“Wait a minute,” Selena said, a tortilla chip halfway to her mouth. “You played football for LSU? Were you any good? And don’t try to be humble, because you know I’m going to Google you.”
Brooks forced himself to tear his gaze away from Selena’s luscious lips. The casserole she’d made, as well as the spicy bean and cheese dip, were delicious. But while the food was spectacular, the company was even better. When he wasn’t mesmerized by the sound of her voice, he was enthralled by watching her eat. He absolutely loved the way her mouth moved.
“I was okay,” he admitted. “I was a blocking fullback, so when I did my job right, all the crowd saw was the running back cutting through a wide-open gap in the line. I never got any of the limelight, but that was okay, and for two amazing seasons, I got to live out my dream. I even had a chance to play in the national championship in my sophomore year.”
She gave him a questioning look. “Why two years?”
“Late in the third quarter of the championship game, I got caught up in the pile and completely blew out the ACL and MCL in my right knee. I never played football again.”
Selena sat back in her chair, her face full of empathy. “I’m sorry about that.”
Lots of people had said the words to him before, but few had genuinely meant it. Like when people saidgood morningwithout actually caring if your morning was good or not. But Selena was sincere.
He shrugged, reaching for another chip. “Don’t be. Even though I lost my scholarship, I was still able to finish my degree. Besides, if I hadn’t torn up my knee, I probably wouldn’t have become a cop, which means I wouldn’t have been there to save you. So, in essence, you owe your life to a bunch of clumsy, three-hundred-pound linemen who couldn’t stay on their feet.”
Selena picked up her wineglass and leaned forward in a toast. “Here’s to fate then…and clumsy linemen. It seems they both worked together to put you in that classroom exactly when I needed you.”
He clinked his glass against hers, very proud of himself for keeping his eyes focused on Selena’s expressive gaze and not her cleavage. “To fate…and being at the right place at the right time.”
As Brooks sipped his wine, he wondered if there was more to all this than fate. Gage always said there was nothing magical about turning into a werewolf. People who had a mutated gene buried in their DNA turned into werewolves if they went through a traumatic event. What kind of werewolf they became—alpha, beta, or omega—was based entirely on the specific circumstances of that traumatic event. Even the process of findingThe Onewas probably nothing more than probability, chemistry, and werewolf genetics.
But at times like this, Brooks had to wonder if they were all wrong. Yeah, he’d been at the exact right place at the exact right time to save Selena’s life. But it was pushing the boundaries of impossibility to think it had simply been good luck that she had shown up at the compound in time for him to recognize she was going through her change and that she’d need someone to help her through it.
It was enough to make a pragmatic man like Brooks start believing in a higher power, be it God or magic. Hell, maybe those were the same thing.
“What happened after football?” she asked. “How did you end up in law enforcement?”
Brooks didn’t answer right away, his attention focused on Selena’s mouth as she took another sip of wine. He especially liked the way the tip of her tongue slipped out to trace slowly across her lips, capturing a few stray drops of red liquid…along with his heart. It was possible she was doing it without knowing how sexy the move was. Then again, the sparkle he kept seeing in her eyes suggested she knew exactly what she was doing to him.
She was driving him crazy.
“Actually, being a cop was part of the plan all along. Well, maybe the backup plan.” He shifted in his chair in a hopeless attempt to get more comfortable in jeans that were getting tighter by the minute. “Sure, I’d dreamed about making it to the NFL, but I was practical enough even back then to know the odds of that weren’t very good. Blocking fullbacks weren’t really in demand in the pros, so I was already well into my criminology program when the knee injury kind of made my decision for me.”
She smiled. “Okay, so in addition to being strong, heroic, and dependable, we can also add practical to the list of your better qualities. You know, you really are getting more amazing by the minute.”
Brooks chuckled. He liked the way she said exactly what she was thinking. It was nice being with a woman who didn’t have a filter…or play games. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a woman tell me that practical is a quality they look for in a man. Daring, bold, and confident, but never practical.”
Selena lifted a brow, and damn, it was sexy as hell. Then again, she could probably cross her eyes and stick out her tongue, and that would work for him, too.
“Trust me, women like practical more than they’ll admit. The first time they date a guy who can’t hold a job for more than two weeks at a time or discover the man on the other side of the table at a restaurant doesn’t have money to pay for dinner, practical suddenly becomes an extremely valuable trait.”
“It sounds like you’re speaking from experience,” he said, though he had a hard time believing a woman as incredible as Selena would waste her time with deadbeats.
“I am,” she admitted. “But we’re not talking about me.”
“We’re not?” he countered.
“No,” she said. “We were talking about how you and your practical self ended up in law enforcement. I can see having a backup plan beyond football, but why law enforcement? Is your father a cop?”
Brooks shook his head. “No. My dad wasn’t a cop.”
When he didn’t continue, the smile slowly slipped from Selena’s face. She reached across the table and covered his hand with hers. “Hey, I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories. We can talk about something else if you want.”
“It’s okay,” he said. “It was a long time ago.”
Though sometimes it felt like just yesterday that he’d lost his father.
Selena regarded him with concern. How had they gone from sexy banter to awkward silence so fast?
