Page 65 of Kane

He tucked her hair behind her ear. “I think I could learn to love it.”

Now he’d bet the red in her cheeks had nothing to do with the cold. He smiled at her discomfiture as they moved to the front of the line, and he bought their drinks.

She blew into her cup before taking a tentative sip. “Where are our seats?”

Checking the tickets, he led her to their spot in the twenty-fifth row. Not exactly close to the field, but not in the nosebleed section either.

“They’re still blue,” she mused with a small smile as they found their seats.

They didn’t have much time for talk as the teams took the field. Georgia State faced Tennessee, and the din from the crowd made conversation impossible. The energy spread like electricity through a live wire.

Mandy had told him more than once she loved football. She’d even come close to coaxing him to a Falcons game right before they broke up. Seeing the pleasure light her eyes made him wish he’d given in sooner.

Minutes into the game, she was on her feet. The quarterback had thrown a successful long pass, and the wide receiver was on the run at the thirty-yard line. “Go, go, go!” she yelled.

A Tennessee player tackled him at the twenty-five.

She swore as she plopped back into her seat, and he smirked until she delivered a sharp elbow to his arm. “Get your head out of your ass, Hale. Participation is not optional.”

The next time when she jumped to her feet, he followed suit, and by halftime, he’d screamed his voice almost raw. By the end of the game, he felt so charged up, he no longer even noticed the sting.

She looped her arm through his as they wove through the crowd to get to her car. She’d let him drive to their surprise destination, but now she slid into the driver’s seat. “I’m starving. Want to grab a bite?”

He nodded. He didn’t want the day to end, but he had less than two hours before his meeting at the clubhouse. Despite his father’s dismissal, he refused to let Sergei’s warning go unheard by the rest of his brothers.

But now wasn’t the time to think about his problems. He was going to enjoy every second with Mandy he could. The night before had been a fucking revelation. Watching her come apart in his arms had been even better than he remembered. Maybe because he appreciated it more this time around.

She’d looked like a fucking goddess with all her pale, perfect skin and peach nipples. They’d practically begged for his mouth. And fuck if he wasn’t getting hard again even thinking about it.

He had no doubt she wanted him every bit as much as he wanted her, but she wasn’t ready to trust him yet. Hell, he couldn’t blame her. She’d seen club life back in the day, and her impressions were spot on. By his brothers’ way of thinking, he could fuck anything that moved, and she’d have no right to complain. Not one of them believed in monogamy, and he hadn’t tried it once in the past thirteen years.

It didn’t mean he couldn’t go back. He’d cut off his left nut to go back. The only way to prove it, though, was to show her, so he would. He would show her she was his sun, and his world would revolve around her once again.

“Burgers okay?” Her question interrupted his thoughts.

He looked around, surprised she’d pulled into the parking lot at Applebee’s while his brain went on sabbatical.

A small group already stood waiting for a table near the hostess area, so they grabbed the last two seats at the bar.

“Let me guess.” He held his fingers to his temples. “You want a Cowboy Burger with the barbeque sauce on the side.” It was the only thing she’d ever ordered when they came here together.

She stuck out her tongue. “Show off.”

The bartender brought them their sodas, then sent back their order.

Mandy tore the paper off her straw. “Today was amazing.” She had a guarded smile, but it looked sincere. She rested her right hand next to his on the bar, the side of her pinkie brushing against his. “It was like before, but different.”

He linked his pinkie with hers. “Sort of like us.”

She chewed on her lip. “Should we tackle the big stuff first or build up to it?”

The club. She had to be talking about the club. He lifted his shoulder. “Ask me anything you want.”

Her mouth opened, then closed again. The only sound came from the other people at the bar. Just when he was convinced she wouldn’t say anything, she spoke. “You always said you hated it.” Her gaze rested on their hands. “I would have bet my life your feelings were never going to change. I—I did this, didn’t I? I pushed you into this life when I walked away.”

He wanted to deny it. What kind of pussy did it make him if he couldn’t even stick to his own principles because his girlfriend broke up with him? It didn’t change the truth, though. “You didn’t make me patch in, Mandy, but yeah. Obviously, it was my way of dealing with what happened between us. The guys in the club were there for me when I was low, and I guess part of me felt like I was giving you a bigfuck youfor leaving. But they loved me. They still do. And I love them. They’re my family.”

She tugged her hand away, and he felt the loss immediately. “Has anything changed? In what they do? How they treat women?”