Scoring Wilder(18)

Becca and I exchanged wide-eyed glances, and she reached to turn the volume up.

"No. I'm just focusing on soccer and my new role as a coach at ULA," he nodded with a tight smile. Of course the crowd went even wilder when he declared himself single.

"Oh, I'm glad you brought that up. You know there's been a lot of talk about your role with that soccer team this week."

What? What was the host talking about? Even Liam looked a bit confused about where the interview was going.

"Kinsley Bryant is a freshman on that team, right?"

I screamed. "Did he just say my name?! Why did he just say my name?"

"That's crazy! Hold on. What did he say?" Becca asked.

Liam looked surprised but played it off well. "You stay up to date with college soccer, Jim?"

The host laughed and then winked at the camera. "Well, I do keep up to date with Sports Illustrated magazine. Have you seen their issue for next month?"

Liam adjusted his position in his seat and shook his head.

"Well, once a year they do a list of the ‘Sexiest Women in College Sports’. Are you familiar with that segment?”

Liam shook his head again, and I could tell he was becoming more and more uncomfortable with the topic of conversation. I, on the other hand, thought I might be having a heart attack. The host laughed, trying to salvage the relaxed-interview-vibe, and then flipped to the list inside the magazine.

"Quite a few of the women on that ULA team made the list. Tara O’Connell, a senior, was listed, as well as a freshman, Becca Riley."

Becca screamed and jumped up, almost toppling her computer off my bed.

"Pause it, pause it!" I yelled.

When Becca turned back to me her eyes were wide and she was fanning her face. "What does this mean? How do they even know about us? We were only recruited a few months ago."

I shook my head. "I have no clue, but they definitely freaking said your name! Becca! If they knew you were sitting here in footie pajamas right now, you'd be number one on that list." I started cracking up, picturing her being interviewed in her onesie.

After we'd taken a few deep breaths in an effort to calm ourselves down, we pulled the laptop back into the center of the bed and pressed play.

"But you know who made one of the first spots on that list? Kinsley Bryant. In fact, she was a fan favorite on the web poll."

What the hell? How had I not heard anything about this?

"I'm not sure what you're asking me, Jim. They're all great soccer players, but I’m not there to date them. I’m there to help coach. I’ve followed Kinsley’s career for the past year. She was the top recruit in the country and I'm sure she'll be a contender for the Olympic team when they hold tryouts in a few months."

At that point I'd officially left the planet. Making a list for being pretty was all well and good, but him complimenting my soccer skills on national television made me want to do cartwheels around the neighborhood.

The host yammered on, and then they cut to a commercial so that they could bring on the next guest. I fell back on the bed with a giant grin. "I have officially died. I am now speaking to you posthumously."

Becca laughed and fell back next to me. "I swear he wants you. Seriously, I was watching him at practice and he barely takes his eyes off you."

"That's because he's helping me perfect my drills."

"Or he's imaging you doing those drills sans clothing."

“Didn’t you just hear the man? He’s not there to date us.”

“Yeah, right. We’ll see how long that lasts.”

I laughed and rolled over. "You are hallucinating, and did you forget about the guy who was waiting on our porch the other day? I'm not equipped to handle any more romance problems."

And that was the truth. If Josh and Trey had been capable of cheating, then a guy like Liam, who had women tattooing his face on their vaginas, was without a doubt a guy I couldn’t trust.





Chapter Six


I was getting ready for practice on Friday morning when Coach Davis poked her head into the locker room.

“Kinsley, Becca, and Tara— I need to see you girls in my office for a second,”

she declared before heading back into the hallway. I finished lacing up my cleats and then glanced up at Becca.

“That sounded ominous,” I said as we followed Tara out of the locker room and down to Coach Davis’ office. The door was cracked open, but after the three of us stepped inside, Coach Davis motioned for me to close it.

Uh oh.

“So, I'm sure you girls are aware of why I called you in this morning?" Coach Davis asked with an authoritative tone.

“Um, I'm assuming it’s because of the show last night?" I answered, eyeing Becca for backup. Were we in some kind of trouble? I could hear Tara’s voice in my head, “Um, it’s not our fault that we’re pretty.”

“What show?” Tara asked, and I couldn’t decide if she was actually na?ve or if she just wanted the entire scenario repeated so she could revel in it all over again. My money was on the latter.

Coach Davis sighed and quickly filled her in on the list as well as Liam’s interview. Of course, she left out all the fun details… like how hot Liam had looked in all his HD glory. Sigh.