Page 70 of Mad Rivals
“Because you’re moving here?” he guesses.
I nod. I don’t want to give too much away since I don’t know him, yet this sort of feels like a bonding moment.
“Can she move with you?”
“Wejuststarted seeing each other,” I say. “It’s complicated.”
“Yeah. Anyone who leaves marks like that is definitely complicated.”
I chuckle. He’s not wrong. “I’ve never been in a serious relationship. Have you?”
He nods. “Once. But I was young and fucked it up, so I swore them off. What’s your excuse?”
“My career.” I shrug. “It’s just easier this way. Less to manage.”
“Women certainly do complicate things, don’t they?”
I press my lips together and nod. My life feels like it’s been one complication after another since I bumped into her at that Starbucks one fateful morning, and here I am, mooning over the fact that I’ve started falling for her when I should be focused on workouts and the upcoming season with a new team.
“So the question is, can you live without her in your life?” he says. “If you can, then you can leave her behind in Chicago and explore the vast and wonderful opportunities here in San Diego as my sidekick. But if you can’t, well, you figure that shit out. I’m not your man for advice on that.”
I bark out a laugh. “One thing, Mack,” I say, and he glances at me with raised brows. “I’m nobody’s sidekick.”
He laughs with me, and we call it a day on the treadmills and head for the pool.
I don’t feel all that much better about my situation, but I do feel a new bond with a teammate. That’s the thing about working out. Sometimes you’re working out more than just your body, and your mind gets some benefits as well.
I guess it feels like a bit of a load off my shoulders. It doesn’t solve world issues, but it helps that I already have someone here I can confide in, and I can see us becoming good friends. He’s been here in San Diego a few years now, and he’s a lot like me. He’s a wide receiver, he’s single, and he doesn’t bother with relationships. The other receivers—Spencer Nash, DJ Evans, Trey Clark, and Zach Moore—are all either married or have significant others.
So it’s Clay Mack and Mad Brad for the win, a phrase I hope to hear a lot this season.
After workouts, I touch base with a realtor recommended by Spencer. He put together a schedule of places to view this weekend, and I’m more excited than I should be that I’ll have Kennedy with me to give me another perspective as I click through the photos he sent over.
I shower, and it’s as I’m getting out that I hear a knock at my door. I glance at the clock and realize I lost track of time, and I run over to the door as I wrap a towel around my waist, my hair still dripping with beads of water as I open the door.
I find Kennedy standing there looking as gorgeous as ever. Her hair is down and a little wavy, and she’s wearing a pair of jeans and a plain white T-shirt.
Her surprised eyes immediately and greedily dart down to my abdomen. I glance down at my body with the small hotel towel wrapped around it. “Sorry. I lost track of time.”
“Uh,” she says, dragging her bottom lip between her teeth. “No, uh. Actually, this is perfect.” She sets her hands on my absand pushes me into my own hotel room, and I laugh as she yanks her suitcase in and kicks the door shut behind her. She stalks toward me.
Saturday night was our night together. We haven’t seen each other since she left on Sunday. It’s been only four days.
And somehow with her here in front of me again, I realize one important fact.
“I missed you,” I say as she moves in closer.
She runs her fingertips along my forehead, and she curls her finger around my ear as her eyes find mine. “I missed you too.”
I lean down and press my lips to hers, and she melts right into me. It’s the way she does that, how her body just seems to mold to mine, that makes this so fucking addictive.
I have nowhere to go tonight. I wasn’t planning on leaving this hotel room. I was going to order food in and spend the evening naked.
And it appears her plans are in line with mine as she tugs at the spot where my towel is tucked into itself. We both let it drop to the floor.
She’s been here less than a minute, and I’m already naked, my mouth opening to intensify our kiss as she kisses me back with urgency and need. She reaches between us and tugs on my cock, and all the blood in my body rushes right there at the feel of her hands on me. I grunt into her mouth as she starts to stroke me off, and I’m desperate to feel her, too, but she’s got me by the balls.
Literally.
