Loving Him Off the Field (Santa Fe Bobcats #2)(56)

As he finished, his head dropping between his shoulders, he pressed a lazy kiss to her lips. “Bowling is definitely fun.”

She laughed.

*

She finished buttoning her shirt, then raked her fingers through her hair for a makeshift comb job before twisting it back in a messy bun. Killian folded the borrowed shirt and laid it on the counter next to the shoes, and slipped his shirt and shoes on.

“I need to know something,” she said slowly. When he turned, she sensed a wariness in him that echoed her own. Neither were sure what was going on, or how to push forward. “When you’ve had enough of this, what happens then?”

He slowed from rising after putting his second shoe on, staring at her for a moment. Then he leaned his elbow on the front counter and waved between them. “Enough of this? You and me?”

“Yeah.” Already regretting starting the conversation, Aileen went behind the counter and put his shoes in the cubby she’d borrowed them from. “I mean, once the interview is over and I’m not in your back pocket for a story. I’ll be doing something else and you won’t have me hovering around, taking up all your time, so . . .”

He reached out and grabbed her forearm in a grip tight enough she didn’t risk trying to pull free. “Is that what you think? I’m just banging you because you’re a convenience piece of ass?”

She winced at the phrasing, but also appreciated his frankness. “Maybe in nicer terms, but the thought crossed my mind.”

He pulled, and the pull surprised her enough to have her stumbling up against the counter. Their noses touched. “I don’t do convenient pieces of ass.”

Her time with the groupies when they’d first met strolled through her mind. The warning to not bother, that he wasn’t interested, that he didn’t go for the groupies. If ever there was a more convenient ass to be had . . . “I know we are attracted to each other, but—”

She was cut off when he stole her lips in a blistering kiss. She melted into him, his grip still on her arm, showing him with her mouth the best she could that her heart was engaged as much as her body.

Please don’t break it.

When she broke away, he stared at her with hard, unyielding eyes. “Nothing about this is convenient. And this isn’t just a f*ck to get it out of my system, or whatever.”

“So what is it?”

“I don’t know,” he said through gritted teeth.

She could see it pissed him off, not to have the answers. “It’s not really convenient for me, either. I’m supposed to be unbiased, set apart from my subject.” And now, she knew there was no way to be completely objective where Killian was concerned.

“So . . .” He slowed down, then shook his head.

“What?”

“Nothing. Just do the story. Do it now, and put it behind. You’ve got to have enough of my boring ass life to do some crap piece. Then we can move on and figure out what’s going on from there.”

“I . . . no.” She’d agreed to thirty days, and she was using them. “I don’t have anything, because you won’t tell me anything. So no, I’m not cutting this short.” She narrowed her eyes. “You were going to tell me to drop the story completely before, weren’t you?”

He didn’t answer.

“But you didn’t say it. Why?”

“Because you’d have been offended,” he said.

The fact that he knew that was a balm to her agitated nerves. “I would have.”

“So get it over with already. When I’m not your focus, it’ll be easier to know what’s going on.” He released her, then stepped out of the way as she walked from behind the counter. “Lock up and let’s go. We both need to get home and think shit over.”

Think shit over. She rolled her eyes at his totally guy way of putting that. After shutting down the last of the lights and locking up behind her, she waited for him to walk her to her car.

“Sprang it from the impound lot, huh?” He waited for her to fight with the lock before taking the key away from her and unlocking the door himself.

“Yup. I’ll probably be making payments on the repair job long after Sybil is . . .” She leaned into him and lowered her voice. “ . . . scrapped for metal. But I’ve gotta do what I’ve gotta do.” She slid in her seat and turned the ignition, sending a fervent prayer to the vehicle gods that it turned over without coughing.

Killian didn’t close her door, but crouched beside her instead. When she looked at him, he cupped her face between his palms. “I don’t want this, but it’s here. It’s not convenient,” he said again, his voice hoarse. “But I can’t seem to give it up.”

“Neither can I,” she whispered, and watched something in his face smooth out. Nerves? Frustration? She wasn’t sure yet, but when she brushed a lock of hair from his eyes, they softened for her. The hard, rigid exterior he presented to the world had eased into a velvet coating under a surprisingly squishy center. She just had to know what the center was made out of.

“See you tomorrow,” she said, kissing him one more time before closing the door herself.

*

Josiah Walker bumped Killian’s shoulder in the locker room after practice. “Grab some food?”

Killian opened his mouth to give the immediate reply of, “Thanks, but I can’t.” He was going to call Emma and Charlie early to redeem himself after yesterday’s f*cked-up call. “I’ve got some things to do before . . .” Before he ended up in bed with Freckles.