She bit down on her bottom lip, her nerves reeling me in. I closed the gap between us and sent a prayer to my dick to not embarrass me. She came into my embrace and I kissed her forehead, figuring it out. “You don’t want to rush things, I understand. But what if I gave you a promise that I’ll be really good?”
“You aren’t the problem, Zade.Iam. I lose all rational thought around you.”
“I love that I’m doing that to you. But even if you strip down buck ass naked and straddle me, I won’t make a move tonight.”
“Why the hell not?”
“Because we haven’t had a real date yet. Remember, I want to have some firsts with you, too.”
“Fuck me. You’re going to ruin me, Zade Willows.” She sighed in resignation and I picked her up, spreading her legs around me. I kissed her, deeply and too soon, I pulled back. I kept her bottom lip between my teeth and she trembled.
“I’m now going to kiss the hell out of you, make you breathless with my name and leave you to dream about me all night.”
“Too late for that.”
I carried her into her room and did as I promised.
Chapter Nineteen
Callie
After a long, Zade-dream-filled night, I woke up with an inexplicable smile. Greta whistled at me when I walked out of my room to head to class. I canceled the run again that morning because my leg was still hurting, but also, I needed a little distance. Last night had changed something.
“Was it just me or did we have a late-night visitor?”
“Must be your crazy imagination. Nah, we did.”
“I knew it.” She clapped a couple of times, applauding herself. “How hung is he?”
“Greta!” I spilled a little coffee at her question. “I haven’t slept with him yet.”
“Why the hell not? I’m dying,” Greta whined and pleaded. “I need to know.”
“What about you and Tanner? How’s that going?”
“Oh, him. Nada. I va va voomed a little bit at him the other day and the message was loud and clear. Friends. I got friend-zoned. Which, I shouldn’t be surprised. This whole thing started as friends. I’m okay with it. I need to get back at it and find a new guy. So, I need you to be my wing-lady sometime.”
“Any time, girl. You my main bitch.” I meant it. Although I wasn’t a huge fan of going out and mingling with random people, I owed Greta. “I have to run, but I’m dying to know what exactlyva va voomedmeans.”
“I bet you would.” She waved at me. “We’ll catch up. And don’t think I’m forgetting you haven’t dished on last night.”
“Bye!” I ran out of the door, laughing, and headed to my class. I didn’t dread the class like the first one after Radcliffe had gotten nasty with me, but the trepidation was still there. We had nailed the project, but the thought of making friends with him had kind of gone out of the window with the icy glares I’d gotten.
The discussion with Patz was riveting, a little off topic, but I found myself hanging on to every word. He talked about the pros and cons of everything an athlete needed to eat. He spoke about personal experiences with drinking and how it had affected his play. He spoke about the drugs and supplements out in the league that hadn’t been around in his time. I took notes furiously and learned more in that hour than I had reading a hundred pages. I packed up my bag when Patz barked out Radcliffe’s name and mine.
“Get up here.” His tone was short and to the point. I tried to bite back the nerves because he always spoke to us in the same way. He might be giving us the best or the worst news and his tone wouldn’t change. “Sit down.”
Radcliffe and I shared a look, a mutual truce of sorts. “Now, you both did excellent work on the first project.”
I answered first, having spoken with alpha males most of my life, with my dad. “Thank you, sir.”
“Y-yes. Thank you,” Radcliffe added, rather pathetically.
“I’m selecting you two for an independent project of sorts.” He ruffled through his bag and handed us both a sheet with chicken scratch writing. “I’m on a first-name basis with all the trainers here and most of the coaches. They’re always looking for students to help with their program, because it looks good, and because sometimes we find talent.”
I faced Radcliffe, afraid to get my hopes up. It sounded like a kick-ass opportunity for an extended project. Radcliffe’s face tinged pink and I waited to see what else Patz said. “Now, Ms. Williams, Nicole said she already met with you for another class.”
“Yes. A shadowing program.”
