Page 71 of Tempting the Player
“Yeah,” I say, no longer looking at her hand but at her mouth. That perfect fucking mouth.
Clearing my throat, I let go and step away. She refocuses her attention, pulls her hand back and tries throwing a punch on her own. “Ouch.”
“It also helps if you have gloves.” I reach down for my discarded T-shirt and wipe the sweat from my forehead with it. I sit on the bench in front of the weight rack. “Almost done for the day?”
“Yeah,” she says as she walks around the garage taking in the various workout equipment and old boxes, a few tools. “I need to submit an assignment for sociology, but I can do that later. Flynn goes back to school tomorrow and my roommates are all home tonight. There’s no reason for me to keep taking all your time. You can take Flynn to practice and then maybe take a break and enjoy the rest of your day. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.” She heads now for the open garage door. The skies are clear, and the sun is out. It’s still cold, but the rain is gone. “It’s beautiful out.”
And so is she. I keep that cheesy ass line to myself.
“I don’t need a break. Besides, if you leave before I drop off Flynn, he’ll be disappointed.”
That makes her laugh. “He’s sweet.”
“My truck stinks from all the cologne he’s started wearing to practice.” I shake my head. “He has a crush on you. They all do.”
“I think they’re being nice so I keep feeding them.”
I snort a laugh. Tuesday she brought donuts, Wednesday she had bagels delivered, and today it was a variety of breakfast sandwiches. “There’s probably some truth to that.”
“Besides, boys don’t have crushes on me, they have crushes on Ivy.”
“I hate to break it to you, but you are Ivy.”
“You know what I mean.”
“I do.” Plenty of girls were only interested in dating me because I was a pro football player, however short-lived that was. I guess it didn’t bother me then because I wasn’t looking for anything more, but I can see where that’d get old after a while. “But I doubt they’re only crushing on Ivy. You’re a cool girl. Beautiful and smart, funny.”
She turns and comes back into the garage. “Thanks. You’re not so terrible either.”
“High praise.” I laugh.
She wears a smug smile that drops as she gets closer to me. “Speaking of how super awesome I am, don’t you ever get tired of working? When’s the last time you took a night off?”
“Not that long ago,” I say even though I don’t really remember. “Come on, it’s about time to take Flynn.”
When I open the door to go inside, I’m immediately met with the smell of his cologne.
I try not to breathe as I say, “Hope you can hold your breath for the drive.”
* * *
“Thanks for the ride,” Flynn says as I pull up to the curb in front of Valley High School. He glances at Jane in the passenger seat before opening his door. “Are you coming by tomorrow?”
“I don’t think so,” she says. “You’re going back to school so I’m out of excuses to avoid campus.”
“Too bad. Hen smiles more when you’re around.”
Jane looks at me with a happy, smug expression before giving my baby brother her attention again. “This is him smiling more? Wow. What a sad case he is, huh?”
“Yeah, go ahead and talk about me like I’m not here,” I say dryly.
Flynn cracks up. “I have a game tomorrow night. Will you come watch? With Hendrick.” He adds the last part like he’s doing it for my benefit.
Before I can tell him that she has other plans, she says, “Sure, I’d love to.”
“You don’t have to do that,” I say to her.
“No, I’d really like to.” She smiles at Flynn and then looks at me. “I mean, if that’s okay. I’ve never been to a high school basketball game.”
