Page 32 of Play of Love
Now she looked at me with a deadpan expression. “You don’t remember seeing me yesterday?”
“No, did you come to work?”
“How do you forget a whole day? Who does that?” She frowned.
This was what I meant about her being off. But I couldn’t put my finger on what her problem was. “Clearly me.”
“You could have killed someone and not remember,” she retorted.
“Did I?” Because maybe I did from the way she was going on.
“No.” She looked down to her notes and tucked a lock of her golden hair behind her ear.
It couldn’t have been the whole Kansas thing she was annoyed about. Something must have happened.
“Let’s just stick to the plan. It doesn’t matter what you call me. All that matters is we get to the show on Friday.”
I wouldn’t care normally, and normally I wouldn’t care about whatever was eating at her, but something held my interest and I was suddenly searching my mind.
I studied her and watched her flick through her folder, then she undid her jacket, revealing a dark pink t-shirt that fitted her slender curves perfectly. I couldn’t help myself; while she was distracted with her paperwork I stared at her breasts, and that was when the full memory of yesterday hit me.
Shit, I remembered everything. Damn, every single detail. Particularly how her nipples had hardened as I sucked on her breast.
I also remembered that she had kissed me back. I remembered how her lips felt, and how she tasted. Like forbidden fruit that was sweet and tempting and…
I really shouldn’t have kissed her. And why in hell would she kiss me back? She couldn’t stand me.
That didn’t make any sense.
What made even less sense was how I could have forgotten the whole event.
I wouldn’t lie, I wanted her. But that was how I felt about all women who were beautiful and attractive. I would be the perpetual playboy because I loved women too much. Bereaved or not, that was how I was. And, sure, I’d made the occasional attempt to hit on her, hoping I’d get lucky, but I didn’t think she’d fall for it.
What happened yesterday?
“I think you should focus on your team.”
Was it just me, or did she seem annoyed that I couldn’t remember, and more than the fact that she should be more irked that I’d tried something like that with her.
“Like how?” Best to drop it. We had bigger fish to fry. It was nice, though, to have had her like that. It felt like I’d made some kind of conquest.
“Talk about what you like, how you guys work together.” The beginning of a smile tipped at the corners of her delicate mouth, drawing my attention to her glossy pink lips.
Corey was right about her help. I needed it. It made me wonder what sort of work she’d done previously and what her story was. I wondered what would make her put up with me the way she had over the last few weeks.
“If you talk about that then that would lead to other things you want to talk about. It kind of locks them into a topic, and it would be hard to branch away. Plus, it would make them look bad if they tried to pry.”
“Looks like we’re onto something.” I pointed out.
She looked at me as I said that and smiled. “Look at us, we’re agreeing.” Her smile widened and I found myself fascinated with the warmth that rippled from it.
“Don’t get all kumbaya on me.”
She smirked. “I wasn’t going to.”
I flicked my legs out so I could lie back on the sand. “Good, I wouldn’t want you to go soft on me…Amy.” I turned my head to face her and saw that she was looking at me. Surprise tickled her pretty face. I resisted the temptation to stare and instead gazed ahead at the gulls that flew past screeching. I looked far out to the brighter horizon that showed off the blend of colors the sun cast onto the sea, making it sparkle in the bright morning light.
I still didn’t know if I could go through all of this. It was going to be difficult. While I knew there were boundaries and people would try to be sensitive, there was a chance I’d end up talking about my mother and sister at some point.
I’d just have to see what happened, and try. I wanted to play football again. I knew that truth, so I had to let that desire guide me.
