Page 65 of Need You to Choose Me

After hanging up, I finish my makeup and give myself one last look in the vanity mirror before deciding it’s good enough. No matter what, tonight is going to be a good night.

I tell myself that three more times when the elevator dings at the ground floor where the event is happening in the ballroom.

And the first person to greet me when the doors open is none other than Bodhi Hoffman.

One of his hands slides into the front pocket of his dress slacks, which are screaming from his massive quads. Not to mention his muscles are threatening to rip the seams of the gray button-down, and his hair is gelled back into a tight bun without a piece out of place. He looks…damn.

But I don’t tell him that.

“Did you buy your shirt at Baby Gap?” I ask instead, causing his lips to curl up at the corners in amusement.

When I step out, there’s hesitation in my steps.

“Is that a dad joke?” he asks, making my eyebrows jump up. I hadn’t even meant it that way. But—Wait.

“You know that I know?”

Bodhi dips his chin, the hand from his pocket lifting to swipe his clean-shaven jaw. “Your brother told me.”

Slowly, I nod. “Did he say anything else?”

Based on the confusion on his face, I’d guess that’s a no. “Should he have? That seems like enough of a bomb drop.”

He’s not wrong. “Yeah, that was…something.” I shift on my feet. “Why didn’t you say something? It makes sense now why you were being weird when we were talking about the kid thing.”

We move aside when the elevator doors open and a new group of people step out. I can feel Bodhi’s palm against the small of my back, the heat from him soaking into my skin. “I wouldn’t say I was being ‘weird’.”

I roll my eyes, still feeling his touch. It’s innocent, but it still burns on my back. Shifting, I step in front of him with a smile. “You were totally being weird. You know, I was just talking to—” I stop myself, internally wincing when I was about to let Alex’s name drop. Clearing my throat, I let my smile grow. “I was just talking to a friend about how there must be something in the water because everybody is suddenly having kids.”

“A friend, huh? A guy friend?”

I shrug, trying to seem casual.

“Now who’s being weird?” he teases, nudging me with his elbow. He does it so softly I almost forget he’s taken down men twice his size with the very same part of him. “Look, I didn’t want to bring up Gemma because there’s a lot I’ve been figuring out with her and her mother’s family.”

I perk up. “Her name is Gemma? That’s really pretty, Bodhi.”

He lifts one of those broad shoulders. “I wish I could take credit for it, but that was all her mother.”

“And is her mother in the picture?” The question comes out before I’m smart enough to squash it. “Sorry. That’s none of my business.”

Bodhi wets his lips, looking at the people mingling near the ballroom entrance across the hall before sighing. “Her mother passed away, actually. Car accident. It’s been almost a year.”

“Oh.” That’s who he was talking about when we mentioned missing our exes. “I’m—”

“Don’t. You don’t need to apologize.” He’s quiet for a second as something passes over his eyes. “I wasn’t on good terms with her when she died, but it was hard to hear. Because of Gemma.I want what’s best for her, and her mother’s side of the family hasn’t made that very easy for me.”

Sympathy wraps around my heart. I’m starting to see why Sebastian told me not to involve myself in this. It seems…difficult. “I won’t tell you I’m sorry then, even if I am.”

He chuckles lightly. “Thank you.”

It’s my turn to look around, filling the silence with a cursory glance of our surroundings. I recognize one of the coach’s wives walking by, waving at one of the players who has a girl with big boobs latched onto his side.

Bodhi’s voice lowers when he breaks the silence between us. “What if we mingled for an hour and ditched? I saw a restaurant down the street. Maybe we could talk there.”

Talk there?

Why is my heart doing a funny dance inside my chest? “Talk as in…?”

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