Page 122 of This Wild Heart

Chapter 32

Parker

There was nothing like the atmosphere of a stadium just before kickoff.

It didn’t matter that preseason games didn’t really count. It was that first hit of adrenaline that we’d been waiting for since the previous season ended. And in the case of our team, that ending fucking hurt.

We’d finished our first round of stretching, back on the field in full gear doing our final warm-ups, and soon almost every seat in the Voyagers stadium would be full—a sea of blue and green and white, the energy electric in a way that couldn’t be replicated.

The start of a new season was hope, and even though the past two weeks were some of the hardest I’d felt in a long fucking time, I couldn’t deny that I was feeling it too.

With our tight end coach snapping the balls, I finished running through my route tree a few times, the repetitive actions soothing my nerves as the clock ticked down. The Wilder family was watching the game somewhere up in one of the luxury boxes. Preseason games weren’t usually when they showed up in force, but they wanted to see me do well.

After a twenty-yard sprint, I cut back about three or four yards for a comeback route, and the ball hit me right between the numbers. I cradled it to my chest as I jogged back toward Ben and tossed it back into his waiting hands.

Beckett walked over and held out his fist. I tapped it with my own. “Feeling good, old man?”

He smiled. “So far. Ask me again in a few weeks.” My brother-in-law looked around the field, soaking in the atmosphere. “I think this is my last year.”

My eyebrows shot up. “Yeah?”

He nodded. “I’m tired. I want to be home with Greer and Olive. Want to try for another too.”

I slapped him on the back. “Hey, good luck with that. A mini-version of Greer? You’re fucked, big man.”

Beckett smiled, merely shaking his head. His eyes were over on the sideline, where family members were allowed to wait before the game. “You talk to Anya?”

My chest constricted at the sound of her name. “Not yet,” I hedged.

“Greer said she couldn’t stay for the whole game when they talked earlier.”

My head snapped up. “Greer talked to her?”

Beckett gave me a strange look. “Yeah, she was just over there when I saw Greer and Olive. Figured you knew.”

Was it a thousand degrees in here? God, someone cranked the fucking furnace up, I just knew it. Heart thrashing wildly behind my ribs, I looked over at the family area. Behind bright blue ropes, and between two people I didn’t recognize, I saw a flash of bright, golden hair.

He gave me a knowing smile. “Go say hi, and get your ass back to the sideline. We gotta head to the locker room soon.”

It didn’t matter there would be eyes on us, more cameras than I could count aimed in our direction, I was only thinking about her as I jogged over, hope exploding under my skin the closer I got.

Her hair shone under the lights as she moved her head, lifting it in my direction, and our eyes locked.

Something in my chest broke free, and it took every shred of discipline not to sprint because her presence didn’t mean she was coming back. It didn’t mean she was ready for the same thing I was. But the cautious look in those blue eyes had my hope spinning quick and fast.

I stopped short, aware that every head in the family area had turned in our direction. She wasn’t wearing one of my jerseys. Instead, a simple Voyagers tank top was molded to her upper body, her toned arms bare and on display. Around her neck was a family badge.

“Hi.” God, I was out of breath just from that short jog over here. Pathetic.

She smiled, small and reserved. “Hi.”

Gently, I reached out for her hand and pulled her to the edge of the family area, trying to get even the smallest amount of privacy. Her fingers tangled with mine, and I had to close my eyes, dipping my head to speak closer to her ear. Her scent swam in my lungs—grapefruit and that warm note I’d never been able to name. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

Anya’s chest rose and fell on a deep breath, and when she looked back up at me, I was undone by what I saw there.

Her sadness. Her frustration. And something edging close enough to affection that I wanted to fall to my knees.

“I promised I would,” she said carefully. “I didn’t want … I hated the idea that you had no one waiting for you today.”

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