“I’m guessing it’s complicated,” I say lightly. No part of me wants to get involved in how or why. “Why don’t you take your drink back to the patio and finish celebrating with your teammates? And I’ll be over there with Liz. Feeling you watch me the entire time.”
“Frankie.” He catches my wrist as I start to slip away from the bar. “Francesca.”
Heat pools low in my belly.
If he wants to leave right now, I’ll leave with him. I want him to fuck me in this jersey, too. But I’m enjoying the anticipation.“Fifteen more minutes?” It’s a question. “Then you can walk me home like you’re pretending to be a gentleman.”
His eyes flash as he slowly releases my hand, his fingertips lingering on the pulse point at my wrist. “As long as we’re clear that I’m only pretending.”
Smiling, I watch him head back to the patio, to his team. It takes all of five seconds for his gaze to find me again, even before I rejoin Liz in the booth.
She leans in close. “Your husband is staring at you like he wants to devour you.”
“So much for being subtle.”
“What were you talking about at the bar?”
“He’s going to walk me home. Like agentleman.”
She smirks, then wipes it away. “No, this is good cover. Now you’re just a random fan he’s hooking up with tonight, and he can walk out with you. But then underneath that is the really sweet truth that the man has it bad.”
The front door opens and a fresh wave of people come in.
I shift deeper into the booth, wanting my jersey to be invisible to them, but that also makes it harder to watch Logan out on the patio.
I re-focus on Liz. “Let’s talk about something else.”
“My poster presentation was accepted for the AMA Poster Showcase.”
“What?” I clap my hands. “Dude, why didn’t you say something sooner?”
“I got the email while we were at the game.” She smiles slyly. “And I wanted to tell Merry first.”
“Sneaky girl. That’samazing.” I exhale in wonder. “Wow, that feels real. This year the poster showcase, next year maybe you’ll be co-authoring a real study.”
She nods. “We’re so close.”
“Just gotta stay the course and get through these last six months.”
“And the three years after that.”
“And those.” I laugh. “But we’ll be MDs then. They’ll never be able to take that away from us.”
“There was another email, too, about commencement details.” Liz flips her phone up and starts looking for it.
Before she finds it, a smooth-skinned, well-dressed blonde guy comes out of nowhere and slides into the booth beside me.
“Hey there.” His smile is too confident, too familiar. “You’re way too pretty to be sitting here without some company.”
“Whoa, what am I, chopped liver?” Liz says, rolling her eyes at me.
“I’m here with my friends,” I point out.
He doesn’t take the hint. “I’m Cliff. And you are?”
“Not interested.”
“Come on, don’t be like that. Let me buy you a drink. What are you having?”
