He was a nuisance, but well-meaning, most of the time.
It was Jude’s arm that grabbed hold of me and yanked me into a side room that came off the conference area. Seven of my teammates were already there, including Nate.
“What the fu…”
“Shhhh.” Nicky Pryce-Jones put his finger to his lips. “We’re about to watch Reeves have his testicles handed to him.”
I peered round the door, seeing Rowan drop to one knee, a gobsmacked Dee in front of him.
“Do you…” Jude started. Nate’s over large hand clamped itself over Jude’s mouth.
None of us spoke. We just waited.
Rowan’s voice was croaky. Danny reached his hand out of the door, his phone in it to film whatever was about to be said.
“I know it hasn’t been that long, and I get it if you say no, but…” Rowan paused. I saw him dig in his pocket. “Fuck.”
“Shit, he’s forgotten the ring!” That was Danny.
“How the fuck do you forget the ring?” Jude.
“Man, this is going to be a fucking disaster.” Lennox.
I looked at Nate. Nate just shook his head.
We couldn’t hear what Dee said, but whatever it was, it was punctuated with a long, lingering kiss.
One by one, we came out of where we were hiding into the conference room.
“What did she say, man?” Jude just couldn’t keep his mouth shut.
Rowan held Dee in his arms and looked at us, an expression of disbelief on his face.
“She said to ask her again in a few more months.” Dee answered for him. “Isn’t it past your nap time?” She pointed at Jude.
“Owned.” Nate poked Jude in the back. “Let’s go get food.”
“Neva approved?” Jude bounced back.
“Absolutely not.”
CHAPTER16
Otter
I’d never seen sucha good-looking man look so uncomfortable in a tux.
For the third time, Ryan tried to do up the bow tie. His tux was black, gifted by the company he was the face of. He’d let – at my request – his stubble grow for the last couple of days, which made him look different to the more clean-cut image he had on the pitch. His hair had been styled by the team that had come in to do my make-up and he looked like he should be the leading man in the film we were going to the premiere of.
“Let me do it.”
He dropped his hands and inhaled deep enough for me to see his chest rise and fall. This wasn’t his style.
Being here. In a hotel that was all about the glamour, a swathe of stars and their entourages fluttering about the place, the level of pretentiousness higher than the Thames during a February storm, and probably more polluted too.
We were four weeks after the press had found out about us. Four weeks, and we’d managed to see each other on five occasions, which I figured was pretty good considering our jobs. Jas had reminded me that if I was dating someone in the navy or army, I’d be seeing them a lot less, so I tried to appreciate what time we’d had.
Tonight and tomorrow would be it for about six weeks, unless by a miracle one of us could jump on a flight over the Atlantic. I was split between New York and LA; Ryan had a remit of league games and an international. We were going to have to manage on stolen phone calls and messages.
