Page 23 of Jilted Jock
“We were dancing.” I didn’t step back. I couldn’t. He had the hat on again, but sometime between this morning and now he’d shaved. I had the oddest desire to reach out and run my hand along his cheek to see if it was still smooth. Thank God I didn’t.
“Is that what that was? It looked like you were sacrificing her to the gods.”
I snorted and he smiled back at me, that imperfect smile that made me realize we were still standing close. I stepped away and retreated to the kitchen.
“I thought the boyfriend was coming into town?” he asked, following me.
“He is. He did.” I nodded toward my room.
“And he’s sleeping?”
“Yeah, it’s three hours ahead in New York.”
Finn made a noise in his throat that sounded like a scoff or a laugh. “Wouldn’t stop me if I hadn’t seen my girl in…”
“Two weeks,” I filled in for him.
“Too long,” he said, and his eyes slowly moved down from my face to take in my tank top and sleep shorts.
“Why are you back so early?” I sniffed the air. “You don’t smell like booze or cheap perfume,” I said teasingly.
“I had dinner with a teammate.”
“Oh.” Earlier he’d let Chance believe he had a date. I’d believed it too. He must have read it on my face.
“I didn’t want to be a fifth wheel.” He settled in like he wasn’t going anywhere. I took a strawberry and then lifted the bowl, offering him one. He took one and then asked, “Wanna tell me why you’re out here instead of in there with your man?”
“I told you, he’s sleeping.”
“Right, but I know chicks like you. You love cuddling or spooning or whatever you call it. Something is on your mind and I’d bet that bowl of strawberries that it has to do with him.”
“Did you talk to Chance?”
He grabbed another berry and took a bite before he answered. “Not since this morning. Why? Does he know why your panties are in a twist and you’re dancing with my cat instead of in there with the boyfriend?”
“His name is Richard.”
He shrugged with one shoulder like he couldn’t care less to know his name.
“Richard asked me to move to New York with him.”
“And?”
“And it’s a big decision.”
“Seems pretty simple to me.”
I rolled my eyes. “My family is here, my job, my friends – everything I know.”
“Except him.”
I nodded. He was right. It sounded like I was placing all of that ahead of Richard. Luckily kitty provided a nice distraction as she leaped over boxes like hurdles.
“Have you picked a name for her yet? Did you veto today’s suggestions?”
I glanced down at my gratitude journal and found them all as I’d written. He either hadn’t looked or just hadn’t hated them enough to cross out.
“I don’t really care. You pick.”
