I wanted to take a step toward her, but her expression told me to hold off.
“Why didn’t you tell me before?”
“What was there to tell? Some girl made up a story about me?”
“You could have told me the real reason for the PR problem from the beginning. You could have mentioned Charlie was a woman. How much have you been holding back from me, Luke? Is there more?”
“That’s it. It’s out. You know all of it. The rest you can read online. My sins are public. And that is the truth.”
She turned from me. I looked down at her boots. She wore those things everywhere.
“I don’t know what to say right now.”
“Fuck. Neither do I. Can’t you reschedule? Go tomorrow during the game.”
“What?”
I nodded. It was the only thing that would work. I should have thought of it sooner.
“Yes. You go during the game. There’s no way Charlie can expect me to be at the hospital. And if you were really here to see me you’d never miss the game.”
“But I don’t want to miss the game. I want to see you. It’s supposed to be my first time to watch you play in person.”
There was some kind of primal instinct that kicked into my chest. The same one that made me want to shield her from hurt. The same one that told me I should beat the hell out of Jake. The one that told me she felt I was as much hers as she was mine.
“Hey, this is more important.”
I tipped her chin upward. I risked touching her.
“I’m sorry for what I said on the phone,” she whispered.
I brushed my thumb over her bottom lip. She wore more makeup than I was used to seeing her wear.
“I was an ass too.”
She kissed the pad on my thumb and sighed. “I missed you. I don’t want to be mad.”
“I don’t think this trip is turning out to be what we thought. I’m not going to be able to stay here tonight or tomorrow. You realize that.”
“What are we going to do?”
“First, call and say you need to see the kids tomorrow. Today isn’t going to work.”
“Ok.” She pulled out her phone and I waited while she changed the arrangements at the hospital.
She laid the phone down. “That’s done. They are expecting me tomorrow.”
“Good. I’ll head over there now and Charlie will get all the feel-good photo ops she wants—just not with you.”
“That’s too bad.” I saw the sadness in those baby blues. “I liked it when we did that together. You were cute with the kids.”
“I’ll have to be cute without you.” I tapped her nose. Damn, I had turned into one of those QBs—the kind who lived for kids’ camps and created their own foundations. What had Lexi done to me?
“Then there’s just one thing to do before I leave.”
Her eyes lifted. “Please tell me it’s the same thing I want.”
I pulled her into my arms. Her body fell into mine, melting into me with a softness and tenderness I didn’t know I desired before I met her. That was the thing about Alexa. Every time I was with her I learned there were things about me I didn’t know. Places under my soul that had never been touched. Emotions I’d never even bothered with before her. But with her they were being cleaned off and used for the first time.