“No, I just know you don’t run anymore.”
I scoffed. “And I’m telling you, I do. How is this factual tidbit of my life an argument? You really believe you’re this much of a know-it-all about me? You just memorized a few facts.”
He scoffed. “Oh, come on. It was more than a few. Admit it, you’re upset I’m actually interested in people. In you.”
In you. My heart was in my throat, and I could barely get words around it. “Why would I be upset if you’re interested?”
“Probably because it’d reveal how jaded you are about me,” he said. “How much you need me to be the bad guy, so you don’t have to deal with anything other than manufactured contempt when you see me.”
I laughed dryly. “Nothing about my contempt is manufactured.”
“Keep telling yourself that.” David chuckled.
“Alright!” Weston called from the middle of the field, where most of our teammates had lined up on a white line. “Everyone ready? First to five? House rules.”
Multiple people cheered, confirming their readiness. I tried to move a few feet away from David, and he followed.
“Back off,” I warned.
“It’s man-to-man,” he explained with an amused smile.
I tried to move again, but he was like gum on a shoe. David closed the distance between us right as Weston stood on the line to say something to our team’s quarterback. As they talked, David grabbed the hem of my shirt, holding me in place.
“Stop cheating, asshole.” I swatted at his hand.
“If you stand too far to the left,” David whispered in my ear. “You’ll get caught between Jacob and Mike. They’re sorelosers, so trust me when I say they won’t go easy on you just because this is supposed to be a casual game.”
“Why are you giving me tips?” I was more shocked at how close he had gotten, how incredible his spicy aftershave mixed with his natural scent smelled, and how gentle his voice was in my ear. Instead of wanting to run, I’m tempted to lean back on my heels because I know my back would meet the solid form of his chest. Who cared about a ball and a touchdown? I wanted to know how it’d feel to have David’s arm wrapped around my waist again. Or maybe how his hand felt around my neck. Options. There were so many options.
Was it knowing about you? Was that really all it took?
No, that had been the icing. The cake was how, despite everything, David always talked to me like this when he thought I needed it. He was soft when he felt I’d slipped and needed some place to land. I hadn’t noticed this shift before. I focused too much on our disagreements. But it’d always been like this when I flipped through our memories, going as far back as high school. David could and would be soft when I needed it.
So you like that about him? Big deal. Doesn’t mean he likes anything about you.
And there it was. The kicker. David didn’t like me. His smiles for me were few and far between. An eye roll was a customary greeting for me. Hell, I had to beg the guy to fake date me.
Yeah, squashing this flicker of a growing crush was of the utmost importance.
“I’m making sure you don’t embarrass yourself.” David’s hold on my shirt loosened but didn’t release. “Or hurt yourself.”
“I could yell foul,” I said. “You know, for touching me.”
His voice was still low and breath tickling my ear. “Go ahead and do it. I dare you.”
It took everything to mask the shiver that ran down my spine. “It’s not your turn.”
“Hurry and come up with something then. It’s been weeks.”
“I enjoy taking my time, thank you very much,” I said.
“Well, so do I, but at a certain point, all this edging becomes a bit trite. Don’t you think?”
He meant nothing more than what we were talking about. There was no depth to his words —David had warned me of that himself plenty of times. And yet. And yet.
I dared to glance over my shoulder at him. He met my gaze, daring me to do something else. Say what I’m sure he could clearly see in my eyes.
“You’re cheating,” I repeated, my voice a whisper, almost drowned out by Rissa calling the play.
