I kiss her hard, savoring the taste of her, the feel of her in my arms as her soft body presses against mine.She kisses me back, pressing up to wrap her arms around my back, the banner tickling my shoulders.
The guys jog out of the locker room toward the court, Miles whistling our way.
“Get off our boy, Nova!We need him for the next four quarters.After that, he’s all yours.”
“I didn’t want to interrupt your big speech in there,” she murmurs to me.I link our hands and start after the guys toward the floor, not ready to let her go.“It sounded really good.”
“Oh yeah?”
She grins, both of us stopping as we reach the end of the hallway that spills out into the vast arena packed with shouting fans.
“The guys are lucky to have you.If you get tired of basketball, you could have a career in motivational speaking.”
“You too.For now, I’ll stick with basketball.”
SECOND ROUND
HOUSTON
29
NOVA
“You got his feet?I have his head,” I whisper.
“Sometimes I swear this would be easier with a live version.”
Brooke and I creep down the hallway of the Four Seasons Houston with the cardboard cutout of Michael Bublé.
“When will the guys be back?”I swipe the key.
“They’re still at media.We’ve got time.”
Inside the room, we go to the bathroom.Clay’s bag is on the vanity next to mine.
The mood has been decidedly giddy since Denver’s first post-season series victory in years.Now, the team is on the road in Houston, and Brooke and I organized a mobile fan unit to rep the Kodiaks.
“So, you guys are rooming together again.”Brooke winks at me.“Does that mean all the money you saved for an apartment is getting spent on clothes instead?”
“No!We haven’t talked about moving back in together.We need to survive the season first.”
Brooke starts to position the cutout in the shower.
Except…
“Dammit.There’s no curtain,” I realize.
It’s a glass door.
“We could put up towels?”she says.
“No, he’ll notice those weren’t up before.”
“What if he thinks you had a shower?”
“I’d wait for him.”
She grins.“Yeah, you would.”
