Page 40 of Gridlocked on the Gridiron

Chapter fifteen

Lucia

Colton’s father’s house was huge. Admittedly, it was not nearly as big as Colton’s massive, seven-bedroom, $7.5 million home—yes, Lucia had found his mansion online—but it was still looming and beautiful.

Lucia was quite nervous. Sure, the stakes were lower since she wasn’t actually dating Colton, but she still had to pretend to be dating Colton, and she honestly didn’t know what that entailed. It was hard enough not to drool over him in that long-sleeve button-down that put his muscles on full display. She was also struggling to work through the whole they almost had sex in her office thing, but that was the last thought she needed to be focused on as she walked up the stairs of the white house, clutching tightly to the gift bag that held a bottle of whiskey.

The door opened before they even knocked, revealing a tall woman of about twenty-two or twenty-three with tan skin and dark-brown hair. She was stunning, and she smiled wide as she launched herself at Colton, who realized just in time that his sister was hurtling toward him.

“Hey, Mai. Missed you.” The woman, Maya, gave Colton one more squeeze before turning to Lucia, smiling wider, if that was even possible.

Lucia held out her free hand. “Hi, I’m—”

“Lucia!” Maya’s arms were around her, and Lucia hugged her back tentatively, smiling at Colton from over his sister’s shoulder. Even in her kitten heels, Lucia was a couple of inches shorter than her.

“You have no idea how thankful I am that you’re here. Family functions are so boring with me as the only girl.” Maya slung an arm around Lucia’s shoulders and led her inside the house, leaving Colton to walk in behind them.

“It’s really nice to meet you. Colton speaks very highly of you.”

“As he should! I’m his favorite sister, after all.”

The foyer was open and spacious. Maya pointed out where Lucia could leave her shoes.

“My brothers and father hate it, but especially when we’re honoring our mom, I insist we take off our shoes. It’s how we grew up, and it’s what Mom would’ve wanted.”

Lucia smiled kindly as she stepped out of her heels. A man a couple of years younger than Colton but a few inches taller walked into the foyer, making eye contact with Maya as he hooked a thumb over his shoulder. “Mai, Liliana needs your help in the kitchen.”

Maya scoffed, “Oh, what? You’re too tall to help her out yourself? Sexist pig.” She turned to Lucia. “I won’t subject you to their sexism by asking you to come with me to help Dad’s chef. You hang out with Colton and Landon, and I’ll be back.”

Landon smirked at his sister before stepping forward and focusing that smirk squarely on Lucia. “Well, hello there. You’re even prettier in person.” He extended a tattooed hand. “Landon Beaumont, Colton’s younger and sexier brother.”

The cocky smirk grew wider as Colton came up behind her and placed a hand on her back. She put her much smaller hand in Landon’s outstretched palm.

“Ah, yes, the famous tight end. I’m Lucia, Colton’s very serious girlfriend.”

As if to reward her, Colton’s pointer finger dragged little patterns on her back through the fabric of her floral dress. She squashed the urge to lean into him, pulling her hand back from the handshake.

Something strange passed between the brothers, and Lucia wasn’t sure how to read it. She didn’t have siblings and had never known the competitive feeling that accompanied playing the same sport and trying to one-up one another. She didn’t know much about their relationship, but even she could see that it was a little strained. Still, they leaned in for a hug and clapped one another on the back.

“Your stats are looking much better.”

“Thanks, you’ve had a great season too.”

From an outsider’s perspective, the interaction might’ve seemed odd. But just as she’d imagined, Landon’s body language told her he wasn’t Colton’s biggest fan. It was clear there was a lot of family trauma the boys needed to work through together, and she hoped one day that they would.

She walked beside the brothers into the living room and connected kitchen, Colton’s hand still resting on her, though now around her waist. Maya and an older blonde woman, who Lucia assumed was the chef Maya had spoken of before, were facing away from them, chopping something. The smell of food cooking made Lucia’s stomach grumble, and she saw the quirk of Colton’s lips at the sound.

The sound of footsteps had all of them turning. Lucia felt like the entire room was holding its breath. The spell was broken as the shortest Beaumont man with green eyes and graying hair walked in. His eyes landed immediately on Colton before they slid to Lucia, narrowing almost accusatorially on her.

“Hi, Mr. Beaumont. I’m Lucia. This is for you.” She held out the pretty gift bag, almost embarrassed as he took it from her like it was a bomb. He peered inside, and seemingly satisfied that she wasn’t trying to blow up his family, he set it on the counter.

When she’d asked Colton what his father might like, the only thing he’d been able to think of was whiskey. She had spent longer than she should’ve researching the best one to buy him, hoping to make a good first impression, but she could tell he’d made his mind up about her before she’d stepped through the door of his house.

“Nice to meet you,” he said in a way that made it seem like it was not, in fact, nice to meet her. He turned to Colton. “Let’s go talk about the game before dinner.”

She saw Colton’s shoulders sag as he grimaced. He shot her an apologetic look but followed his father out of the room. Lucia couldn’t figure out why he’d deflated, since the Sabers had won the game by three scores and Colton had played quite well.

“Landon, make yourself useful and go set the table, please. We’ll start setting out food in a minute.” Maya wasn’t even facing them as she said it, though she turned around and winked at Lucia as Landon grumbled.

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