I’m too keyed up after sex late at night, especially sex like that. I try, but I toss and turn, hot under the covers as I remember what it felt like when his mouth was on my breast or when his finger was in my pussy or when his tongue was battling mine for some unclear victory.
I’m up too early, and I take my time getting ready. I put in the sort of extra effort I used to put in when I was trying to catch Billy’s eye on the elevator all those years ago.
What the hell am I doing?
I’m not sure, but I wear my red slip dress with my black blazer and black shoes, knowing full well how dangerous it is to go into a locker room filled with horny men looking like this.
There’s only one horny man whose eye I want to catch, and he happens to be walking out of his own condo at the same time I exit mine.
“Good morning,” I say brightly, as if I got my full eight hours and I’m wide awake.
He grunts amorningat me as he locks his door, and we wait for the elevator together. “You know, if we carpool to the practice complex, we could chat in the car on the way and knock some of our meetings out of the way.”
He spares a glance at me as the elevator arrives at our floor. “I’d like to stick to my usual routine.”
I nod, trying not to feel any certain way about that. Would it be nice if he wanted to spend a few extra minutes with me? Certainly. I shouldn’t feel offended that he doesn’t. After all, this is his livelihood. His entire life.
He clears his throat as we ride down to the first floor. We’re alone on the elevator, and the tension is thick. I half expect him to say something about last night, and I halfexpect something foolish to come out of my own mouth about last night, but none of that happens. Instead, we walk together wordlessly toward the parking garage. I grapple with what to say. Something. Anything.
I come up short.
Just before we get into our separate vehicles, I ask, “Would you rather have our morning meeting over breakfast in the cafeteria or in the conference room Lily took us to?”
“Conference room if we have to do this at all,” he grunts, and it shouldn’t surprise me that he’d choose the less public route. I tell myself it’s because I look damn good today and he wants to keep me to himself, but a likelier explanation is that he doesn’t want to be followed around by his babysitter in front of his teammates.
But outside of the cafeteria means fewer opportunities for him to bond with his teammates. I guess I’ll have to figure out some solution, but for today, I’ll take what I can get.
He grabs breakfast for himself and brings it into the conference room to eat while I start my spiel. I go over the signed contracts and what he needs to accomplish with his new sponsorships. I coach him on how to interact with the media today. We discuss what to say regarding his return to practice. I tell him to be nice to his teammates and to try to talk to at least two new people today. He thinks it’s a stupid idea and doesn’t spare my feelings in letting me know that.
“One more thing,” I say, glancing at my calendar.
He raises his brows expectantly.
“I see your birthday is at the end of the month. You’re a Halloween baby?”
“My birthday is on Halloween, yes,” he says dryly.
“Great. And you’ll be…”
“Thirty-three,” he supplies.
“Right. Anything you’d like to do to mark the occasion?”
He shakes his head.
“Okay. Well, that’s all I have for this morning. I’ll be on the practice field observing and continuing to build out our plans.”
Before either of us moves to stand, Lily pokes her head into the conference room. “Sorry to interrupt, but Mr. Dalton would like a word with you both in his office before Mr. Jennings heads to practice.”
We both stand.
“We’re done here,” I tell Lily, and we follow her to Jack’s office, where we each slide into a chair opposite his desk.
My phone starts to ring, but I send it to voicemail without checking who it is. Whoever it is will have to wait because Jack Dalton will not.
“Good morning,” he says, looking up at us both. His brows crinkle together for a beat, and I swear to God, he can see on the two of us that we slept together last night.
I know it’s a ridiculous thought the second I have it. You can’ttelljust by looking at us.
