Page 54 of For the Win

“Yeah.Like I said, I was distracted by a bunch of stuff, so I did it to try to focus and relax.”

“Well.”I blink.I’m not sure if I believe him or not.“That’s great.”

Why don’t I believe him?He seems sincere.He seems like an honest guy.I hate being like this!

I pull in a slow breath through my nose, then tell him about the work we’re doing at Prana to collect items for a women’s shelter.“They always need toiletries, baby food...lots of things.So I set up a place in the studio where everyone can contribute things.I’m taking over our first donation on Monday.”

“That’s awesome.Where did you get that idea?”

“Ummm.I think I saw something online about them needing things.”

“If you need any help, I’m free Monday afternoon.”

I consider that.I was going to ask Taj if I could borrow his car, but if Harrison could drive me, I wouldn’t have to bother Taj.“Okay,” I say slowly.“That would be great, actually.”

His face brightens.I think he thought I was going to say no.“Okay!Good.”

Our pizza arrives, and we dig into the pie topped with pepperoni, bacon, mushrooms, and green peppers.

“Oh, this is good!”I capture a string of mozzarella dangling from my piece with one finger.“Spicy!”

He watches me slip my finger into my mouth to pull off the mozzarella, his eyes darkening.My belly flutters.

I take another bite of my pizza, trying to control my attraction to him, and we both eat for a moment.Then I ask, “Would you rather be the best player on a terrible team, or the worst player on a great team?”

One of his eyebrows shoots up.“Where did that come from?”

“Just making conversation.”

He nods.“Well...seeing as I like to win, I guess I’d rather be the worst player on a great team.As long as by worst, you mean no talent.Not worst because I’m lazy.”He appears to wince slightly.“Because you can overcome being lazy.But if you have no talent and you work as hard as you can, that’s all you can ask.”

I feel like a might have hit a nerve there.Interesting.

“How about you?”he asks.

“I can’t argue with what you just said.But maybe if you’re the best player on a terrible team, there’s a chance you could influence them to be better...lead by example?”

“True.”

“If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?”

“Aaaah.I can’t answer that!I love food.”

“Me too.But I’d say pizza.”I nod at the pan on our table.“Because there’s so much variety, it would be hard to get tired of it.”

“Good point.I’m also partial to broccoli.Can’t get enough of the stuff.”

“Really?”My chin jerks down.

“No.”He grins.“I eat it because I have to.”

“It’s really good roasted.Pretty much any vegetable is good roasted.Roasted cauliflower is like vegetable candy.”

“I don’t know if I’d go that far, but yeah, roasted veggies are good.Even better battered and fried.”

I laugh.“Yeah, I’d eat pretty much anything deep-fried.”

“I ate deep-fried beer once.”

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