look at everything slack-jawed. When it’s time for the game to start, we’re walking through the tunnels to get to the elevator that takes us to the VIP box.

There’s a group of us that get onto the elevator, and somehow I missed the change in the atmosphere until Holden says gruffly, “Kendall, how are you doing? ”

My eyes drag from Holden to the woman he’s talking to across from us. She’s tall and thin with long red hair. “Hoooolden! You’re here. OMG!”

She practically dives across the elevator and wraps her arms around him. He manages to turn his head before the kiss lands on his lips, but I’m not sure what’s worse, seeing the woman, his ex-girlfriend-—yeah, I looked her up—plastered against Holden’s body, the mark on his cheek that serves as a reminder that she kissed him, or that the fact that the pictures of the woman don’t do her justice. She’s absolutely breathtaking.

The fact that Holden is trying to hold the woman away from him doesn’t faze her. “What are you doing here? Are you back to playing? I can’t wait to see you on the field again. Do you want to get a drink after the game?”

She fires the questions to him one after another, and the longer Kendall is looking at him, the tenser I get. This is the woman that deserted him when he got injured. The one that stepped away so “he could focus on healing.” It’s bullshit.

I tell myself that the only reason I’m reacting is because Holden is clearly uncomfortable. He’s done so much for me and Cole, and I can’t just stand by and do nothing while this woman mauls him. I slide next to Holden and wrap my arms around his middle. He doesn’t hesitate in bringing me snug against his body, and I put my hand on his chest. “I’m so sorry, Kimmie. He can’t get a drink later. He’s with me and the boys.”

She looks at me. “It’s Kendall.”

I giggle and cover my mouth with a smile. “Oh, I’m sorry.”

Her eyes narrow at me, and she looks at my hand on his chest. “Uh, Holden—”

He cuts her off as his hand slides up and down my back. “Yeah, Kendall. No drink for me. I’m busy.”

“Maybe—” she starts, but Holden doesn’t wait for her to respond. The elevator door opens, and he hustles me and the boys off. He doesn’t give another look to Kendall, but he keeps a hold on me.

I look around, and Kendall huffs her breath and then goes in the other direction. As soon as she’s out of sight, I say loudly, so Cole can hear because I don’t want him to get the wrong idea, “You’re welcome.”

“What?” he stutters, and I pull out of his arms.

“She was all over you, and you didn’t seem to be happy about it. I thought I could help, but if I assumed wrong, I’m sure you can go track her down.”

I’m pointing my thumb over my shoulder where Kendall disappeared.

Holden shakes his head while Cole looks at me curiously. I shrug my shoulders. “I’m sorry, I thought I was helping.”

Holden nods his head. “Uh, yeah, you were. I don’t want her.”

He doesn’t have to say it because I know exactly what he’s thinking by the intense look in his eye. He wants me.

Cole gives me a fist bump. “Good save, Mom.”

I just smile and point in the direction we were moving. “So how about it, we getting to our seats? The game is about to start.”

The boys run up ahead, and Holden calls out, “It’s VIP Suite 6. We should be above home plate.”

The boys both cheer and are speed-walking to the right door. As we walk side by side, I elbow him in the side. “You okay? Is it hard being here?”

He stops walking and turns to me. “Did you do that back there to help me?”

I start to nod, and he shakes his head. “I mean, I know you did. But is that the only reason?”

I look him in the eye and see the vulnerability there. He’s been open with me from the beginning, and it’s not right for me to not do the same. My voice is soft, and I tug at the hem of my shirt anxiously. “I did it to help you… but also because I was jealous.”

His eyes light up, and I swear his voice drops an octave. “You were jealous?”

I swat my hand at him, and he catches it between his. He threads our fingers together, and I know I should pull away, but I want to enjoy this feeling for just a few minutes. “Yeah, she was all over you… I didn’t like it.”

His lips turn up, and I suck in a breath at the way his face transforms. He pulls my hand so I’m leaning into him and whispers in my ear, “That’s good because the only woman I want is you.”

We’re so close I can feel his breath on my cheek. All I have to do is turn my head and we could kiss. I want that more than anything, especially now after seeing the way Kendall practically mauled him. There’s a rage of possession coursing through my veins, and it’s making me feel impulsive and irrational. Someone walks past us, and Holden moves closer to me to let them by. My word, this man invokes things in me I thought were shriveled up and dead .

His hands go to my waist, and he dips his head to look at me. “I want to kiss you so badly right now—”

I put my hand to his chest, and it kills me to do it, but I push him away, putting some distance between us. It’s a good thing I do because Cole comes out of the VIP suite. “You guys, come on, you have to see this!”

I force a smile to my face. “We’re coming.”

As soon as Cole disappears around the corner, I lean into Holden. “I want to kiss you too. Raincheck?”

He groans as if he’s in literal pain. “Yeah, later when we’re alone, all bets are off. You’re going to be mine, Cat.”

He walks to the open door of the suite and gestures for me to go inside. My heart is racing in my chest, and I try to forget about everything but just being here in this moment. But no matter how hard I try, I keep thinking about later, after we drop off Cole and Brad and we get to Holden’s house. And I can’t help but feel that tonight is going to change my life forever.