Page 45 of Offsides

“Oh, I’m sure we could. But I’d like you to be more specific.”

Her hand trails up my chest and captures my shoulder. “Hmm, well, I was thinking we could go to my bedroom.”

“Yeah? And what would we do there?”

“Take your shirt off.”

My eyebrows raise. “Just my shirt?”

She lifts one shoulder. “To start with.”

“Hmm. Okay. And what would you do with me shirtless?”

“Look my fill.”

That makes me start in surprise, my blood rushing south. “You’ve been wanting to look at me shirtless?”

“I mean …” Her eyes meet mine briefly before darting away, her cheeks turning pink again. “Of course I have.”

I let out a playful gasp. “Dani Roberts, do you have a crush on me?”

She rolls her eyes, her cheeks even pinker when she meets my questioning gaze. “I guess?”

“And why am I just now learning about this?”

Laughing, she shakes her head. “And when was I supposed to tell you?”

“I dunno. Maybe in my room a little bit ago? When I confessed my undying attraction to you?”

She laughs harder atundying attraction.“Were you trying to kill off your attraction?”

“You were pretty well hung up on someone else for years, so kinda, yeah.”

Her arms circle my neck. “Well, I’m glad you never managed to make it happen.”

Dipping my head, I kiss her. “Me too,” I whisper against her lips before kissing her again.

“Well,” a voice breaks into our bubble, causing Dani to pull back quickly. “I guess that answers my question.”

I blink a few times before registering Autumn standing next to us, scratching something out on her clipboard. “No, no. As you were. Don’t mind me. I’m just organizing the next round of the tournament. Feel free to keep making out by the snacks. Just, y’know, fair warning that it does put some people off, and I think a few of the others would like food, they just aren’t sure about entering the snog zone to get it.”

“Snog zone?” Dani repeats, hysterical laughter barely suppressed.

Grinning, Autumn just shrugs. “Do you have a better term? Anyway. I’ve taken you out of the next round. Carry on.” With that, she spins on her heel and heads off to talk to someone else.

“Well,” Dani says after a beat, her voice thoughtful, “I guess that solves that problem.”

“You ready to go, then?”

She grins at me. “Let’s go.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Dani

I’m positively giddy as Eli and I leave his apartment and head to my house. He drives, his hand finding its way to my leg when he doesn’t need both hands on the wheel. After a moment, I cover his hand with mine, threading my fingers through his. He glances over and grins at me.

My heart pounds in my chest. We’re going to my house for the specific purpose of being alone. While I’m sure everyone who was paying attention could figure out where we were going and why, we at least didn’t have a chorus of knowing howls chasing us out the door the way they greeted us coming out of Eli’s room.

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