There’s no way she can’t feel this too. Right?
“Gray, come on. What will admitting that do for us?”
“I don’t know. It could help us move forward. Move past whatever all of this is into something else.”
“To what?” A nervous chuckle slips out. “Being friends?”
My heart cracks on the word, but my disappointment is overshadowed by my eagerness to agree. Friendship with Mallory is more than I could ask for. All I wanted was a real reason to be with her outside of the game, and here it is. I won’t pass up this opportunity.
“Exactly. Friends.” I bite the inside of my cheek until it’s tender as I await her answer.
“Healthy competition,” she finally murmurs. As if electricity jolts through her, she sticks her hand out to me. “Healthy competition between two people who don’t dislike each other.”
“Friends,” I correct her.
“Friends,” she concedes with an eye roll. “We should get going before someone beats us back to the house. I don’t want to lose tonight.”
“You never want to lose, Eddie. That’s nothing new.”
Mallory’s smile returns, but only for a moment. Her body slams against mine roughly, almost sending us both to the ground.
Clearly drunk out of his mind, the man who ran into her sprints away, leaving an empty cup behind. I look down and cringe. Her white top is now dark green and soaked.
“Watch where you’re going!” she yells, wiping beer from her face.
I rip off my flannel and wrap it around her shoulders. Without any direction, she sticks her arms through the arm holes and lets it fall around her. I pull it tight, hoping it stops her teeth from chattering.
“What an asshole,” I mutter.
Mallory gasps. “Kenneth Gray. Did you just cuss?”
It takes a moment for my brain to process the fact that Mallory just said my first name for the very first time. The singular word was almost enough to make me combust on the spot. I drop my eyes, but it’s nearlyimpossible to button the flannel because all I can think about is the way my name sounded like pure ecstasy coming from her lips. And how I’d do anything to hear it again.
“I am capable of cursing, Ed. Just not around you. You do that enough for the both of us.”
She stays quiet, watching my fingers work with an adorable smile.
“So as my friend,” I continue, “do you think you would be able to make it to my meet this weekend?”
Another gasp. “First you cuss, and now you want me at your meet? Is this real?”
“Very real.” I finish the final button and lift her chin to meet my eyes. “It’s a total ego boost for me. Having my rival that I convinced to be my friend act as my cheerleader? That’s a dream come true.”
Her eyes flash with a challenge, but the ferocity shifts into something shyer when she nods. “I’ll be there.”
God. I need to hug her. I sorely messed up my opportunity before the lake, but I won’t this time. Looping my arms around her waist, I keep a loose hold on her in case she wants to slip out.
But rejection doesn’t come. Mallory rests her cheek against my collar bone and snakes her arms around my waist. The heat from her body sends flames down my front when I pull her tight against me.
“Edwards.”
She looks up and our eyes meet. “Yeah?”
This might be the only time to tell her that I want more. Hell, I wanther.That I need to kiss her more than I need air.
“I—”
Another body crashing into us stops my confession. Not hard enough to send us to the ground, but enough for Mallory to let out a surprised yelp. I manage to keep us upright and whip around, ready to lay into whatever idiot just ruined my chance to tell her how I feel.
