Saylor took care of that for me.“Check out this video she did for Balefire.They filmed it at the observatory above Los Angeles.Isn’t it awesome?”She leaned close so I could look at her phone, but I was lost in her scent—something floral with a hint of musk and vanilla that made my cock pay attention.“Cash, are you watching?”
“Yeah.That’s a great video.Didn’t Balefire win an Oscar for that song?”
With a nod, she slipped her phone back into a hidden pocket of her dress.“That video went a long ways toward helping them win their Academy Award.”
“That’s what you want to do—film musicians?”
After a swallow of her beer, she said, “I’d like to travel the world to arenas, making the musicians look amazing on the Jumbotrons for the people in the back of Wembley or Mile High or Nissan Stadium.”At my blank look, she clarified.“Wembley in London, Mile High in Denver, Nissan Stadium in Yokohama.”
“You said you wanted to travel the world, so it threw me when you mentioned two arenas in the good ol’ USA,” I said, “because I thought Nissan was in Nashville.It’s where the Titans play.”
She shot me a look from beneath her brows.“The world doesn’t revolve around football, Cash.”An impish expression played over her features.“Now you’ve learned something today.”
Pulling my phone from the pocket of my shorts, I made an exaggerated show of checking the time.“I finished my last final an hour and twenty minutes ago.I don’t have to learn anything more today.”Then I leaned in to whisper for her ears only, “Unless you want to teach me what else besides kissing you do exceptionally well.”Speaking over her gasp, I added, “I bet you do lots of things exceptionally well.”
Because I was so close to her, I couldn’t miss the shiver that danced over her body at my suggestion.When she turned her head, I didn’t bother to hide my grin at her response either.I was into Saylor Davis, and I had a clue the feeling was mutual.
The trio of guys who couldn’t figure out the guac apparently could figure out the grill.One of them called out to the rest of the crowd hanging out in little groups that burgers were ready, breaking the spell between Saylor and me.After everyone had eaten, some of the group headed out while the few who stayed behind wandered into the great room where a massive dining table sat pride of place.
Turning her attention to Dalton, Saylor asked, “Five-card stud tonight?”
Glancing around at the girls who were still hanging out, he said, “How ’bout Hearts instead?We should break the new Little Rhos in easy, don’tcha think?”The way his attention strayed to one of those girls implied a double entendre with his choice of card game.
Apparently, Saylor picked up on that too because she laughed that throaty laugh of hers that made the front of my shorts tight and said, “Well, then we have to break out into quads.”
In short order, she had the group assembled into three groups of four, with a couple of the SCRs graciously sitting out to let their little sisters play.Saylor announced it was cutthroat Hearts, and we were in tournament play.Then she did something heinous and split Dalton away from his Hearts interest and assigned me to a group that didn’t include her.As play began, I figured out her game plan.After playing a couple of hands, Dalton was in a group with his girl and I was playing in the championship across from Saylor.How she’d known the outcome of her gambit was another mystery I wanted to solve.
But that would have to wait until after I won the hand.
Which I did not.
Neither did Saylor.A dark horse of an SCR named AJ swooped in and shot the moon, taking all the tricks and leaving the rest of us with all the points.He laughed and ruffled Saylor’s hair as he stood from the table to grab another beer.
Saylor excused herself to use the powder room, and when she stepped out, I was waiting.
“Are we sticking around?”I asked.
“You’re ready to go home?”
“Not necessarily.”
Chapter Seventeen
Saylor
Though he wasn’tbeing pushy about it, Cash Donovan had made it clear he wanted me.Ever since I started dating in high school, other guys had made it clear they wanted me too, but none of them had ever slipped under my skin—until Cash.Though I tried to tell myself he was just another guy—another football player for the Wildcats, no less—something about his competitiveness, his quiet authority, and the sizzle in his eyes when he rested them on me—called to me in a way no other guy ever had.
It terrified me.
And it thrilled me, which was even more terrifying.
When we left the finals party at the Sigma Chi Rho house shortly after the impromptu Hearts tournament, Cash was quiet.Yet our uncharacteristic lack of conversation wasn’t uncomfortable.For whatever reason, I felt more myself around him than I did even with my closest friends.
I’d straight up told him I didn’t want to date a football player, and he’d acknowledged that and then proceeded to show me he was so much more than his preferred sport.When we were on our one and only date, other than his competitiveness in the splash war my frat brothers initiated, he was a regular guy.Being with him wasn’t the same experience as being around Callahan or Wyatt or Finn, Cash’s teammates who had a real shot at the NFL—and focused goals to make their shot happen.From my perspective, everything they did fed into that singular purpose of playing on Sundays after graduation.
Cash didn’t come across that way.We talked more about my future plans than his.He wanted to practice medicine, albeit with a pro team someday, but that was different from being out on the field with the adulation of thousands of fans and a base of groupies who made themselves available wherever the team landed.His plans didn’t include the probability of having to uproot every few years when he and his current team decided to part ways.The fact we barely talked about football at all was a point in his favor.
Except I wasn’t being fair.My friends’ football-playing love interests didn’t spend all their time talking football either.Plus, I truly loved the game—watching it, talking about it with my fraternity brothers, cheering for the Wildcats on Saturday afternoons.If I were being honest with myself, I was hiding behind Cash being a football player as a way to pretend I wasn’t into him.
