“Training camp ran from six o’clock in the morning until nine o’clock at night, then lights out at eleven. After a shower, I was crashing around ten.”
“Wow, I didn’t realize it was that intense.”
“Yeah, it’s a rough few weeks. But I did try to hit you up here and there when I had a little more energy. Definitely not on the days we had two-a-days. But I did call you—not that you picked up when I did.”
“I know, I know. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. Family is important, and after hearing howyou and your aunt were moving, I know you were busy. And I can’t complain too much—every time I had a chance to update my business plan, I checked before bed, and you had tweaked and added things to make it better. I’mthis closeto hiring you on the spot.”
“So what I hear you saying is that I wasn’t the most present friend, but I was pretty great. So great, in fact, that you’d hire me to be a senior partner!”
He chuckled, and that deep, rich sound put a smile on my face. “Yeah, I think I’ll keep you.”
“Good. I like being kept.”
“You’ll have to let me take you out again when our schedules free up. I’m off tomorrow, but then practice picks back up, and the first preseason game is coming up.”
“Yeah, I’d like that. I won’t be back in Maryland until the regular season is about to start. But we should definitely get together.”
“The way you talked about Chance, I just knew you’d be back up here already. It’s clear your aunt means a lot to you.”
“She does. She’s…” I sighed a little thinking about why we’d gotten so much done so fast. “Aunt Addy was the first person to show me that life was more than Chance. She lives her life to the fullest. She’s always been my inspiration.”
“That’s why you’re getting the same tattoo?”
My lips tugged upward. “Yeah, that’s one of the reasons. For my first tattoo, I—”
“Oh, this will be your first one?”
“Yeah, I was always curious about tattoos, but I thought they’d hurt, so I never got one. Do you have any?”
I’d checked out his arms every time I saw him, and I hadn’t noticed any.
“Yeah, I have one on my back,” he told me. “It goes from one shoulder to the other, and it’s pretty detailed.”
My phone pinged and I ignored it.
“Did it hurt?” I asked.
“Hell yeah.”
Remembering what he looked like from behind, I smirked. “You have broad shoulders, so I bet! What’s it of?”
“It’s angel wings and a cross with my dad’s name, date of birth, and death. I just sent you a picture of it.”
“Oh, let me check.”
I’d just opened the text when he continued. “That was from Jumeirah Beach in Dubai. I got the tour guide to take this of me about fifteen minutes before I dropped my shit in the ocean. It was the last picture that had backed up.”
Well, damn!
I couldn’t even respond verbally to what he was saying because I was gawking at his sexy-ass image splayed on my phone. I definitely saved it to my photo album and continued staring. The different shades of blue between the water and the sky were beautiful, but water droplets adorning Lamar’s brown skin as he stretched his arms to the side showing off his tattoo and his wingspan really stole the show. His tall, thick build, muscular arms, and intricate wing tattoo only made him sexier.
“Oh wow,” I breathed finally. “It’s beautiful.”
“You can’t really see all the details, but I’ll show it to you the next time we see each other.”
The thought of seeing him again made my stomach flutter. But the thought of seeing him again at least partially naked for me to see the details of his tattoo sent a wave of heat through my body. My mouth went dry for a moment.
