The Romantic Pact (Kings of Football)(22)

“Yeah, I noticed,” I say before I can stop myself.

“Was that a nod to my newfound bosom?”

“Can you not call it that?” I ask in a tired tone.

“No, it’s more fun to annoy you.” She nuzzles my shoulder. “Come on. I’ll forgive you if you start to forgive yourself. Remember what Pops said—clean slate. This is an opportunity to reminisce, to remember, and to say goodbye. It’s time that you work on your emotional health, rather than your physical.” She squeezes my bicep. “Because oh boy, do you have the physical down.”

I chuckle and wrap my arm around her, bringing her in close. “Okay, I’ll work on it.”

“Promise?”

“Promise on Funyuns.”

She lifts up and looks me in the eyes seriously. “The golden promise. You better mean it.”

“I wouldn’t have said that if I didn’t.”

“Good.” She stands from the bed and heads back over to the cart of food. “I’m hungry. Let’s eat.”

Still on the bed, I call out, “Haze?”

“Yeah?” Her fork is loaded.

“I wish I kissed you back. One of my biggest regrets.”

Smiling shyly, she says, “Glad to hear it.” She then winks and points to my plate. “Get to work on that food. We have some wine to drink tonight, and I can’t have you acting like a lightweight because you didn’t eat anything.”

I walk over to the cart and take a seat. Having spent the last ten hours with Hazel has made it glaringly obvious what I’ve missed. She’s intelligent, witty, direct, and she also knows me well. Football did become my life, but despite the friendships with the guys, there have been times I’ve felt alone. And I was surrounded by people. Who did Hazel have? Pops. The farm. Working it. Now she’s worried she’ll let Pops down, and she’s probably had no one to talk to about it.

Munich is about reconnecting. We’ve such limited time here on Earth, which means you need to make the most of the moments you have together.

That’s what I want to do more than anything now. Still staring at her, I add, “I couldn’t imagine being on this trip with anyone else.”

“Damn right, Hollywood.”





Chapter Five





HAZEL





“Are you ready for this?” I ask Crew, who’s finishing tying one of his boots.

Hollywood has style. On the farm, he’s always dressed casually in athletic shorts and T-shirts. He wore jeans occasionally, but that was rare.

So I’m not used to seeing him dressed up like this.

Jeans that hug his hips and legs in all the right ways are cuffed just above a pair of brown boots. The jeans rest low on his hips, where his maroon shirt dances along his waistline. He paired the outfit with a gray knit cardigan and slouch beanie that hangs off his head in that sexy kind of way that Ryan Gosling can pull off.

Yup . . . he’s hot.

Deathly hot.

Making-me-reconsider-my-begging-and-pleading-to-be-on-this-trip-with-him kind of hot.

“Ready.” He pats his legs and stands. With a smile, he walks over to me and tugs on one of the braids peeking out from under my white knit hat. “Your hair has gotten long.”

“Grew it myself.” I smile.

“All by yourself? Wow. You’re quite the phenom.”

I laugh and push at his stomach—his rock-hard stomach. Gulp. “Are you mentally prepared for this? It’s twenty thousand square feet of Christmas market.”

“I’m actually excited.”

“Yeah?”

He nods and goes to the window, where he looks down at the market. We spent some time eating our food and getting ready. We played a few rounds of Dots and Boxes, both agreeing that we wanted to explore after the sun went down to take in the nighttime magic of the Christmas market.

Now that the sun has set, the twinkle lights down below are lit, and the large Christmas tree in the middle is sparkling with cheer; we’re ready.

“Christmas was Pops’ favorite holiday. You were always visiting your mom’s parents but there was something about Christmas that put Pops in an unwavering good mood.”

“Tell me more,” I say, walking toward the door of our hotel room and strapping my purse over my shoulder like a messenger bag.

Crew pulls on his jacket and opens the door for me, and together we make our way to the elevator.

“Did you ever get to have a cookie-making day with Pops?”

“No, but I did eat a lot of the cookies he made.”

“Man.” Crew chuckles. “It’s a big production.” We get into the elevator and Crew hits the button for the lobby. “The process starts in the beginning of November.”

“What? November?”

“Oh yeah. That’s when he starts looking for different ways to improve the cookie selection from the year before. He had a binder full of pictures from cookies he made in years past with attached recipes and any notes he might have taken to help better the recipes the next year.”

“Stop. I didn’t know this.”

The elevator doors part and we walk into the lobby. Berdine waves to us from the front desk and Elias holds the door open for us just as a blast of cold wind pierces us.