Page 43 of Fumbled Love

I highly doubted she felt that way. I was a woman and knew competition when I saw it. She was still carrying a torch for her old flame; only he didn’t see it.

I folded my arms across my chest. “But she’s your physical therapist now?” I asked, trying to figure out the exact status of their relationship. It felt like I was playing a game that I was unfamiliar with and trying to learn the rules as we went along.

“She’s the team’s physical therapist.” He brought me to his chest. “I promise you, there is nothing going on between us. That ship sailed a long time ago. I don’t see Della as anything but a friend.”

There was no way Della was happy being friends with Maverick. If I had to bet money, she was probably in love with him. Something told me she was going to stir up trouble. The million-dollar question was, how much?

CHAPTER16

MAVERICK

My date was waitingfor me in the lounge, wearing a red, snug-hugging top and another pair of black pants. The woman sure liked the color red, probably because it drew everyone’s eyes to her perfect body like a siren. My eyes glanced around in irritation, hoping no one else noticed her sitting at the bar top by herself.

I raked a hand through my hair, wondering how I never saw her as anything other than my sister’s best friend. I wasn’t possessive. The only time I got territorial was when I was on the field. But looking over every inch of her was like looking through a totally different lens, and I really liked what was in front of me.

Her deep red lips were pursed in concentration as her fingers flew across her keyboard. She was completely unaware of me sneaking up on her.

I slanted my head to see what was so interesting on her phone. “I should have known you’d be checking your email.”

“Jesus.” She gasped and almost dropped the phone into her lap. That little sound was all wrong with what I was thinking because memories of our night together began to pile up in my head. And those thoughts couldn’t have come at a more inconvenient time because there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about them. “You scared the crap out of me.”

When she finally looked up at me with those innocent blue eyes and tempting red lips, I silently told my dick to chill the hell out before things got awkward. I ran a quick hand through my hair and wondered how I was going to keep my hands off of her.

“What are you drinking?” I pointed to the glass on the coaster. It was a damn miracle I could articulate any words.

She held it up and rolled her eyes. “Tonic water with lime.”

I rested my arm along the bar. “I’ll have the same,” I yelled to the female bartender as she passed by. I could tell Kinley wasn’t all that thrilled with the no alcohol rule that pregnant women had to follow, and I couldn’t blame her.

“No beer or whiskey?” She raised an eyebrow, and I noticed her makeup was more pronounced than usual. She looked like she had spent extra time preparing for tonight, which made me smile.

“Nah, I’m good for now. I might have something stronger with dinner.”

“How did the meeting with your agent go?” she asked, poking her tiny straw around in her glass.

“About what I expected.”

“Why would he schedule a meeting on New Year’s Eve?”

I drummed my fingers on the back of her chair and looked across the bar for a few familiar faces. “Because he’s Julian and doesn’t know how to relax. His idea of a fun time is updating spreadsheets and drafting up contracts.”

She laughed. “Sounds like a fun guy. I hope he’s not married.”

I nodded slowly. “They just celebrated their ten-year anniversary last month.”

She grimaced. “Poor woman.”

“She’s just as bad.”

“Okay then.” She took a sip of her drink. “Thanks for sending a car to pick me up, but it was completely unnecessary.”

“It’s the least I could do. If there was a way to reschedule it, I would have.”

As soon as my drink was placed on the bar, the maître d’ came over to let me know our table was ready. I helped her off the stool and brushed my lips against her cheek.

As we moved through the restaurant, several people stopped to chitchat. Vesper Hills was an elite country club that cost a fortune to belong to. The membership was invitation-only, and the waiting list to get in was over a decade long. Our team’s general manager was on the board, so a decent number of players from the Arrows organization belonged.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but I wasn’t expecting to see so many young people here,” Kinley whispered in my ear as we made our way to the back of the dining room.

---