Mae is Renee’s daughter and Cam’s sister.
Our ships may be crossing right now, but they have different destinations. She’s here for a short time before leaving to start her veterinarian training.
And I’ll still be here. Doing all I know how to do.
“Nathan? You’re not going to nut, are you?”
“Shut up,” I grumble, running a hand down my face, sighing when Cam raises his eyebrows at me, pressing me to answer his first question about his sister. “Yeah, Mae seems good,” is all I can bring myself to say.
He hums. “My mom giving you a hard time about keeping your hands off her?” He’s kidding. He knows I don’t mess with the cheerleaders, but the question still irks me.
Without permission, my head conjures up a scene of Mae and I together. In bed. No clothes. Sweat coating our bodies as our lips lock, and her body trembles beneath mine.
Fuck, she’d sound good moaning my name.
“I wouldn’t risk my entire career for a one-night stand.”
“So you’re saying that if your career wasn’t on the line, you might consider it?” Cam wears a cheesy grin, but I can see a glint of something else behind his eyes. It looks like protectiveness, and I completely understand where he’s coming from.
The idea of anybody here touching my own sister makes me feel sick. She’s a consenting adult, sure, but we both know I’ll always see her as my baby sister. It’s just the way it is.
I bite the inside of my cheek. “No.”
Mae and will never go there. I don’t want it to go there. She pisses me off.
“Good. Okay.” Cam steps back from me and claps his hands together. “You’re all done. Come back if the muscle is giving you trouble between now and the next game.”
“You know it will.”
It’s the effect of consistently pushing my body to its limit, but I don’t know any other way of life. When I’m not training, a member of another team is, which means they could better their skills beyond mine. I’m not as young as I once was, and some new, fresh twenty-one-year-old could be just around the corner, ready to take my spot.
I reach forwards to push the door open, but as I lay my hand on the metal knob, Cam stops me with a low clear of his throat.
“Nathan, I don’t want to bethatguy, but I’m being serious about not going there with Mae. I don’t think you would, but I just have to put it out there. She’s had a tough childhood and doesn’t need any more drama in her life. Not from our mom. Not from the media. And not from a football player.”
I offer him a stiff nod as a reply, exiting his office. I’m not a man of many words, but I’m sure Cam can tell I’ve taken his concern seriously.
Still, much to my dissatisfaction, I can’t help but wonder what Mae experienced in her childhood to make Cam so protective of her.
Usually, I wouldn’t give a fuck, and that’s what’s irritating the hell out of me.
Football hurts.
So does being tackled to the ground and having the cracked part of your helmet near your mouth bend and stick into your chin.
It’s halftime, and even though the medics rush over to tend to me, I wave them away. I need time to breathe.
My father is watching me from his seat, eyes sharp. Even though we’re winning, I know he’s not impressed with the injury I’ve just sustained.
It made you look weakhe'll tell me later.
I exit the playing field and head to the men’s locker room, where I clean myself up. It’s a minor injury, but the skin on the face is thin, with more blood vessels close to the surface, meaning it doesn’t stop oozing.
My teammates won’t be too worried about me. I often disappear during halftime to give myself a pep talk—and to avoid my father’s less-than-sympathetic one.
As I exit the locker room, I almost walk into a petite figure, and I gaze down to see Mae standing in front of me, her tits fucking distracting as they sit perfectly on her chest.
I get they didn’t have time to make her a custom outfit, but could they not have stuck her in something a little less enticing? I shouldn’t find the coach’s daughter this good to look at.
