“No, you don’t,” she insisted, and her voice cracked, just enough to gut me. “This isn’t the life my dad wants for me. He wants me to build my career. To be respected. To not be a team rumor before I even have a real job.”
I leaned forward. “Catherine, anyone who turns you into a rumor because of me answers to me.”
“That’s not how it works,” she said, and she wasn’t wrong. The media loved to make up stories about our lives. If us dating became a story, it would make her look bad.
“I know.” I felt stuck between a rock and a hard place.
“Do you?” She looked at me, eyes bright now. “Because you’re Hunter Russell. Captain. Established. Everyone already respects you. If this comes out, people will say I’m the coach’s daughter who slept with a player. They’ll say I didn’t earn my place. They’ll say I’m stupid or naive or chasing an athlete.”
Rage moved through me, hot and immediate. But underneath it was something worse. Because she was right, and I hated that.
“I don’t want that for you,” I said.
“I know.” Her voice softened. “That’s why I don’t want to tell them yet. I’m not saying never. I’m just saying not now.”
I dragged a hand over my jaw, trying to think like a grown man and not like a guy who wanted to keep her no matter the cost.
“I’m a parent too,” I said. “And if Isla came to me one day scared to tell me she was with someone because she thought I’d be disappointed, I’d hate that.”
Catherine looked down.
“I’d want her happy,” I continued. “Even if it wasn’t what I pictured.”
She lifted her eyes to mine. “Even if he was nine years older?”
My mouth opened. Nothing came out. That was annoying. Because apparently my moral argument had limits when applied to my own daughter.
Catherine’s mouth twitched, but her eyes stayed sad. “Exactly.”
I exhaled and leaned back against the couch. “Okay. Point made. There is an age gap between us, but I feel like we get each other. We’re open, and I feel connected to you.”
“I feel the same, which is why I want to give us a fighting chance,” she replied.
My chest expanded and filled from her words.
“We keep dating,” I said. “We see where this goes, and we keep this private.”
I took her hand in mine and kissed the back of it. At the end of the day, I knew I would do whatever it took to make her happy.
Her shoulders eased. “Really?”
“Yes. I want to make you happy. Whatever it takes,” I said. “I just don’t want us to hurt your career or reputation, but I want to make you mine.”
She shifted closer. “We haven’t even had sex yet.”
My entire body reacted before my brain caught up. “Catherine.”
“What?” She blinked at me like she hadn’t just thrown a grenade into the conversation.
“You can’t say that after we have a serious discussion about your parents,” I noted.
“I can. I did.”
I stared at her. She moved closer, one knee brushing my thigh.
“We’re talking about dating and where this goes, and we haven’t even done the most obvious part.” She climbed into my lap, slow enough that I could have stopped her.
Her hands settled on my shoulders. “Do you want me to stop?”