Page 195 of The Locker Room

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small of Penny"s back with scorching intensity. Xander blinked,

mesmerized by Chris"s glaring brown eyes, and slowly dropped his hand.

Chris"s expression grew no less intense, and Xander had to turn his head

because he was starting to get hard, and they had to make it through this

banquet, dammit!

168 Amy Lane

“Oh God,” he muttered, completely undone. “Penny, I can hardly

breathe.”

Penny started to rub his lower back, and as Xander looked at her

gratefully, he saw her look up and across the room to her brother and

stick out her tongue. Xander choked on a laugh, but some of the tension

in his body eased up, and he relaxed the fists held stiffly at his side just a

fraction.

Penny laughed in his ear, and Xander muttered, “What?”

“They"re sticking their tongues out, back. Here. You can do it too.”

Xander turned around and he and Penny did the totally adult thing

and returned fire. A round of flashbulbs went off, and Xander and Chris

both grimaced—they both knew what picture everyone"s blog or

newspaper would lead off with, and good for them.

The dinner was called, and they sat down across the room from

each other at separate tables. Xander ate stiffly, hardly tasting his

London Broil at all, and Penny made acerbic, charming conversation

next to him. Xander didn"t know any of the players or their dates, and he

tried to contribute, but his entire being was focused on the man

somewhere in the room behind him, and he felt like his stoic silence was

keeping his atoms from flying apart and dematerializing.

Then he realized that Vince Blake was talking to him and he

mustered all his effort and pulled his attention forward.

“So, are you and Edwards excited to be getting the team together?”

Xander blinked, and then smiled widely. That was the other perk of

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