“Yep. Just…left.” I pick at the paper sleeve on my cup. “Like I was radioactive or something.”
Mari studies me, her head tilted. “And you were wearing his shirt? Just his shirt?”
“Yes, Mari,” I groan, dropping my forehead to the table. “I’ve established the scene. Me, practically naked. Him, shirtless. Steamy bathroom. Sexual tension you could cut with a knife. And then…nothing.”
“That doesn’t sound like nothing,” she says thoughtfully. “It sounds like he was being respectful.”
I lift my head to glare at her. “Since when is rejection respectful?”
“Since always?” Mari raises an eyebrow. “Sutton, honey, that man is trying so hard to be a gentleman it’s painful to watch.”
I give her a flat look. “If he was trying to be a gentleman, hecould have at least given me a gentle letdown. Not just…walked away. He didn’t even kiss me and it’s not like we haven’t kissed before.”
Mari leans forward, her eyes serious. “Niña, listen to me. That man wanted you. I could feel it through your description alone. But he’s being careful with you.”
“I don’t need careful,” I whine, though even I can hear the lie in my voice.
“Everyone needs careful sometimes,” she says softly. “Especially when they’ve been handled roughly before.”
Her words hit a nerve I wasn’t prepared to expose. I take a sip of my coffee to hide whatever my face is doing. “He doesn’t know about my past.”
“Maybe he doesn’t know all the details of what you’ve gone through but he’s perceptive enough to know that you have, in fact, gone through something. Something that has you guarded more often than not. Something that has kept you from accepting him completely. And I’m not saying any of that is a bad thing. Solid relationships take time. They don’t have to happen immediately.”
“Maybe,” I admit reluctantly. “But it just felt like…like he changed his mind. Like he saw me standing there and decided ‘You know what? Nah.’“
Mari laughs—like straight up belly laughs—and I fight the urge to throw my napkin at her. “Oh, Sutton. For someone so smart, you can be so dense sometimes.”
“Thank you very much.”
“He didn’t change his mind about wanting you.” She reaches across the table and squeezes my hand. “He changed his mind about the timing,” Mari continues, her voice gentle but firm. “There’s a difference.”
I slump back in my chair, unconvinced. “Then why did he look at me like that? Like he wanted to devour me whole?”
“Because he probably did want to,” Mari says, stirring her coffee thoughtfully. “But wanting something and acting on it are two different things, especially for someone who seems as controlled as your quarterback.”
“He’s not my quarterback,” I mutter automatically.
Mari gives me a look that could wither plants. “You’re living on his property and wearing his clothes. You literally wanted to fuck him in the shower a couple hours ago. Like it or not, he’s your quarterback.”
I can’t help the small laugh that escapes me. “That sounds like a terrible sitcom.”
“I’d watch it.” Mari winks. “Look, what happened this morning doesn’t mean he doesn’t want you. It probably means he wants you too much to rush it.”
“Or maybe he’s realized I’m more trouble than I’m worth,” I say, voicing the fear that’s been gnawing at me all morning. “I mean, I’ve been nothing but difficult since day one.”
She gives me a pointed look. “Sutton, when a man walks away from a nearly naked woman he’s clearly attracted to, it’s not because he doesn’t want her.”
“Then what is it?”
She takes a sip of her coffee. “It’s because he respects her enough to wait until the moment is right. Until she’s sure.”
I roll my eyes. “I was pretty damn sure this morning.”
“Were you though?” Mari tilts her head. “Or were you just caught up in the moment? Standing there in his shirt, both of you half-dressed ogling each other like a couple of horny teenagers?”
The question lands harder than I want it to. Was I sure? My stomach twists as I remember how quickly everything escalated, how my body responded to his nearness before my brain could catch up.
“I don’t know,” I admit quietly. “Maybe not.”
