Becca sat across from me as the music and chatter drifted through the park.
This is what I needed tonight. Just a relaxing night out.
It felt, dare I say, normal.
Every time someone walked by and glanced in our direction, I would pull my hat down lower.
Becca picked up her lobster roll and took a bite. “Oh, wow. Okay, I take everything back. This is delicious.”
I leaned forward, feeling satisfied. “I’m glad you like it. Now I feel vindicated.”
Becca’s soft and genuine laugh settled deep in my stomach.
God, I liked her.
She was fun, feisty, beautiful, and smart. There wasn’t a fake bone in her body, which was a rare commodity in my world.
I took a bite of my sandwich and wiped my hands on my napkin.
“So, now that the article is finished. What are you going to do next?”
“Well, I’ve been removed from covering you and your team.”
I frowned. I kind of expected that, but I still wasn’t happy about it.
“So, you’ve been reassigned?”
She exhaled slowly. “Yes, I’ll be covering New England going forward.”
I dropped a hand along the back of my neck. “You’re kidding me.”
“Nope.” A laugh slipped out of her.
“You’re going to cover my rival?”
She winced slightly. “Yeah.”
I dropped my head back and looked up at the sky. Of all the damn teams in the league.
“That truly sucks,” I muttered. I wasn’t even going to pretend to be happy about it. But this was her career, and she made a sacrifice so she could date me. It would be shitty to complain about that.
“I take it you hate the idea?” she asked, even though I was making it pretty damn obvious.
“Not going to lie. I don’t love the idea of you hanging out with our biggest rivals, not even a little.” I met her eyes from across the table. “However, as long as it clears the way for us to be together, I can live with that.”
Her lips twitched. “I’m not going to be hanging out with them. I’ll be working.”
“I’m glad you still have a job, and I get to take you out on dates like this, but if you start praising their quarterback, we’re going to have a problem.”
She tucked the palm of her hand under her chin. “I didn’t realize that professional jealousy was a real thing.”
“Oh, it is. And you better not cheer for them either.”
I got used to seeing her at press conferences and on the sidelines. Her covering the other team was going to take some getting used to, but it was a small price to pay if it meant we could do this.
I took another bite of my food and watched her from across the table. She was smiling now, probably relieved that I wasn’t making a bigger deal about her covering New England.
Honestly, I should be more annoyed than I was. In a way, it felt like I drove her over into enemy territory and dropped her off on their sideline. Yeah, I didn’t love that, but I had no right to throw a fit over it either.
