Page 36 of Against the Clock
“He just sent you a bunch of flower emojis. What did he say? You’re killing me. Let me live through you. Tell me. Everything.” Cameron’s holding her butter knife in one hand, her phone in the other, a menacing expression on her face.
“He wanted to send me something. And to talk tonight.” I shrug one shoulder, like hot, sexy guys who know how to use their mouths send me things all the time.
“He liiiiiikes you,” Cameron sings, handing back my phone.
Sure enough, there are a dozen flower emojis. “Want to bet he’s sending flowers?”
“So cute. Overdone, sure, but cute all the same.”
“He’s a gardener,” I tell her. “His house is… amazing.”
“Awwww,” Cameron’s nose scrunches up as she smiles. “I’m super happy for you. This is exciting. Now tell me about the sex.”
“Don’t be gross. I’m not telling you anything.” A slow smile creeps across my face and I raise one eyebrow. “Other than it was good. Really good. Great, even. He’s… he seems like a really nice guy.”
A guy who plays football. But still. I am not going to read into anything. For once, I’ll just live in the moment. It’ll be fine.
“Living the dream,” Oliva says on a sigh. “Good for you, Kelsey.”
I return to my food, eating with more gusto, enjoying it.
Enjoying the idea of there being flowers waiting for me at my apartment from a man I like.
I can’t stop smiling.
CHAPTER 15
DANIEL
I feel really good. Sure, I have the same pain in my bad knee, the same ache in my messed up shoulder, but it’s not bugging me like it normally does.
Darius, one of the few men I’ve played with before we were both traded to the Wilmington Beavers, gives me a once-over.
“New girl?” he asks.
“Why do you say that?”
“I’ve been married for ten years, man. Trust me, you either learn to read people by then, or at least your partner, or things get shitty fast. Also, you keep checking your phone. Dead giveaway.”
I laugh. “You got me. How’s your wife and kids?”
“Good, man, they’re good. I gotta say, as much as I love the game…” He drifts off, then closes the space between us. Darius is a massive guy, one of the biggest linebackers on the team. He hits like a fucking wrecking ball, too, but he lowers his voice to say, “I’m getting real tired of being away so much, ya know? Wears on me.”
Darius squints at me. “You don’t have to answer. I know you feel the same. I can see it in the way you play. Having a woman will be good for you, man.” He claps a hand on my shoulder, then strides away to the room where the defensive line sits with their coaches, about to watch tape.
“Dude, you went viral.” Ty Matthews comes up beside me, his brother next to him as we all walk to our offensive team meeting. “Nice.”
“What?” I ask. “For what?”
“I swear to god, I get a gray hair every time you open your mouth,” Ty says, and his brother laughs.
I arch an eyebrow at him.
“BeaverTok blew you up. There’s all kinds of fan cuts of you running into that hot girl from last week’s game.” He frames his hands like a camera and his brother mimes sacking someone. They both laugh. “Then it cuts to you kneeling next to her, and then holding her hand, and then you guys are making out.” He shakes his head, incredulous. “The Hot Dams are out of their damned minds, if you ask me.”
“Fuck,” I rake my hands through my hair.
“Nah, man, no footage of that. Yet,” Ty’s brother, Jacob, adds.