Page 31 of Not Before Game Night
“I was not,” I defended, trying not to look too guilty since that might not be that far off what I’d expected.
“Sit…” He motioned to the sofa. “Don’t worry, I don’t plan on biting you tonight,” he added in a matter-of-fact tone.
I glared and lowered myself to sit.
Was there any point to me saying there would be no biting planned on any night? Not tonight or otherwise.
He pulled up one of the wooden chairs, swiveled it around, and sat on it backward. When his gaze dropped to my breasts and he took his sweet time climbing up to meet my eyes, I knew he was thinking about yesterday. I was too. How could I not?
He was the first man to touch me like that.
It wasn’t something I was likely to forget, whether I wanted to or not. And since I wasn’t the kind of woman to brush something major like yesterday under the rug, I felt I should say something. I may have just been yesterday afternoon’s fling to him, but it was a big deal for me. So I was going to talk about it and end this madness now, once and for all.
“Look, Cole,” I began, and he chuckled. “What’s funny?”
“Look, Cole?” His lip twitched in that sexy way I loved because it drew attention to the sharp chisel of his jaw. “You know, if you wanted a better letdown way of starting a conversation, you shouldn’t use the word ‘look,’ and not in that obvious way.”
I opened my mouth to talk and stopped myself. Whatever I was going to say had to be direct and to the point.
After all I’d read, I would have been stupid to get involved with this playboy more than I had yesterday.
What I wanted was to fall for a nice guy who I could trust. Someone who would feel like I was special because I was still a virgin. Not someone who wouldn’t care one way or the other. I was pretty certain this devil here in front of me had deflowered many women, and I didn’t want to be a number.
“We come from two different worlds and two different ways of thinking. I’m not into fun, or whatever. So, yesterday was just a… mere oversight.”
My poor voice started to sound a little shaky there toward the end, but I held my own. The thing was, he still had that cool edge about him. Completely unfazed. I got that he was a man who never allowed anything to bother him, but I didn’t know whether to be annoyed that he looked so unrattled, or happy that he seemed to no longer care to give me a hard time.
“Okay,” was all he said, adding to my inner fury. “Got your questions for me?”
Yes, I had my questions, and now a little bubble of disappointment settled in the pit of my stomach in an unexpected way.
I pulled my notebook from my purse and flicked it open to the list of questions I’d created a few days ago.
“What are you looking forward to most about the upcoming season?” I asked, deciding just to launch in. The quicker I got my questions out, the sooner this would be over. Then I could go into the weekend forgetting this whirlwind week.
“Nothing,” he answered, completely flat.
I assessed the expressionless look on his face and the flatness in his eyes. I wasn’t sure if he was just saying that to be spiteful, or if that really was the answer.
“Don’t you like the idea of playing on the same team your father played for? Following in his footsteps, so to speak? You’ve kind of done everything he did. He was a Patriot too, and a Centaur.”
“I don’t want to do everything he did,” he informed me. “I may have followed in his footsteps career wise, but that’s all. He was a great football player. A legend, and yes, I’m proud, but I make my own path.”
“So… why wouldn’t you look forward to the new season?”
“I am looking forward to it, just nothing specifically. They’ve had some great wins, but if I, for instance, come onto the team thinking I’ve joined a team that’s guaranteed to win the Super Bowl, that would be wrong. I have no expectations. I plan to take each game as it comes and see what happens.”
Okay… I understood what he meant, but I wasn’t so sure that was completely truthful. I scribbled down what he said and made a note to make it sound a little better.
“What is your biggest achievement so far in your career?” That was actually my third question. The second was about the season, but since he’d sounded so vague on that first question, I thought I’d skip it.
“Getting the chance to play,” he replied. He said that like it was a given and the absolute correct answer.
“That’s your biggest achievement? The chance?”
He smiled. “Do you know how many amazing, amazing football players there are in this country who never make it for one reason or another?” His gaze clung to mine.
“I’m sure there are a lot. I just thought you may have an example of a game you did something amazing in, or something.” I tucked my hair behind my ear.
