“Of course,” Leo says. “Jules, this is my wife, Mara. Babe, this is Jules, our new social media coordinator.”
Mara gives me a radiant smile and hugs me. “I feel like I already know you from your beauty page. You’ve made me into a massive Smashbox fan.”
“Ah! Love to hear that! Their primer is life changing.”
“For real. I use it every day. You aren’t giving up your beauty pages for this job, are you?”
“No, I’m doing both.” I wave Blair over from a few feet away. “This is my sister Blair, she’s my plus-one tonight.”
They greet her warmly, Blair a little starstruck by meeting one of the players in person. Leo isn’t single, so he’s not on her spreadsheet, but since I started with the team, she’s learned fun facts about every player and shared them with me.
His first year as a pro, Leo played a very physical game and then tripped on the way to the locker room and broke a tooth. He’s a spokesman for a mental health organization, and it’s one of the beneficiaries of tonight’s fundraiser.
I take a couple photos of Leo and Mara, about to move on when Leo says, “Our fearless leader is here.”
We all turn to see Carter and Suki walking in. He looks the same as usual, but with his arm in a sling. Noel is behind them, and my heart races just from the quick glance I get of him.
I can’t stop thinking about our few hours together. It’s been almost a week since it happened, and he seems to be avoiding me. I had a feeling he’d regret what happened between us, but I don’t.
I want more. When I’m not around him, I’m a reasonable person. I think about being hungry, or tired, or the work I need to finish up.
Put me in the same room with Noel Turner, though, and a switch inside me gets flipped. I can’t think about anything but him. The feel of his tongue on my nipples. His clean, masculine smell. The deep, satisfied groan he released when he came.
No matter how much I want to focus on something else, I can’t. It frustrates the hell out of me.Hefrustrates the hell out of me. He’s standing with our team owner, Hudson McClain, smiling and talking with a couple. The woman is draped with expensive jewelry, and I’m sure they’re wealthy, like McClain is.
That’s Noel’s world. Power, prestige, and money. His ex-wife looks like she has a punch card at a plastic surgeon’s office. I’m not proud of how much I’ve looked up online about Noel and his personal life.
There’s very little to be found on women. Nothing since he got divorced.
“Hey,” Blair says softly. “Why don’t we step out for a second?”
I shake off my daze and look at her. “Yeah, okay.”
It’s October, and it’s too cold to go outside, so we walk into the hotel lobby instead. The polished marble floor gleams, with huge potted tropical plants and fountains giving the spacious two-story room a warm feel.
Blair leads me to a cream leather love seat, where we both sit.
“You looked like you could use some air,” she says, squeezing my hand.
She’s been listening to me rant about Noel for days now. He hasn’t even acknowledged my presence. No calls. No texts. Not so much as a glance. It hurts because he was more to me than just a quick way to get off.
“We can go,” she says. “Not home, because this is as close as I’ve been to a date in years. But like, out for pizza or something. The boys love Kayla and it’s so nice to be dressed up and out.”
She gave me full control over her look tonight. She’s wearing a champagne-colored sparkly gown, her hair blown out in big waves. Her makeup is just a notch past natural, because I know she doesn’t feel comfortable in heavy makeup.
“We can’t. I have to take photos all night. And you need to meet all the guys from your spreadsheet.”
She scoffs. “That was for you, not me. And I think you need to move on to Magnus Lundgren. He bought his mom a house and put all his siblings through college. He seems like?—”
She stops talking just as Noel walks around the giant plant, blocking my view of the ballroom entrance.
“Hey, Jules,” he says in greeting.
“Stalker daddy,” Blair blurts.
I give her an incredulous look, my eyes wide and my cheeks flaming. What the hell kind of wingwoman does that?
“Sorry.” She grins up at him. “I thought you were someone else. I have to go get a drink.”
