Page 36 of Full Coverage (Boys of Fall)

“Nope. He went for it. It was a huge gamble. If we didn’t make first down, it was their ball and they were on the fifty. They had the number three running back in the state and our defense was tired and beat up.”

“We were up. Why’d he go for it?” Nolan asked. He’d asked Coach the same question. He’d asked players for their take as well. But he wanted to hear Randi’s answer.

She rolled out from under the car. She met his eyes. “Because anyone can play it safe. Champions do it the hard way.”

Nolan loved that answer. And he wondered if Randi was the type to play it safe or do it the hard way. She seemed spunky, she seemed tough, but she hadn’t ever taken any chances. She was living and working in her hometown, doing something she’d been doing since she was a kid, with the same routine and same people.

He wanted her to take a chance. With him.

It wasn’t a startling revelation. But where it had been a dream, a desire before, now he accepted it. He wanted to take her with him when he left Quinn. He’d made love to her. He’d poured his feelings into every touch and kiss and when he’d felt it returned, when he’d felt how much she wanted and needed his love and attention and passion, he’d realized that he couldn’t leave her here. He wanted to show her the world, give her every opportunity she’d never had. She could go to school. She could be whatever she wanted, could do whatever she wanted.

“Coach said that he went for it because no one writes books about guys who play it safe,” Nolan told her.

Randi smiled at that. “He’s right.”

Nolan nodded. He agreed with the sentiment wholeheartedly. No one remembered the safe and easy times. They remembered and appreciated the times when they took a chance and came out on top.

She rolled back under the car.

In spite of her smile, something was off with Randi today. She’d smiled at him, but it hadn’t quite reached her eyes. She’d talked with him, but it was like she was explaining a football game to just some guy rather than talking about her passion with the guy who’d been the object of her passion all night.

For a second, he’d wondered if she was regretting the night before. But then he realized that she was acting hurt and uncomfortable. Not like she wished the night before hadn’t happened. Not embarrassed about the way she’d called out his name and begged him and told him the most intimate thoughts in her head. Not distracted, as if she couldn’t look at him without thinking about his mouth between her legs or her mouth on his cock. Not overwhelmed, as if she was dealing with some major emotions of her own after last night.

No. She was acting awkward. Again. Like she had all the times she’d tried to talk to him before this trip home.

Of course he’d asked if she was okay. To which she, of course, said she was fine.

So he was giving her space. For now.

“They went for it,” Nolan said. “And made it.”

“Yep, first down plus ten yards. The next play, we marched right into the end zone.”

“And ended up winning the game by three.”

“Right. Without that touchdown, we could have lost by three.”

Nolan listened to her working under the car, studying her long legs and remembering how they’d felt wrapped around his waist as he’d thrust into the hottest, tightest, sweetest body on the planet. But more, he remembered how she sounded, breathing hard in his ear, begging for more, crying out his name—hisname—when she came.

And he remembered how it had felt to wake up with her draped around him like she was a spider monkey and he was her favorite tree.

“Let’s go to the Valentine’s Day thing together.”

She stopped moving. Then slowly rolled out from under the car. “What?”

“The Valentine’s Day Dance. At the Community Center.”

“Together?” she asked.

He smiled and stood. Crossing to where she lay on the floor, he squatted down and handed her a pink envelope.

Randi reached for the rag that was perpetually tucked into her back pocket and wiped her hands. Then she took the envelope hesitantly. She opened it and proceeded to read the sappiest card he’d ever purchased in his life. And that included the Mother’s Day card he’d bought for his mom when he was seven.

She seemed to be reading it three or four times, because it took her almost two full minutes to lift her gaze from the card.

“You got me a Valentine?”

He grinned at her. “Be mine.”

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