Page 71 of Game on, Love

THE HUM OF THEcoffee machine filled the kitchen; the comforting scent lingered around me as I leaned on the counter top, hugging Lilli close to me.

I spent the better part of today editing content for my channels while drafting the next part of the script for‘Pit Stops’.The title fight had been stretched out longer than expected, and with the way it was going? I had a feeling it would go on until the last race.

As a fan of the sport, I was excited at the thought of it. The last couple of years, we’ve had clean sweeps. But after Hillcrest improved their car last year, which resulted in Vedant’s first championship and failed to maintain it this season, Axel and Montclair had built a big enough gap that it felt like a no-brainer. So when he raced his way back to the fight, the car’s pace was a shock to everyone. However, the last couple of years meant that I never had to see either of them really fight each other in a way where I knew one was going to get a heartbreak. As a result, I felt stuck.

I cheered for both of them, but in the end as much as I’d like for both of them to win their next championship, one was definitely loosing.

Lilli was curled up on my arm, her little head laying on my shoulder as her claw held my hoodie. I gently stroked her back, and she purred, making my heart warm. “I’ve missed you too.”

Even though I’d spent the day with her on my lap, I still missed her. My attention was suddenly divided into a hundred small places, and the past couple of weeks, the time I used to spend with my cats was like a memory from a different lifetime.It wasn’t as if I didn’t like this new chapter of my life. Instead, everything had happened all at once, and I had no choice but to adapt to the situation instead of taking my sweet time with it.

Tilting my head, I gently rested my head on hers, making sure I didn’t put my weight into it when I felt a tug in my heart.

I felt his gaze on me before I heard him.

“Raina,” I turned around as Oliver walked further into the kitchen, a tired smile on his lips.

“Oliver,” I replied easily, and his grin widened. In the past couple of days, he’d done that each time I’d say his name. Almost as if every time I said it, it felt like the first time.

“You disappeared,” He tried his best to sound disappointed, but his face made no effort to match his words.

“You fellasleep,” I stated, shaking my head. He’d come down to my room to sit with me while I worked but, instead, fell asleep within a minute.

A minute.

I had stared at him for so long, thinking he’d done that to wind me up, but instead, even when Milo had plopped on him aggressively, he was knocked out like he was dead.

“In my defence, your bed is comfortable.”

He wasn’t wrong, but I wasn’t giving him the satisfaction of that. “I don’t understand how a professional athlete can have such low stamina. You should write a book, ‘How to be a professional athlete and a sloth’. Sounds like an instant bestseller.”

He raised his eyebrows, his pupils dilating as he leaned forward. “Oh, I can show youexactlyhow much stamina I actuallyhave.”

My lips parted at his implication just as the coffee machine made a loud noise, indicating it was done.

I couldn’t decide if I was glad or not. Oliver had this intensity to him that made me feel like if I let him, he would shift theaxis of my world. I was getting to know him, and he was already making me feel things that I hadn’t thought I would ever get to feel like I could see myself falling for him.

Well, that was something I hadn’t given myself the luxury of dreaming of. Because I could, it would be easy to do so, but holding on to him would be the real issue.

Because one day, maybe it wouldn’t be as easy for him. One day, he might run out of the patience he seems so sure he has.

So, I turned around to grab my mug, but clearly, he wasn’t pleased with the choice because I felt him close the gap between us.

Placing his hands on the counter next to me, he trapped me as he leaned down. I felt his warm breath on the back of my ear and pulled away as my ear touched my shoulder. “That tickles.”

Oliver chuckled before placing a kiss on the side of my head that made my heart flutter.

“Raina.”

“Hmm?”

“Why did you make a coffee at 6 PM?”

“Because.”

“Yes?”

“Free will?”