Page 26 of Playing the Field
“Oh, got it. You going to sell it so you can buy something here? Not a lot of inventory right now, but if you’re buying and selling in the same market, you’re always good. Interest rates are tricky, though, so are you considering keeping your house and renting something here?”
I cross my arms. “So many questions, soccer star. I had no idea you were so dialed in on real estate.”
“I’m dialed in on you, Tink. I could give two shits about real estate.”
I suck in a breath with such force I’m sure he hears it. The back of my neck prickles with heat, and tiny beads of sweat form on my forehead. He grins, aware of exactly what effect he has on me. This is his game. He plays with women, knows what heart-stopping things to say, and understands how to make us want him.
I don’twantto want him.
“Well, it seems you know a lot about it.” My words sound garbled in the sloshing seas in my brain. I start to move past him, aiming myself like a missile toward my office, my safe haven. I just need to get there, close the door, and take off half my clothes because he heats me up like a damn pizza oven.
But he blocks my way, stepping directly in my path so quickly that I can’t stop moving before I run right into him. My hands come up to brace myself, landing on his chest, which feels like granite beneath the soft cotton fabric of his hoodie. I also catch a deep whiff of pine and fresh laundry. I inhale deeply.
He takes hold of my shoulders and walks a step backward, so I’m steady and my hands drop from his chest. They almost ache to touch him again, but I shove them behind my back preventatively. “Oops, sorry,” I say.
“My fault. I wasn’t done talking to you.”
I swallow thickly and look up at him. At this proximity, I’m acutely aware of how much he towers over me. I brace myself to have a conversation without melting into a puddle. I can do this, I feel certain. “Okay.”
“Have you eaten?” he asks.
I blink at him like he’s begun speaking in a foreign tongue. “Um…”
He pantomimes picking up a sandwich, taking a bite, putting it down, and chewing. Then he tilts his head toward me and motions between us. “Food. You. Me. Yes?”
I should tell him I had a late lunch. Or a really big granola bar. Or any other excuse I can come up with to avoid sitting across the table from him and trying to make small talk about real estate prices when I want to lick him like a melting ice cream sandwich.
“Yes. Sure. I could eat.” Apparently, my brain is on autopilot, only looking out for my basic needs.
“Great.” He looks at me. I look at him. “Did you need something from your office? You were headed this way.” He points behind him in the direction he was coming from, and for a millisecond, I wonder if he came up here to find me. To ask me to dinner.
But that makes no sense, especially since we live in the same place and hardly need to make plans to see each other.
I try to recall why I was going this way. “Oh, it’s pouring rain out there. I was going to wait it out before going to my car.”
He chuckles. “Has no one shown you the secret way to the parking lot?”
“There’s a secret way? Like with yellow bricks and elves and gingerbread cookies?”
“I think you’re conflating about sixteen different fairy tales, and as far as I know, no cookies.”
“Deal’s off, then.”
He shrugs. “Suit yourself. Get ready for soak city, sister.”
I look down the hallway at where I can still see sheets of rain pouring down outside the building’s windows. I don’t want to eat dinner with him, wet like a drowned dog.
“Tell me about the secret way,” I whisper conspiratorially even though no one is around.
He hitches a thumb over his shoulder. “Follow me.”
CHAPTER 14
Hunter
There is no secret passageway,but there is a warren of connecting hallways that avoids at least some of the outdoor passage to the parking lot.
Once we’ve made it from the main headquarters building to the training facility via a basement hallway, we pass the mailroom and the kitchen, where the staff prepares meals for us after training. “I can’t believe I didn’t know this was here,” Gracie says, looking around like she’s in Wonderland.
