Page 37 of Playing a Player (Sweet Cravings 1)

"Thank you, Jackson!"

"Well I don't believe you. Girls always pretend to be fans of the local teams. And then you actually sit down and watch a game and they don't even know what a field goal is. I bet you can't even name any of the Eagles' past quarterbacks," said Connor.

"Psh. McNabb, Vick, Kolb, and Foles. Boom." I made an exploding noise and spread my fingers in the air.

"You are full of surprises, Keira." He lifted up his beer bottle to me. "But I really wish you would stop booming me. That is so 2009, right Jackson?"

"So 2009," Jackson agreed.

"You guys are weird," I said.

"What were you up to tonight, Keira?" Rory asked. It was the first time he had spoken since I arrived.

"Actually, I had an amazing evening. I went out with some friends." He didn't need to know that going out meant hanging out talking about him. And that my friends were Emily and her husband. I looked over at him. "What were you up to tonight?"

Rory put his hand out, gesturing to his friends, somehow flipping the switch so that it looked like I was the one that was curious about his life.

"Oh, come on!" Connor yelled at the T.V. "Well, that's the end of that game. Why do they suck so much this year?" He switched the channel to ESPN.

"You know, I never understood why guys love this channel so much. You literally just watched everything that happened. Why do you need to hear about it again?"

"Apparently you wouldn't understand because you're a woman," Jackson offered.

"Mhm. Does anyone want anything?" I asked and stood up. They were all silent. I took a step and tripped over Rory's foot. Before I could fall, he grabbed my waist with both his hands. His fingers slid up slightly underneath my shirt.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." It felt like my heart was beating out of my chest. I loved his hands on me.

He slowly let go of me. I smoothed my tank top back down as I walked into the kitchen. I looked over my shoulder and saw Connor whispering something to Rory. Weird. I took a deep breath and leaned against the counter. Rory had to have felt that too. There was just something between us that I couldn't put into words. I grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge, walked back over to them, and sat down between Rory and Connor again.

"I think we're actually gonna get going," Connor said and stood up.

"Right," Jackson agreed.

"Geez, I won't complain about ESPN anymore. You guys can watch whatever you want. I was just curious."

Jackson laughed. "I'm actually just really tired from the party last night. See you later, guys."

"Later," Connor said and followed Jackson out.

I looked over at Rory and instantly snapped my head back to the T.V. He was staring at me so intensely. Had he asked them to leave? Whatever I was doing was clearly working. My knee was still pressed against his thigh, and now it was hard to ignore it. Maybe he was going to suggest a repeat of last night. I stared at the T.V. screen without actually seeing it.

"Are you drunk or something?" Rory finally asked.

"What?"

"I don't know, you're acting weird."

"Trust me, you'd know if I was drunk. I get like ridiculously horny when I'm drunk." What the fuck?! "I mean corny. Ridiculously corny. I just can't stop making stupid jokes." I could feel my face turning red. Calm down. I had been doing so well. I took a deep breath.

"Good to know."

"Why did you ask your friends to leave?" I wanted to be bold. I wanted to follow up with, "Did you want to be alone with me again?" Instead I pressed my lips together, hoping I wouldn't say anything else stupid.

"I didn't ask them to leave."

"Um...I'm pretty sure you did."

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