Page 83 of Quarterback Sneak
“I’m done,” he says, brushing past me to drop off his plate in the dishwasher. I take his seat and stare down at the plate.
“Just try it,” Zane says, easing into the chair across from me. “It’s good.”
“I’m not really sure about the spinach and peppers and the onions. And maybe the carrots and celery.”
It goes quiet in the room, and then I hear a sputtered laugh. “You not into veggies, Evie?” Quint asks with a grin.
I throw my napkin at him and turn back to my plate. I take a deep breath and lift my fork. I hear a sound and look up to see Zane trying to hold back a laugh. I narrow my eyes at him. “Sorry, Evie. It’s just...your face. You’re really trying to psyche yourself up to eat those veggies.” Keeping eye contact with him, I take a bite and chew, hoping I’m not going to gag. I chew andswallow, still holding his gaze. He gives me a sexy smile as he leans back in his chair. “It’s good, isn’t it? Admit it.”
I stare him down, refusing to admit any such thing, even though he’s right. Itissurprisingly good. His eyes start to shift as I stare him down, and his body tenses. He leans forward, still holding my gaze. But his eyes intensify in color, and those penetrating green eyes seem to take on a new sheen. “Are you challenging me?” he asks, his voice gruff.
I cock an eyebrow. “Maybe.”
His entire body seems to stiffen, and his eyes drop to my lips. I feel the intensity seem to grow between us. He leans forward just the slightest bit, like he can’t help himself. “Well, that was good,” Quint says loudly. His voice has the effect of a cup of cold water. I snap out of whatever Zane trance I was in and quickly focus on eating once again. I don’t look at Zane again as I eat, not sure what that was. Part of me wants to know if he felt it—that thing between us. The other part of me is too scared to find out if it's one-sided on my part. After I finish, I copy Reid’s example and wash my dish before putting it in the dishwasher. I keep one ear tuned to the guys’ conversation, which consists mostly just of Quint and Zane talking. Slate stays pretty quiet.
While they talk, I start washing the empty skillets. I’m actually shocked the guys ate everything. I mean, I know athletes eat a lot of food, but still. That was a lot of food they put away! “I’ll wash dishes, Evie. You cooked,” Quint says, coming into the kitchen.
“I don’t mind.”
“I’ll help her,” Zane says. Quint shrugs, washes his plate and drops it into the dishwasher and then makes his way out of the kitchen.
Zane takes the dish out of my hand right before I place it in the dishwasher, and we continue like that until all the dishes are washed. He wipes down the counter, while I wipe down the sink.We’re nearly finished when a sharp whistle sounds, and I nearly jump out of my skin. I whirl around to see Quint in a pair of black shorts and sneakers and no shirt. “Ready?” he asks with a grin.
“Uh,” I turn to Zane, who’s scowling at his roommate. “What’s going on?”
“It’s Sunday night, and we’re all here,” Quint says like that’s supposed to mean something. He crosses his arms over his chest. “Zane, clue the new girl in.”
“Go put a shirt on,” Zane says before turning to me. “Every Sunday night that we’re all here, we play a sport together.”
“Not to state the obvious here, but you all play sports all week long.”
“Yeah. That's why we play together for fun on Sundays. It helps us to keep a love of the game by just playing for fun,” Zane explains.
I take all this in. “What sport do you play?”
“It alternates between all our sports—soccer, football, and basketball.”
“No baseball?” I ask. He grimaces, and I can’t help my smirk. “All right. No baseball.”
“No, we do sometimes. I just really don’t like baseball.”
“Noted. So, what’s the game tonight?”
Zane grins. “Football.”
I shake my head. “Of course, it is. You rigged that didn’t you?”
“Actually, I didn’t. We played basketball last week, and it’s football this week. Want to play with us?” he asks.
“She has to play with us.” Quint says, thankfully wearing a shirt now. “I already told Reid and Slate to wear shirts, since you’re being all demanding tonight.”
“Do you not normally wear shirts?” I ask curiously.
“Sometimes,” Zane says as the same time Quint scoffs.
“We never do.”
I face Zane, who’s still scowling at Quint. “Is it because of me? I don’t care. You can do whatever you normally do.” I try to sound super casual, but I’m pretty sure I fail when Zane turns to me.
