I turn and open the frosted glass doors to the conference room in the Warriors administration building.
I need to get my head in the game.
It only takes twenty-five minutes, plus fifteen minutes of handshakes and hugs of celebration.
Warwick O’Donnelly, the owner of the LA Warriors, hugs AJ for a full minute then jumps around the room with a smile the size of Texas on his aged face.
Trip Ramsey, the GM, on the other hand, has a more subdued smile, but his eyes are still crinkling with happiness.
Johnathan Rodriguez, the head coach, nods once before giving AJ and me bro hugs, then he makes his way out of the room without another word. That’s just the way he is, but AJ still tells him he loves him before he’s out of earshot, and the man actually smiles.
Knowing AJ’s wishes, he got a five-year, two-hundred-and-fifty-million-dollar deal, with incentives and addendums of course, but the quarter billion is his as long as he plays eighty percent of the snaps for the next five years.
If he wins a Super Bowl, MVP, or gets more than forty-five touchdowns in a season then it’ll be more, just like last time, so yeah, this is a very good deal.
I’m floating on cloud nine all the way to AJ’s house, and I can’t really stop talking about it. How the people around the league and the media will think they lowballed AJ, how it’s awesome that he doesn’t care, how some of his star teammates will probably get way better deals because of him.
And when we’re there in his driveway, and I still can’t stop smiling, I see he’s looking at me like he thinks I’m adorable.
And that can’t happen.
“Sorry.” I clear my throat and shake my head. “I need to stop.”
“Please don’t,” he says seriously. “I love my job, and it’s awesome when I see someone else also loves theirs.”
Again,suchan AJ thing to say.
“I’m having a cookout here on Saturday to celebrate,” he says out of the blue. “My parents are coming.”
“Really?” That is surprising. It’s been ages since they’ve visited ... I think, at least. “That’s great that they can make it.”
“Yeah, and I’m giving them a present.” His eyes shine with excitement. “A week at one of those floating hotels in Bora Bora or whatever.”
He opens the door to my car and gets out before finishing, so of course I follow suit.
“And I’m gonna take care of the ranch for that week,” he continues and walks around to my side of the car... It’s also the side where his front door is, but he steps right up to me and that smile, that unruly mop of blond hair, and the excited energy around him is too much, too enticing and alluring.
“That’s awesome.” My voice is gravelly with my need to press myself against him, tilt his chin up, and kiss the living hell out of him.
“Do you want to come with me?” he asks softly. I sway a bit. His voice, that deep baritone that recently became the best sound in the whole?—
“What? No.” I jump back like I just got burned, and damn it feels like I did. “Not a good idea.” I try to sound determined.
“Why?”
“Because of the kiss,” I cry out before I can even think of anything else.
“I thought we’d put that behind us,” he murmurs with a sad frown.
“Yeah, well, maybe I haven’t. I know you clearly have, that you won’t do it again, but I just need a bit more time. My mom asks me about you every time she talks to me, and she’s supposed to see us in love or whatever in three weeks when she visits, but I don’t know if I can do it AJ, when I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it and you said it was no big deal.”
Okay, maybe that was a bit much... and AJ’s frown only deepens.
“Unless you want me to,” he says slowly. “I did say I wouldn’t do it again.” He looks at me like he’s not sure I’ve been using all my brain cells. “Unless you want me to.” A deep breath, and then... “I won’t kiss you again unless you want me to, Cam. So when you figure that out, just let me know.”
“No, no,” I snap. “That’s such a cop out, AJ. This is not only up to me. I’m not going to ever be another person who takes advantage of you and who you only give your time and attention to because you feel bad. Never. You have to want this, and if you don’t then I just need a goddamn minute to get over?—”
His hands are on my cheeks then, and he stares into my eyes for only a second before he pulls my face down and kisses the hell out of me.
