Page 35 of Payback
He exhales heavily. “My mom calls me too often. She worries about me up here in London, but I’m more worried about her in Cape Town.”
I nod and don’t think about the words that fall out of my mouth next. “Is that why you send part of your paycheque home to her every month?”
Roan releases my hand and sits back. “How the hell do you know that?”
I sit up and splay my hands out on the table. “It’s, um, in your file.”
“What file?” he snaps, agitated by my knowledge.
“The file we have on all the players at the club. It’s sort of a rap sheet so we know who has the potential to cause the most trouble.”
“Jesus,” he replies glumly and shakes his head. “I had no idea PR companies would know that kind of shit.”
I shrug. “It’s our job to know. You and Mac are two of the cleanest players on the team. It’s why they selected you two for the Win A Date Campaign.”
Roan rolls his eyes, clearly not enjoying the fact that I have this intel. He hits me with a steely look. “What other information do you have on me that I don’t know about?”
Good-god is that a loaded question.“Nothing,” I chirp back innocently. “From now on, it’s only whatever you decide to share with me.”
My reply seems to relax him because he leans forward and resumes fondling my hands. “Do you think your cousins will kill me if you and I start spending more time together?”
“Time?” I croak, my voice catching in my throat. “In what capacity?”
“In the type of capacity where I buy drinks or food and you drink the drinks or eat the food…Then we kiss at your front door.”
“That sounds like dating.”
He grins at me. “You’re skipping a couple of steps, Lis, but ag, you’ve been a fast mover since the day we met, so I’m into this.”
Have I mentioned how much I love it when he calls me Lis?
I glance down at his drink. “You’ve had one beer with me and you’re already wanting to commit to future time?”
“You forget that I spent the better part of twelve hours with you naked in a hotel room. I’m basing our dating status on more than tonight. Tonight was just the confirmation I needed to make sure that all the fantasies I’ve had about you are built on some semblance of reality.” He winks and downs the rest of his beer in one gulp, his neck contracting in a really attractive way as he does. He wipes the top of his lip and adds loudly, “That and I’ve seen you naked.”
I reach across the table and plant my hand over his mouth. “Will you please stop telling the entire pub that you’ve seen me naked?”
The smile in his eyes is panty-melting. Once I’m certain he’s done humiliating me, I release his mouth and shake my head at him. “Most soccer players would take a one-night stand and never look back.”
He lifts his brows and shrugs. “I’m not like most soccer players.”
Roan and I have a few more drinks and lose track of time chatting about silly things like our favourite foods and hobbies we both dabble in. Mine is fake trip planning. I always felt like I would have been a good travel agent. I get vacation ideas in my head and research flights, hotels, Airbnb’s, sight-seeing locations, the works. Roan’s curious if I’ve ever fake planned a trip to South Africa, and I regretfully have to say no. With that said, I know that as soon as I get home, I’m going to be Googling Cape Town.
Roan’s hobbies are a little less eccentric. He plays video games with Mac and loves soccer. He did say that when he’s done playing professionally, he can see himself getting back into ballroom dancing because he always enjoyed learning with his mother.
The entire time we talk and laugh, I can’t help but notice that the connection I felt with Roan the first night we met is still there, like it never left. And when I think back to that night, I’m surprised by how much I can remember because I think I was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. It’s the only reasoning I can come up with for why I did what I did. Everything about that night was so wildly out of character for me. I’ve only slept with a total of five men in my entire life, so recording a sex video with a one-night stand is certainly skipping a few steps in regard to my sexual experiences.
For now, I’m putting that crazy, jet-lagged night behind me and focusing on Roan in the present. It’s interesting to hear more about his experience as a soccer player because my cousins make it look so easy. His career has been anything but easy. He’s worked hard to get to where he is now, and I can tell by the way he talks about Bethnal Green F.C. that he looks at it as his ticket to the big time. And maybe it will be. He’ll be getting a lot more coverage with their promotion to the Premier League, so perhaps it’s only a matter of time before a larger, better soccer team scoops him up.
It’s dark outside when we leave the pub, and Roan offers me a ride home since I was planning to take the Tube. During our drive to Notting Hill, I marvel over the fact that he holds my hand on his lap like it’s the most natural thing in the world for him to do.
Roan parks in front of Camden and Indie’s quaint, white townhouse with a charming red front door. He shuts his car off and turns to look at me. “Can I walk you to the door, or do you think Camden will come out and kick me in the balls?”
I giggle because I have a feeling that’s dangerously close to the truth. “I think it’s best if you stay safe inside your car.”
He nods slowly and eyes my lips. “They’ll have to know about us eventually.”
“What’s with this ‘us’ you keep talking about?” I ask with an exasperated shake of the head. “We’ve had one night out together and you’re already saying ‘us’? Did you come on this strong to all the women you’ve been with?”
