Page 48 of The Red Zone
Not exactly what I had planned—like, ever in this lifetime—but it wasn’t awful. I looked good in navy blue, and sixteen was a good number, wasn’t it? It also helped that I couldn’t see October’s last name unless I turned around to look at it. That had to count for something, right?
I turned around, twisting my head over my shoulder to get a glimpse of the back of the jersey. Looking up, I caught October’s eyes in the mirror and the corner of his lips turned up into a small smile.
Did he… like this? Nope. Impossible. Hell would have to freeze over, pigs would have to fly, and we’dbothhave to get struck by lightning all at the same time before that could happen.
Im-fucking-possible.
“Why are you staring at me like that?” I narrowed my eyes at him.
“You’re gorgeous, Mae. More gorgeous than my thoughts from the last seven years led me to believe.” He ran a thumb over his bottom lip, slowly as he looked me up and down. “Like it or not, I’ll never apologize for admiring how beautiful you are.”
“Wait… you thought about me… while we were apart?”
“Often.”
Huh.
“You’re acting strange today…” I muttered with a puzzled expression before shaking my head and twisting on my heels to walk out the door. Halfway into the hallway, I stopped dead in my tracks.
“You know what, now that I’m here…” I turned to face him, watching as he threw on a white undershirt which somehow, someway made him look ten times sexier than when he was half naked. “Why are you still living here, anyway? The season started—what?—two weeks ago which means the roster was finalized at least a week before that, if not more…”
“Is this your way of kicking me out?” He lifted a brow in question.
“No. I don’t really care if you stay or not. I’m pretty indiffer—" I suppressed the gasp spilling past my lips by slapping a hand to my mouth. “You’re such a shithead. You tricked me!”
“Looks like I’ll be sticking around after all.” He winked.
There was a burning fire flaring underneath my skin, and I had to fight not to ball my fists at my sides. I should’ve known his sudden niceness was too good to be true. It didn’t bother me too much that he was here, but it’s not like the guy couldn’t afford to go somewhere else.
“You just want to stay somewhere close to the practice facility.”
“Would you like a reward for getting that right?”
God, that smug smirk of his irritated the shit out of me sometimes. I gave him a blank look and threw up a middle finger for good measure before turning to head out the door again.
Would you like a reward for getting that right?Fucking asshole.
“I want to hear you cheering for me at the game, March baby,” he called out from the bedroom as I made my way down the hall.
“I would rather have my vocal cords burst into flames.” I mumbled, mostly to myself.
God, I hoped Scarlett wasn’t going to make a big deal about my outfit.
* * *
“Woohoo! Let’s go football,” I shouted, eyeing the delicious display of big, athletic men warming up on the field. My words of encouragement earned me a few head turns from the training staff and a laugh from the photographer who was standing a few feet from Scarlett and I.
“You don’t know a single thing about football, do you?” She peered up at me with a lifted brow.
“Not one thing.”
“Me either.”
We bumped nacho trays in solidarity, before taking our final bites and tossing them in the trash can behind us.
So far, I was liking football. I’d always wanted to pick a sport to be a fan of, and based on the array of gorgeous men stretching in front of us right now, this was the kind of sport I could see myself adopting for the long haul.
Watching tall, athletic men run around—or whatever it was they did—every Sunday? Sign me up.
