“Uh,” Phillip closed his eyes and put his hands on his hips, trying to take deep breaths to calm his heart rate. “Shit man I don’t really know. I do remember her being tall and blonde and very pretty but, honest to God dude I probably didn’t spend more than two minutes with this chick. Why in the hell are you asking me this?”
Holy shit. Tristan’s heart was in his throat. Tall and blonde and very pretty? Check check and absolutely check. Transferredsophomore year? So, after she abruptly left Vanderbilt? Check. A journalist named Tessa? He had to put his hands on his knees in an effort not to pass out.
“You alright? Need a water break?” Phillip asked.
“Fuck no,” Tristan answered immediately straightening back up. No way in hell he was going to get caught admitting defeat against the torture that was the beginning of the season practice drills.
“Then what’s the issue?”
“Tell you later,” Tristan said, jogging back over to the group when the coaches blew their whistles, yelling for ‘all you weaklings’ to get into formation. And for the next hour Tristan did what he did best. He compartmentalized and stuffed away the gut-wrenching reality that he was about to be faced with his biggest regret – losing Tessa all those years ago.
Once practice is finally over and Tristan is showered and back into his normal clothes, he decides he will retreat into one of the conference rooms to do some research and find out if this journalist really is Tessa. All the guys were eager to get back home, but Tristan had no interest in being at home right now. He felt much more comfortable away from his home if he was honest, and right now, he had way too much on his mind to worry about what dramas await him there.
All the guys quickly gathered their things and walked out of the locker room in a big group, low murmurs from their tired conversations dying down once they reached the large open space that was across from their locker rooms when they saw Coach Rice standing and waiting for them. Tristan was looking down at his phone, so he didn’t notice that the group had cometo a complete halt, and he ran into one of his teammates’ very large body in front of him.
“Shit sorry man,” Trist said, finally looking up and noticing the group had stopped and everything was quiet. That usually meant Coach Rice was standing waiting for everyone’s attention to address them.
His eyes left his phone, and what he saw in front of him was nothing short of a dream, because surely this couldn’t be real. There in front of the group was a very large Coach Rice with a very beautiful Tessa standing next to him.
Tristan’s heart stopped, his blood ran cold, and he felt like a bolt of lightning was shooting straight through his body.No fucking way.
There she was, 10 years later, and more beautiful than he could have ever imagined. She almost looked taller. Without a doubt more womanly. She had curves and confidence that she didn’t 10 years ago. She had perfectly trimmed blonde hair that was softer and more honey hued than the bright blonde he remembered, but her piercing blue eyes were the same. Her hair was way longer than he had seen in previously, and it was straight yet bouncy over her shoulders and cascading down her back, almost to her waist. Like always her makeup and clothing was classy yet somehow bold in an understated way. Her beauty was truly timeless, and he found it hard to believe that she was able to get even more beautiful than she already was.
Holy fucking shit. He felt like he was having an out-of-body experience. Tessa,hisTessa, the woman who plagued his thoughts, the woman he was so splittingly angry at all these years later, the woman who he still fantasized about when he was alone and hard, was right here in front of him.
He was in pure shock, so much shock that he was unable to stop his phone was falling straight out of his hands onto the linoleum floor, causing a very loud bang that reverberated downthe echoing hallway, and everyone’s eyes went to straight to him, including Tessa’s.
And then their eyes were locked, and he watched as the perfect porcelain skin of her face and neck turned bright pink, her stance shifted ever so slightly, and a thin sheen of tears filled into her blue eyes.
Don’t cry, baby.
His feet moved instinctually to go to her upon seeing her sudden wave of emotion, but Coach Rice’s voice knocked him straight back into reality, and he stayed in place, completely motionless under her piercing blue gaze that it also seemed like she was unable to break.
“This is Tessa Smith, she will be shadowing us the next few months. She is a fantastic journalist. She works for The New York Times. They are hoping to include us in their end of the year stories and would also hopefully be doing a solo publication on our team if we win the super bowl this year. So, this is a big deal for her as well as our team, and I fully expect you all to treat her as such, with your upmost respect and kindness. Do I make myself clear?”
A resounding “yes sir” came from all of the guys, resulting in Coach Rice giving a satisfied nod before dismissing the group. He stood by Tessa’s side as the group of guys walked down the hallway, some nodding their heads at Tessa, other’s fully stopping to shake her hand and introduce themselves. Tristan stood at the edge of the pack, waiting for everyone else to disappear so that he could have her to himself. As the crowd continued to thin, and she came back into his vision again, her smile nearly brought him to his knees, and then their eyes met. And suddenly his plan to walk straight up to her and give her his charming smile was straight down the drain because he could not move. Paralyzed in place by her beauty, how muchtaller she stood, how her energy and aura radiated warmth and confidence, and honestly, also by fear.
They stared at each other, neither one moving or speaking; the voices down the hall growing quieter, but the energy between them only growing thicker. Until Coach Rice cleared his throat, completely slicing through the tension.
“You good Kelly?” He asked, a sparkle of mischief deep into the man’s eyes that one would miss if you didn’t know him well, but Tristan did.
“Uh, yeah,” he spoke up, clearing his own throat and willing himself to sound much more confident than he did. “Do you mind Coach? I’d like to catch up with Miss Smith. We went to college together.”
“Is that so?” He said, looking between the two of them. Tessa still stood silent, still keeping her gaze locked on Tristan.
“Yes Coach,” Tristan answered.
“Okie dokie,” Rice replied in his thick midwestern accent, the ridiculous words hanging awkwardly in the heavy air between them.
Tristan waited a few seconds for Coach Rice to walk away before he took a few tentative steps towards Tessa, his heart pounding wildly in his chest, Tessa’s breath quickening with each step he got closer. Until they were fully in front of each other, gazes locked, energies magnetically pulling their souls painfully back together. After all this time, that pull, that energy, that unadulterated longing and chemistry, was still there. And neither of them knew what they were going to do about it.
“Hey Tess. Long time, baby.”
CHAPTER 12
“Hi Trist,” Tessa’s voice comes out unsteady as she shifts uncomfortably on her feet.
She feels like she’s in a dream or like she’s standing outside of her body watching this take place. Having Tristan stand in front of her as if the past 10 years didn’t separate them, his green eyes sparkling and hopeful, felt like a dagger being shoved straight through her heart. She had hyped herself up all morning for this, telling herself that she could do this, could appear confident and unphased, but actually being under his intense stare was something she couldn’t prepare for, no matter how hard she tried.
