Page 15 of The Interception
She turns and waves. “You take it home! Have it for dinner!” she yells and makes the turn toward the exit. The woman could not escape fast enough, a point Leo can’t seem to wait to make.
“She bolted on you like Secretariat at the Derby. What did I walk in on?” He’s devoured four of the meatballs, and I’m sure the rest don’t stand a chance.
I ruffle my hair and try to let it go. I have a few more meatballs to cook, a lot of cleaning to do, and my own subpar behavior to address with myself. There’s no time to explain it all to Leo.
“I don’t know. Nothing. Um…So, you think we can win with these?”
Leo picks up on my need to change the subject and nods. “For sure. Yeah.”
Soon, we’re both elbow deep in cleaning up, but my mind never strays from Layne and that almost…wasit an almost kiss? Had she wanted me to kiss her?
I don’t know, but I do know one thing for sure. I cannot let anything like that happen again. From now on, I need a babysitter when I’m around Layne Rossi.
Chapter Seven
Layne
I try not tolet what happened yesterday get to me, but the thing is, I don’t knowwhathappened. One minute Ender and I were making food, the next I was in an Ender sandwich waiting for him to kiss me. Or not. I have no idea. All I know is, it was good timing when his teammate walked in. It’s not like me to find myself in such positions, mostly because dating has taken a back seat while I work toward my goals. Maybe it’s competition jitters getting to me? Who knows.
Speaking of competitions, I need to focus on the one I’m in right now. Cameras are set up on the field, a few fans are in the stands, and the judges’ table is decorated to the nines. Cameramen chat amongst themselves, and I’m heading into full-blown panic mode. I need to clear my head and focus, so I call Lottie.
“Hey, what’s up, sis?” she answers.
“I need you to tell me to keep my head in the game and to stop trying to figure out confusing men. Also, tell me I don’t look ridiculous on camera.” I look through the bags of groceries the organizers had delivered to make sure we have everything weneed. I only have about ten minutes before Ender arrives and I have to pretend I didn’t run away yesterday.
“Uh, what happened?” Lottie asks.
“Oh, you know, just testing recipes with a man yesterday and things got a little playful. One thing led to another, and if his teammate hadn’t walked in, I think he might have kissed me.”
“What?” Her voice screeches through the phone. “Ender Langley almost kissed you?”
“I think? Maybe? I don’t know. He was so rude the other day, but he’s been nice since then. He’s so confusing, though. One minute he’s looking at me like I annoy him more than anyone else in the world, and the next it’s like I hung the moon.”
“I think that’s just men. Andrew still does that to me. Want me to come down there and supervise?” she teases.
“You tease, but I might need you.”
“Oh, I was kidding. I’m not leaving my getaway to intrude on you finding your future husband.” She laughs and I roll my eyes.
“He isnotmy future husband. He’s just Ender. My super hot, athletic, amazing cook of a partner, but—”
“Hey.” Ender’s voice behind me startles me, and I almost drop my phone.
“Uh, I gotta call you back,” I say and hang up on my sister-in-law. After I swallow my heart down and shove my phone in my bag, I address Ender. “You startled me.”
“I noticed. What kinds of nice things did you have to say about me?” he asks while he ties an apron around his waist. My throat seizes. He heard me talking about him? How much did he hear, and how deep am I in it if he heard the entire conversation? Better to deny it, feel him out, see how much he heard and how hard he’s willing to push me to admit Imighthave given him a compliment…three seconds after talking smack about him.
I scoff. “I wasn’t talking about you. Bold of you to make that assumption.”
He raises a dark eyebrow and smirks. “Mmm, pretty sure I heard my name. What were you talking about, Layne?” His tone is impossible to decipher. He could be teasing me, maybe on the verge of anger or annoyance, perhaps even worry.
The point is, he heard me, and lying about it is mean. Best to get it out in the open, admit I was telling Lottie all about the stuff Ender has done to me, and see if he’s ready to ditch me after that. I sigh. “Fine, I was complaining to my sister-in-law about you, okay? I told her all you did, complained about you for a minute, and now I’m over it.”
Ender chuckles and arranges our ingredients, ensuring they are all correct. “Hey, I’ll take it. I was still the topic of conversation. Glad I’m forgiven for everything I did to you the other day.”
“Ha! I said I was over it, not that you’re forgiven. If you think for one second that I’m going to forgive you for what you said and did to me, then you’re crazier than I thought. I’m only putting up with you to win.” Except it’s a lie. A total lie, because Ialreadytold him I forgave him, and judging by that widening smirk, he remembers. Ugh. How do I always end up in these kinds of situations? Why do I have to be attracted to the semi-jerky guy who is my cooking partneronly?
Okay, fine. He’s not actually jerky. He just did a jerky thing, but I need to tell myselfhe’sa jerk or else…bad things will happen.
