International Player(32)

“Hi,” she said, smiling at me.

“I called you,” I said, and regretted it. I sounded like her dad, chastising her for not checking in.

“You did?” She pulled out her phone. “Sorry, I—”

“Doesn’t matter. You look nice.”

She glanced down at herself and then looked up with a grin. “Really? Thanks.”

Why wasn’t she saying anything about the fact she was going on a date? Was this a regular thing? Had she dated since our kiss? Kissed someone else since me? Was she fucking someone?

Jesus, I needed to snap out of it.

“Did you need to speak to me about something?” she asked.

I shook my head and took a swig of beer. What was I going to say? I wanted to know if you wanted to hang out, have a beer. I wanted to know if I could kiss you again. “Nothing. I had a suggestion for one of the new donor presentations, but I’ll email you.”

“Okay, well I’m off.” Her gaze bore into me, but I had to keep focused on my beer or I was going to do something I’d regret.

“Make sure you message Abigail before the night is out, or she’ll keep me awake all night speculating about how it went,” Rob said.

Fuck. Who the bloody hell was she going out with?

Truly rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Bye.”

“Have a good time,” Rob called.

Have a good time? Whose fucking side was he on? Wait, was I a side to be on? Was I competing for Truly?

Truly headed out with a wave, and I finished off my beer.

“Jesus, you drank that fast,” Rob said as I stood and headed over to the fridge for another.

“Thirsty I guess.” I knocked the fridge door shut with my elbow and skulked back to the sofa. “So, who’s Truly going out with tonight?”

I looked up when he didn’t answer.

“No idea,” Rob replied. “Why do you care?”

I sighed and tilted my head back against the cushion. “Just curious, I guess.” The thought of her being with someone else tonight, letting someone else touch her, churned in my stomach.

“So she’s not dating someone regularly?” I asked.

“Is this you being just curious?”

“Fuck off, Rob.”

Rob sighed and put down his beer. “Look, I don’t think she’s dating anyone regularly. I know Abi bugs her about it, so I think I’d know if she was seeing anyone seriously. I do know tonight is a first date.”

A sense of relief settled in my gut. A new guy. No one who knew her like I did. Someone who’d never kissed her. But that might change tonight. If she liked the guy.

“You can’t say you’re not bothered and then ask me a thousand questions. Be straight with me—do you like her?”

I took the first sip of my new beer and tried to figure out how I felt. “I’ve always liked her.”

“But as friends, right?”

“I’ve always thought she was hot. And . . .” We’d had some kind of connection, hadn’t we? That’s why we’d become friends. Closer than I was with most people. She made me laugh, stood up to me, listened to me. She was so fucking fascinating I could listen to everything she had to say on a loop.

Rob flipped the channels, pausing at women’s hockey. “Right.” He was clearly expecting a better response, but I wasn’t sure I had one.

“I don’t know. I didn’t want her to be one of those women I used to fuck, you know?”

“One of your three-month cycle women. Abigail would have your bollocks.”

Perhaps it was because women got more serious around two to three months, and after that something shifted. Maybe I got bored. Or everything became a bit too comfortable. I had no idea, but no one ever made it past three months, and I didn’t want to ruin my friendship with Truly and then not have her in my life.

“Truly’s great,” Rob said, eyes pinned to the television.

I knew that. There was nothing I didn’t like about her. “She is.”

“If you decide to go there, you’d have to turn into a hardcore relationship guy. You wouldn’t be able to fuck it up, or I swear, Abi will ban you from this house. We’d have to break up, too.”

I chuckled, but I got it. Truly and I had kissed, shared moments, but it was nothing we couldn’t row back from. If things were to go any further, Rob was right, losing Truly wasn’t worth a three-month fling.

It was good that Truly was on a date. It just didn’t feel all that good right at this moment.





Seventeen





Truly


It was the first time I’d prepared for a presentation and didn’t have a bin by my side in case I got the urge to throw up. I paged through the Artemis presentation again. It was good, even if I did say so myself. It sounded less factual than I would ordinarily approach something—more emotional. It just felt right. But I wouldn’t be comfortable with it until I found out what idea Noah had wanted to talk to me about. If he’d just sent me the email he’d promised, I could have incorporated it and practiced the changes. I was giving the presentation this afternoon. That wasn’t enough time.

I swiped the screen on my mobile. Still no response to my message asking him what the suggestion was.