“At the end of the year, my contract with the Hammers is up. I’m not getting renewed.”

“Oh.” She blinked. “What will you do next?”

“Play for another team.”

“Which one?”

“Anyone who’ll have me.”

She frowned. “But I just watched you dominate a game.”

“I did okay, but I’m old and my pay scale is high. Guys like my mate Derek get kept on for the prestige. I don’t have that with the Hammers.”

“But you’ve won finals with them, haven’t you?”

Willow laughed. “You been Googling me, pretty girl?”

She looked away, her cheeks flushed.

“It’s okay. I like you being curious about me. But that’s not how it works—I’ve played for the Hammers for a while, but I’m not ‘a Hammer.’ I’ve been around the block too many times. The Hammers are my fourth team in fifteen years and like I said, I’m getting old. No one’s expecting me to hit new peaks.”

“But everyone loves you! You’re always on those panel shows.”

“Yeah, I’m a fan favourite, but that doesn’t count for much with coaches.”

She looked so worried, he was touched. He took her hand and kissed it. “Don’t stress, pretty girl. I’ll fall on my feet.”

“You are supremely confident.”

“It’s all that fucking around when I was a kid.”

“No, it’s because you’re wonderful.”

Willow wanted to smile but it hurt too bad. He knew Eden saw herself as tough, as a badass, but there was so much little girl in her. It was what her fans loved, that mix of innocence and bravado, beauty and catastrophe. She was Peter Pan, living in her trash pile, telling herself she was grown up because she could eat candy whenever she wanted. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her as close as he could without hurting her.

Who told you that you weren’t nice, Eden? Who made you think you didn’t love anyone?

They stayed entwined together through the song playing through her speakers and the one after that. The shadows on the walls grew longer and he was sure it was after midnight. Part of him hoped she’d ask him to stay, but he and Eden had never slept in the same bed—only fucked on it. Now seemed a creepy time to hang around. She might think he’d told her about his dad just to impose. To be the ‘tender man’ she’d accused him of being on what he considered their first date. He should kiss her goodnight and head out…

Eden’s stomach growled, loud as a bear. He made a similar sound. “Eden Jade.”

She threw up her hands. “What? I ate today! I had a Caesar salad!”

“And what else?”

She bit her lip. Furious, Willow pulled out his phone. “Thai or pizza? Actually, no. You don’t get to decide.”