Game On(23)

“In situations like that.” He tipped the drink to his lips. I wondered which number beer he was on, but I was grateful that he was a happy drunk, rather than Nick who usually turned sullen after his second drink. He wrote some good music while he was drunk but he wasn’t always the most fun to be around. Nathan, on the other hand was smiling and relaxed. A definite change from the standoffish guy I kept running into at practices.

Then suddenly his flirtatious stance disappeared as he put down his beer and gave me an assessing look. “So will this show up in the article?”

I raised my hands. “I’m off duty tonight,” I said. “All of this is off-the-record.”

“Is it?” he asked, looking skeptical.

“I swear.” I raised my hand. “I’m just here for Mandy.” I scanned the room for her and found her in conversation with Chris. Good, they both looked like they were having a good time.

“Sure.” He looked over at me, clearly not believing me.

“Well, I will need that interview at some point,” I reminded him.

“I know,” he admitted. “And you’ll get it.”

I let out an internal sigh of relief. I didn’t want to admit to him how important this article was, because I didn’t want to show that hand. Not yet. He was hot and charming, but I couldn’t put his needs ahead of mine. I had been doing that with Nick and my mom for a long time now. I needed to put myself first when it came to this. I needed to get this article done and I needed to get the respect of my peers. That was the priority. I needed to stop getting moony-eyed over a hotshot baseball player. I needed to focus. But it was really hard to focus in this smoky room, the smell of beer and pot around me and that same hotshot baseball player standing way too close. Or, as my treacherous libido thought, not close enough. My stupid hormones. I was going to have a serious talk with them once we got back to Houston.

“I wanted to apologize,” he said suddenly.

“Apologize?” I was surprised.

He looked sheepish and entirely adorable as he took a sip of beer. I watched him swallow and tried to remind myself that we were finally getting back on the right track so staring openly and lustfully at him would probably be a bad idea. Definitely a step in the wrong direction.

“I’ve been kind of a jerk to you,” he said. “You were really honest with me this afternoon. I’m someone who doesn’t like to share details about myself, but you did and I totally took it for granted that it might have been hard for you as well.”

I realized he was talking about admitting that I hadn’t gone to college.

“I’m not ashamed,” I told him, wanting to make that clear.

“I didn’t think you were. It’s just…” He shuffled his feet. “Well, I’m sure it’s not easy to be on a college campus surrounded by people having the experience you never got to have.”

Wow. I found myself flabbergasted at how clearly he understood what I was feeling.

“I appreciate that,” I somehow managed.

“And for the record,” he started, his voice doing that same whispery thing it had done when he had recited e.e. cummings, and my heart made the same leap. “Any disappointment I might have felt had nothing to do with you. Well, not in the way you might have thought.” He kept his eyes focused on mine. “I’m sorry if I made you feel like I was judging you. That was never my intention. Now that I think about it, I’m just sorry for being a jerk pretty much each time we’ve spoken.”

I was really surprised now. I couldn’t remember the last time a guy had apologized to me. None of my mom’s boyfriends had ever treated me with any respect, the guys at work either acted like I was their secretary or their girlfriend, and Nick had never been cruel, but also never really big on the whole owning up to his mistakes thing. An apology was nice.

“I don’t think you’re a jerk,” I told him, and it was true. I was starting to think he was one of the nicest guys I had ever met.

“I was just a little thrown off, I guess.” A lock of hair had fallen across his forehead and I linked my hands together to keep from sweeping it back from his eyes. “After the thing in the bar, I felt kind of stupid.” It was exactly what Chris had said. I guess he knew his friend pretty well. “I kind of get a little defensive when I feel like someone is playing me.”

“I understand.” I swallowed hard, totally captivated by his gorgeous green gaze.

“I was upset.” He gave me a half smile which was fully intoxicating. “I just thought I was flirting with a pretty girl and then you turned out to be a journalist.”

“I’m not here to catch you in some scandal,” I told him. “I want to write a good story. And I don’t need drama or trouble to do that.”

“You’re the first journalist to say that to me,” he said. “They always seem to want to know my deepest darkest secrets.”

“You don’t look like a guy who has deep, dark secrets,” I said.

“No?” he asked. “I’m not all flowers and sunshine.”

“Well,” I laughed. “I didn’t think that either, but you don’t strike me as someone with a whole lot to hide. You like things out in the open.”

“That’s true,” he said, and I realized he had slowly been moving towards me. “I do like to make my intentions clear as soon as I discover what my intentions are.”