First Down (Beyond the Play, #1)(19)

Across the room, the door to the bar opens. Bex isn’t particularly tall, but I think I catch sight of that strawberry-blonde hair. I glance at Darryl, but he’s deep in conversation with a couple of guys from the team. “Maybe you’ll have better luck with him,” I say, pointing him out to Kitty as I head to the front.

Bex is wearing a McKee sweatshirt and a pair of jean shorts, plus sandals, and these dangly earrings that I realize are little sculpted pieces of pie. Adorable. Her eyes light up when she sees me, and she stands on her tiptoes to get close to my ear as she says, “Want to talk outside? I swear half of the McKee student body is in here.”

Hell, I’d follow her into the bathrooms if that’s where she wanted to go. I let her lead the way.

She steps around the side of the bar once we’re outside, away from the windows. “Darryl’s all the way in the back,” I tell her. “I sent a girl his way.”

“And I’m sure he’s flirting with her.” She sighs. “Never mind that he came to the diner today and demanded we get back together.”

I push down the possessive streak threatening to run through me. I have no claim to her. A kiss doesn’t mean anything, and with luck, she’s about to be my tutor. Good guys don’t sleep with their tutors. Or their teammate’s exes.

“Diner? I thought you worked at The Purple Kettle.”

“I do. The diner is my mother’s. It’s in Pine Ridge, hence the drive from there. Thanks for waiting.”

I offer my beer to her. “I should have asked if you wanted a drink. Want a sip? It’s non-alcoholic.”

She curls her hand over mine and tilts the neck of the bottle into her mouth. I shouldn’t be staring, but I can’t help it, especially when she looks up at me through her lashes as she steps back. “Thanks. Do you not drink?”

I clear my throat. “Um, I drink, but not much during the season.”

She nods. “Smart of you. I remember Darryl complaining about being hungover at practice.”

I take another sip of the drink. “So, does this mean you reconsidered my proposal? Name your price, I’ll pay it.”

A smile curves over her lips. “I know. You’ve texted me some truly ridiculous offers over the past few days.”

“So, which is it? Basket of puppies? Lifetime season tickets to the team of your choosing? Me doing your laundry personally for the rest of the year?”

That makes her laugh, and fuck, it’s a gorgeous sound. Not at all dainty, but full-throated, almost like a rumble. I like that I know this about her. She’s not fussy about taking a sip of someone else’s drink, her laugh is infectious, and she wears earrings shaped like goddamn pieces of pie.

“No,” she says, looking down at the pavement. “Although that was tempting.”

I wait for more, but she’s silent, still looking down like if she tries hard enough, she can burn a hole into the asphalt. My stomach does a flip. Something is off; the rapport I thought we were building disappears like smoke in the night.

“Bex?”

She finally looks up at me, her teeth digging into her lower lip.

“I’ll tutor you,” she says. “But only if you agree to pretend to date me.”





11





BEX





The instant the words leave my lips, I blush. I can feel it all the way to the tips of my ears. There’s asking for help—for a deal—and then there’s humiliating yourself.

But my wrists are aching where Darryl grabbed them. He won’t leave me alone unless he knows, or at least thinks he knows, that I belong to someone else. Breaking things off with him politely hasn’t worked. Getting direct hasn’t worked. I know him well enough to know the only thing that will keep him away is if he gets it through his caveman-brain that I’m with another man.

It’s embarrassing. But he’s a distraction that needs to go away, and this is the best way I can think to get that to happen.

Now I just need James to agree to help.

“Callahan?” I say. “Did you hear me?”

“I heard you.” He looks at me until I’m forced to meet his gaze. “Why?”

“Because he won’t leave me alone.”

His voice is sharp as he says, “Won’t leave you alone how?”

“It’s fine—”

“Like hell it’s fine.” The grip on his beer tightens. “Has he been harassing you?”

My face feels like it’s on fire. “Not… really. He’s just not listening to me. He keeps ignoring what I’m saying, and even what I tried to show him when I… when we…”

His lip darts out to lick his lip. “Yeah.”

“If he sees I’m with someone else, he’ll back off. I know him. It sucks, but it’s true. And you need a tutor, so I thought we could work something out.”

For a terrifying second I think he’s about to walk away. He’s working his jaw like he wants to bolt. “He’s my teammate.”

My stomach sinks. Of course, he wouldn’t want to ruin his relationship with a teammate, even if it’s Darryl. “He said you talked through things.”

“And this would take a match to it.”