Page 21 of The Red Zone
There were few things in life that shocked me these days, but hearing those words tumble out of Mae’s mouth as casually as chatting about the weather? Yup, that did me in.
“Scarlett… she thinks we should have a hate fuck or something. She says it’ll ‘resolve our tension’.” Mae used air quotes, still surveying the crowd. Again, talking as casually as if we were discussing what we ate for lunch.
What the fuck was going on?
A minute passed as I tried to wrap my head around what she’d just said, when Mae decided she’d catch me off guard for a second time tonight.
“Maybe she’s right.” She sighed, sinking deeper against my pecs.
My lungs stopped working.
“Could you repeat that? I think I heard you say—"
She rotated her upper half toward mine and cut me off with a palm to the mouth. “You heard me correctly. I said, ‘maybe she’s right’.”
She released her hand and I stared at her blankly, without a single thought behind my eyes. This couldn’t be real, right? Certainly, this ship had gone off course and taken us to the Bermuda triangle or something?
In all the years I’d known Mae, we’d never once acted on the sexual chemistry between us. Even when we were hormone rampant teenagers and our spark became volcanic, neither of us made mention of it. Sure, we made salacious remarks at each other from time to time, but that had all been in the name of friendly competition… hadn’t it?
Damn it, she was getting in my head. Making me overthink this whole thing so I’d fall victim to whatever joke she was trying to play on me.
It didn’t help that my dick was aching—aching—at slightest the mention of sex.
When I first got drafted to The League and moved up to Nashville to play for the Knights, a couple of teammates introduced me to the idea of temporary celibacy as a means to increase athletic performance.
Some people believed it was bullshit, and maybe they were right about it being some weird placebo effect. However, in the six years I’d been playing professionally, the only time I had a below average season was when I got too intoxicated during bye week, and picked up a month-long fling from Broadway. She’d been fun, but it was my worst season to date. We didn’t come anywhere close to making the playoffs that year.
In the three seasons since then, I’d abstained from sex from our first preseason game until the final post-season game. Once the season was over, though, I made up for everything I missed out on during my time away… and then some.
Hold up. What was wrong with me? Season celibacy or not, I wasn’t going to give into some stupid “hate fuck” with Mae.
“You’re joking, right?” I shook my head, running a hand through my hair.
“Nope.” She made a pop sound at the end of the word. “Wow.” She laughed. “Who would’ve guessed you’d look so perplexed by someone coming on to you? Oh, wait!” Mae drew in a breath. “Aww, women never make a move on you, do they?”
“What makes you think that?”
“Well, for starters, you’re as white as a ghost.”
“Trust me…” I schooled my expression before dropping my gaze down to meet hers. “I can assure you that I have no problems when it comes to getting women.”
“Oh, so it’s me who you’re flustered by? What an honor.” Mae placed her hands over her heart in flattery.
“Even if I was interested, which I’m not, I don’t fuck during the season.”
She crossed her arms over her chest, pushing up her breasts to accentuate her cleavage.Man, I hated that I was so aware of every time she did that.With her eyelashes batting slowly and desire coating her voice, she said, “That’s fine, I’m willing to be patient.”
Alright, now I was certain this was a joke.
I squinted at her. “You’re playing me right now, aren’t you?”
“Like a fiddle.”
“And that weird boob adjustment thing you just did… that’s part of it, isn’t it?”
“Finally, you picked up on it!” She let out a deep laugh, placing a hand over her stomach as her head dropped back. “It’s a deflection tactic. Every time I do it you get in your head contemplating my reasoning behind why I’m doing what I’m doing, right?” I didn’t respond, but we both knew the answer. “You think you’re getting the upper hand when I cross my arms, assuming it’s because I’m angry or flustered. When in reality, I was always aware of what I was doing…”She inched her face close to mine as she spoke, so close that I could feel the warmth of her breath against my lips. “Every. Single. Time.”
“Even a few weeks ago when I asked to move in? You knew what you were doing when you did it?”
