“Ouch,” I joke, clamping a hand to my chest.
But she’s smiling too, and…she’s walking my way. She wraps her fingers around mine, drawing both of our hands down my chest. “Maybe I’ll shareonebite.” Just as we reach the good stuff—the waistband of my pants—she drops my hand, reaches around me, and snags a slice. “…of this pizza.”
She tears off a huge chunk, moans as she chews, swallows. “Oh, this is good. Maybe even better than a sundae.”
“Better than me licking that sundae off your naked skin and then us sharing a bath?”
She chokes, eyes going wide.
I grin, gently pat her on the back. Then open a beer andpass it over to her, waiting until she’s stopped coughing to take my own slice.
“So, that game tonight...” I say, even though I’d rather talk about getting her naked and wet.
That’ll come.
Heh.She’llcome.
But later. I want this time with her, need to make sure she’s good.
Plus, room service delivery people always seem to have the worst timing.
She sets the beer down, folds the slice of pizza in half, and takes another bite, chewing and swallowing without the side of choking fit. “You going to chastise me for yelling at the refs?”
“Fuck no.” The blatant favoritism was atrocious.
“Then are you going to ask me if I’m okay taking them on?”
“Also, fuck no,” I say. “You’re a tough cookie, Joey. You’re not about to let a couple of asshole refs rattle you.”
“That’s not what Storm thinks,” she mutters.
I still.
Then curse under my breath. “He told you that?”
She rubs her temple. “No.” A sigh. “He wanted to make sure I was good.” She groans softly. “Right before he tried to ask me out.”
I curse again, but this time it’s not under my breath. “Tell me that dumb fuck didn’t actually ask you out?”
She nods morosely. “Yeah,” she says softly. “I made it clear that couldn’t happen.” She drops the pizza back into the box, sits back and sighs. “But I hurt him, and God, Damon what we’re doing—” Her gaze comes to mine and she shakes her head. “Is it really much better?”
“Of course it fucking is. There’s no power dynamic for one?—”
“Come on,” she mutters. “If you really wanted to get me fired, I have no doubt you could make that happen.”
Shit. “Baby?—”
“For another, if the press finds out—” She drops her hands into her head.
“Here’s the thing, Red.” I sigh, but it’s not in impatience. It’s because I know that my mind hasn’t been much of a better place myself, spinning around and around as I war with what’s right and what I want, what I’m scared of and what we might have. “Logic says this is stupid, that we should keep our distance, stay as work acquaintances at best, friends at worst. Logic says this will likely blow up in our faces and then we’ll be left cleaning up the pieces. I’m a man with a record who’s spent the last decade in anger management and who could technically throw a big enough fit to have you removed from your job. You’re a woman who’s been through hell and back and deserves a fuck of a lot better than me. But even though logic is screaming and the facts don’t line up and it would make more sense if we didn’t keep going with this?—”
Her lungs inflate in a rush, but I continue talking.
“Even though there are a hundred reasons why weshouldn’tdo this, all I know is that I’ve come to the conclusion that the only thing Ican’tdo is let you go.”
She lifts her head and I hold her gaze.
“The only question is if you feel the same way.”
