“I need to know,” I say.
“Why? All it’s going to do is piss you off.”
“You turned down millions of dollars for me.”
Matt shrugs. “You’re an idiot for thinking I even contemplated taking it. What I feel for you is worth so much more than that.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I whisper.
“In not so many words, I was told he could make your charity go away.”
All I can do is blink at him. This guy … he’s it. He’s the guy.
He’ll fight for me. Defend me. Protect me. Choose me above all else—even football if I let him. Which I won’t. But that’s not the point. The point is, Matt is the person I didn’t think would ever exist. The person who’d love me and all my bullshit. The person who could go head to head with my father and come out on my side.
“I didn’t want you to lose the only thing you’ve been excited about in your life,” he says when I don’t say anything. “When you talk about Rainbow Beds, you’re complete. You become animated and passionate, and I know you once told me you’ve never had that. I didn’t want to tell you what he did when you weren’t going to ask me to stay. I broke our deal by falling for you—”
“No. We broke our deal. I think I’ve been in love with you since the minute we landed in New York and you pointed out how spoiled I am. It was all very romantic.”
“What, no love for the guy you met on the cruise?” Matt asks.
“The angry gym rat? Not so much.”
“Hey, you realize I’m still that guy …”
I shake my head. “You’re so much more.”
“Can I please kiss you now?”
“Fuck yes.”
We meet halfway, our mouths coming together too eagerly for either of us to pull back in time. Teeth clash, and we break into simultaneous laughter.
“Ow.” Matt holds his mouth.
“Oops.”
“Am I bleeding?” He moves his hand and bares his teeth.
“You’re all good.” I step closer. “Perfect.” This time when I move in, I go slow. My hand moves into his hair as my lips press softly against his.
Matt moans and grabs my ass with his big hands.
“I’m moving to Chicago.”
Matt stiffens. “W-what?” His hands remain holding me against him, but he pulls his head back.
“I don’t want to live without you, and you can’t give up football for me. You are football. You were willing to give up everything, so I’m the one who should get over myself and actually do it.”
Granted, the only other time I gave up everything for someone, it backfired and I was left in New Jersey getting a poli-sci degree from a sporting college. If I hadn’t been so stubborn, I would’ve transferred to Harvard or Yale or any other Ivy League my dad would pay to get me into, but I finished my degree at Newport to spite him.
But Matt’s different than Nathaniel, and I’m not the naïve eighteen-year-old I was back then.
“What am I leaving behind?” I ask. “I love New York, but—”
“Your charity.”
“Pretty sure Chicago has homeless gay teens too. It’s depressing I can take my charity anywhere, but it works in our favor.”
“My contract is only for a year. If you set it up here, and then they cut me—”
“Rainbow Beds is nowhere near ready to be launched. We’re still in the planning stages. And if it stays in New York, we can work something out. I can fly back and forth when you’re on the road, and your season’s only five months … less if you don’t make playoffs, but I have faith.”
Matt pulls back. “You know how long football season is?”
“I looked it up.” Yep, I’m totally gone for this guy. I’m scheduling shit.
“Okay, and what about your dad? He’ll cut you off if you do this.”
“I’m so horribly scared about that,” I say dryly. “Let him leave his fortune to my cousins who don’t believe I deserve a claim to the Huntington fortune anyway.”
“You’d give up millions of dollars for me?”
“Would be more impressive if I wasn’t worth more than my father, but sure, let’s go with that.”
Matt playfully shoves me, but I grab his arm and bring him against me. I don’t want to ever stop touching him. Ever. Might make football practice hard, but I’m determined I can pull it off.
“If it makes you feel any better, if I had to choose between you and my money, you’d win. Always. You’re the only person who’s ever understood why I’m the way I am, and I’m in love with you, you dumbass.”
The smile Matt gives me makes breaking down my walls and putting my heart on the line worth it.
He touches his forehead to mine. “I’m in love with you too, idiot.”
“You speak to me with such affection.”
“You started it,” Matt mumbles.