Page 42 of Payback
“Booker!” Poppy squeals when she lands eyes on him. She runs in full-force toward him, and he breaks away from the video camera to wrap her in his arms. He lifts her up to his tall stature and plants a kiss on her lips.
Tanner’s boots clack along the concrete as he approaches Belle. Before he hugs her, he leans down and rubs her protruding belly. “What did my baby think of the game?”
“Your baby thinks you made a killer goal,” Belle replies with a sexy smile. He looks up and grins at her, then grabs her face, pulling her in for a very socially inappropriate kiss.
Vi interrupts Tanner and Booker’s reunions by diving into details about the game while congratulating them over and over. I try to follow along, but soccer chatter isn’t one of my strong suits.
Suddenly, a chill runs up my spine like I’m being watched. When I turn around to find Roan standing there tall, broad, and sweaty, the butterflies I had when we first met return with vengeance.
His mouth spreads into a wicked smile as he looks me up and down, his eyes lingering on my shirt as he states, “Nice to see you again, Lis.”
I swallow a nervous lump in my throat and do my best not to stare at the drizzle of sweat sliding down his thick neck that I have the strangest desire to lick. “Nice to see you, too,” I croak, my voice sounding uncomfortably hoarse.
Good-god, is he emitting more pheromones when he’s all sweaty like this?I’m feeling a really embarrassing amount of dampness between my legs that wasn’t there a moment ago.
“How’d you like the match?” he asks with a knowing smile that makes it seem like he can see exactly what’s going on in my panties right now.
I brush back a piece of my hair and try to look cavalier. “It was quite an experience, that’s for sure.”
He cocks his head to the side. “What do you mean by that?”
“Oh!” I exclaim, thinking I must sound unimpressed. “The game was amazing. The stadium really comes alive like I never realised. But what was really interesting was experiencing how this group behaves during a game.” I gesture behind me toward my family.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Gareth’s voice booms out of nowhere as he comes up from behind Roan and throws an arm over his shoulder. “Nice penalty shot, DeWalt. You and Tanner look bloody good out there together.”
“Thanks, Gareth,” Roan says with an easy smile. “It took some time, but we found our rhythm.”
Gareth nods slowly. “I just hope you don’t do anything to screw it up before your big move to the Premier League.”
Roan loses all sense of humour on his face and turns a serious look at Gareth. The two seem to exchange silent words for a few seconds before Tanner’s voice bellows, “Not a chance, Gareth! Roan and I have a bromance that cannot be broken.”
Belle’s eyes fly wide. “You better not let Camden hear you say that. He’ll get all awkward and start sending you chocolates.”
“Lucky for me, my wife loves chocolates, so it’s a win-win.” He wraps an arm around Belle and kisses her temple.
“So, what did your comment mean, Allie-Cat?” Gareth asks, pinning me with his hazel eyes. “What was so interesting about us watching the game?”
I flush and shake my head. “I didn’t mean anything by it. You guys just really get into the game.”
Vi moves to look at me, her brows furrowed. “How do you mean?”
I look around at all of them staring at me like I’m speaking in a foreign language. “You have to know how crazy of fans you are, right?”
“Everybody goes crazy for football in England,” Vi volleys back.
I laugh and glance over at Roan, who has crossed his arms and appears amused by the image of me squirming under the Harris scrutiny. “I get that. But you guys have to be a special brand, right?”
They all blink back at me in confusion, so I look to Hayden, or Belle, or Poppy, or Sloan to confirm my assessment because they’re outsiders like me to a degree. But apparently they’ve been infiltrated for too long in this bunch. Their opinions have been compromised.
Finally, I roll my eyes and say, “Never mind. Everything was completely normal, like any other Saturday afternoon.”
They seem satisfied by that answer, so I quickly take a step out of the middle of the group so they can resume their post-game chatter.
Roan follows my retreat and props himself on the wall while shaking his head at me. “You can’t call the Harris lot crazy. They just go crazier.”
I shrug his comment off. “I can call them whatever I’d like. I’m a Harris, too.”
His shoulders shake with laughter. “I give you three more months in London with them. You’ll be just as crazy and blind to it as well. This is a preview of your future.”
