Hail Mary: An Enemies-to-Lovers Roommate Sports Romance(27)

“Because you’re smiling.”

My cheeks flushed for some reason, and I looked down at the mug in my hands, another wide smile surfacing on my lips without any power for me to restrain it. “It was a good night.”

I peeked back up at Leo just in time to see him swallow hard. “Did you have a date or something?”

“Ew, no,” I said with a wrinkle of my nose, waving him off. “Who has time to date? I had my first skin last night.”

That made him arch a brow.

“My first tattoo on someone who’s not me. Or a grapefruit.”

At that, Leo’s entire face lit up, and he flashed one of those goofy boy-grins that made my stomach hurt because it reminded me so much of him in high school. “No shit? That’s bad ass. Did you take pictures?”

For a moment, I was fifteen again, that boy’s excited voice in my ears as he told me about football camp, about how pumped he was for the season.

About how ready he was to meet me.

I blinked, pulling my phone from where I’d had it tucked in the back of my shorts. Leo popped another brow at that, like it was a magic trick, but then his eyes were on the screen when I showed him the final piece from last night.

“Wow,” he said, taking my phone and zooming in on the picture. He studied the tattoo like he actually gave a shit.

That made my stomach hurt, too.

“This is really good, Mary,” he said, peeking up at me from where he still held my phone.

I reached out and snatched it back. “It’s not a big piece or anything, and the script was from the computer. I just added the poppies. It’s not really—”

“It’s fucking awesome,” he said, cutting me off.

My eyes met his, finding him looking back at me with reverence.

“I’m sure that was scary, but you did great. Congratulations.”

I swallowed, my voice quiet when I responded, “Thanks.”

Leo kept his eyes on me as I tucked my hair behind one ear and took a sip of my coffee. I hated that he didn’t look away, that he didn’t feel the need to the way I did. He was so fucking confident he would stare the hottest person in the world right in the eyes and make them feel inferior somehow.

“Have you heard anything about the house?” he asked after a moment.

“Trying to get rid of me already?”

“Might be trying to save my sanity, because if I wake up to this every morning,” he said, waving a hand over where I stood. “I’m bound for the looney bin.”

I rolled my eyes. “Shut up.”

“I’m serious!”

“Margie said they should be getting started soon,” I said, ignoring him and the way my chest fluttered at the thought that maybe I was a temptation to Leo Hernandez.

Then I gritted my teeth with annoyance at myself.

Who cares even if I am? He’s a prick, remember?

“Apparently, they were in the middle of another project. But by the time they assess fully, remove all the damaged shit in there, fix the pipes, redo the walls, the floors, the ceiling…” I sighed, thumbing the handle of my coffee mug. “I don’t know what we’re looking at, time wise.”

Leo almost looked like he felt sorry for me. “You can stay here as long as you want, as long as you need to.”

“Not true,” I argued. “Eventually, you’re going to have another teammate in the room I’m squatting in now.”

“Then you can stay in mine,” Leo quipped back, and he crossed the kitchen into my space with a salacious grin. “My bed is the best in the house.”

“And you’d be where, on the couch?”

He shrugged. “I guess — until you realize you want me in there with you.” He stepped even closer. “I’m a great big spoon.” His voice lowered a bit then, his eyes raking over me inch by inch. The golden flakes in them dazzled in the light. “An even better fork.”

I wanted to snort, to press my hand into his chest and push him away like he annoyed me. Because he did. And if it was just him saying those words, maybe I could have.

But it was the way he said them, all rugged and daring. It was how he stepped into my space, how I could smell his body wash and feel the heat from his skin.

He pissed me off.

But he also turned me all the way on.

I fought the urge to squeeze my thighs together against the sensation building there, like if I ignored it, that would make it easier to pretend like it didn’t exist. My nipples hardened under my shirt without my consent, the metal in them heavier somehow as I kept my gaze locked on Leo’s like he didn’t intimidate me.

Like I was bored instead of wanting.

“Mary! Come play with us!” Braden called from the other room.

Leo was still staring at me.

I stared right back.

“Mary doesn’t play Xbox,” he called over his shoulder. “Or any of our lesser than games.”

There was a challenge in his eyes, and I met it with my own as I pushed off where I was leaning against the counter and slipped past him. My ass rubbed against his hip as I passed, careful not to spill my coffee, and that became even more of a chore as Leo sucked in a groan under his breath.

I plopped that half-covered ass down right in-between Kyle and Braden once I made it to the living room, and I snatched the controller out of Kyle’s hands.