We took alternating sips in a suddenly uncomfortable silence.
“Aubrey, can I—” I said just as she was saying, “Cole, could we—”
“You first,” she said.
“No, ladies first, I insist.”
She hesitated, and I saw my mistake. She didn’t want to put herself out there and get rejected. I didn’t either.
And maybe both of us were too soon out of failed relationships to contemplate a new one, but…
Her eyes grew wide. “Oh, my gosh. Ezekiel Angelo is walking this way!”
11
Aubrey
Ezekiel Angelo wasstandingin front of me. Ezekiel Angelowas standing infrontof me. Ezekiel Angelo was standing in front ofme.
My mouth went dry. Bad enough that my heart was still beating ninety to nothing from all of the nice things Cole had said to me. Now he was shaking hands with Ezekiel Angelo.
Somehow Cole Frost had grown up from a shy, lanky boy into a confident man.
“Ezekiel, this is my date, Aubrey.”
And then my favorite basketball player ever was leaning down to shake hands. His engulfed mine. And he flashed me that wide smile. The sparkle in his eyes that matched the sparkle of the huge diamond solitaire in his right ear. “Aubrey, it’s so nice to meet you. How did a nerd like Frost manage to snag a beautiful woman like you?”
To my side I heard Cole say, “Hey, now!”
I needed to speak, but I couldn’t make the words. I needed to make the words. If my heart beat any faster, they would have to search the hotel for one of those defibrillators they had around here for emergencies.
And this was shaping up to be an emergency.
“Huge fan of yours, Mr. Angelo,” I finally managed.
“Mr. Angelo? Aw, that’s my granddaddy. You can call me Zeke. What did I do to make such a big fan out of you?”
“2010 Championship. Game Two. You made thirty-four points shooting at just over fifty percent. Five rebounds. Nine assists. Three steals.”
In my periphery, Cole’s jaw dropped. Even Ezekiel Angelo’s smile faded. “Wow. You know your stuff. You play a little ball?”
I shrugged. “A little.”
“She was All-State,” Cole said.
I shot him a dirty look. What did my being All-State in high school have to do with Ezekiel Angelo’s stats?
I opened my mouth to say I’d played some college basketball too, but then clamped my lips shut.
That was before I flunked out of school. I definitely didn’t want to take that trip down memory lane.
Ezekiel leaned back and started counting his people. “I was going to ask you to dance but forget about that. I think we need ourselves a pick-up game. Y’all can have Shorty and Metcalf on your team. Come on!”
“Uh, where are we going?”Cole asked as we followed Ezekiel and his entourage. Cole was moving at a trot, and I was practically sprinting to keep up.
Ezekiel’s grin spread slowly. “There’s a court on this roof.”
An employee at the elevator bank tried to tell Ezekiel that the court was now closed, but he talked the man into not only allowing us access, but he also convinced him to turn on the lights upstairs.
