Quarterback Sneak (Red Zone Rivals #3)(54)

I’d just pulled my leggings up and righted my bralette when Holden’s hands found my hips.

I looked up just in time for him to kiss me.

I tasted myself on his tongue, and that sent a shock of desire rippling through me as I exhaled against his kiss.

“Go,” I urged, even though my hands had wound into his hair now, holding him to me.

He kissed me harder, deeper, every inch of him wrapping up every inch of me like he couldn’t get close enough even if he could meld together and make us one being.

Suddenly, the doorknob jostled.

We broke the kiss, both of us wide-eyed as we looked at the door.

“Shit, do you have your key, Hoover?”

The voice was muffled.

But I knew without question that it was my dad’s.

Holden sprang into action before I could even process that I needed to inhale so I didn’t pass out. He grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the door, shoving me behind where it opened. He held a finger to his lips, eyes panicked as he looked from the door to me and back again. Then, he pulled his hood over his head and slunk down in the first desk he saw, resting his head on his arms.

He’d barely stopped moving when the door swung open.

I stopped breathing, holding my hand out to halt the door before it could slam into where I was pressed up against the wall hiding. Dad flicked on the light, and then he saw Holden and cursed, turning it back off.

“Is that Moore?” Coach Hoover whispered behind him, still in the hallway.

Dad nodded, and I prayed he wouldn’t move farther in, that he wouldn’t shut the door and find me standing behind it.

“He’s exhausted,” Hoover said, keeping his voice low. “They’ve been putting him through hell in the training room. And now full-out practice.”

“Let’s let him sleep,” Dad said, leading Hoover back out. “We can use the next room over.”

I willed myself not to breathe until the door clicked shut, and then I let out a relieved sigh, covering my chest where my heart galloped so hard and fast, I thought it was about to give out.

Holden waited a moment longer before he peeked over his shoulder at the door first, then at me.

He crooked a smile, waggling his brows as if to say, See? We got this.

Even as I shook my head and rolled my eyes, I felt myself smile, too.

That smile was a surrender.

And the games began.

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Holden



I’d never been so unfocused in my entire life.

Fall was always a blur for me — a whirlwind of early morning weightlifting and practices that dripped from the morning into the early afternoon. When I wasn’t in class, I was practicing or training or watching film. And every weekend, I led my team onto the field for a game.

Football consumed me from the moment I opened my eyes each morning until the very second my head hit the pillow each night. And even then, I dreamed about football, about passing routes and the feeling of turf under my cleats and jogging through the tunnel on a perfect, gray, cool day.

But this season?

I was consumed by Julep Lee.

She’d been distracting before. I’d loved any opportunity to get under her skin, to push her buttons, to tease her and see if I could earn myself a blush or an eyeroll or a snarky shot back at me.

Now, she wasn’t just distracting. She was the center of my focus.

It was impossible to keep my hands off her once we’d made our little agreement, and any time I was alone, I was texting her.

Come over.

I’d sneak her through the back door, wait until my roommates were in their rooms so I could pull her back to mine. It would usually be morning by the time I let her go, let her peel herself out of my bed and leave me with nothing but a kiss to remember her by before she was gone.

And just when I thought I’d go insane if I didn’t see her, I’d get the same text from her.

Mary just left for work.

Wherever we could sneak off to make it happen, we did — and though my career was still important to me, for the first time in my life, it wasn’t everything.

That fact scared me more than I would ever let on.

Still, even with my focus off the field, I was performing on the field, too. I led us to a win in my first game back. It was a home game, which made it sweet, but the fact that we absolutely murdered them made it even sweeter.

Coach Lee still watched me carefully, like he wasn’t sure he trusted me even after I proved myself time and time again. I followed his orders… albeit I did make some tiny amendments from time to time. But every change I made was for the greater good of the team, and it showed as we all gelled together better than we had all season.

We were on our way to the championship; I could feel it.

The draft did weigh heavy on me, though. Scouts didn’t watch me as eagerly as before my injury. No doubt, they were worried it was one that would continue to flare up as I aged. It didn’t matter that my shoulder had torn in a different place than before, or that it had been a minuscule tear that I quickly worked through.

Injuries were like termites in their mind — they never went away, and they would wear down the foundation of even the strongest house over time.

It was maddening, to have something so out of my control dictating their thoughts about me, to have my own body breaking down on me when I felt so mentally strong and capable.