Page 14 of Offsides

“And you gave it to her, yes?”

He remained silent, a sheepish look taking over his face. There was no getting out of this now. He was going to have to fess up to what he’d done.

“Sports Down South is the number one syndicated sports talk show in the country,” Felicity continued. “There is talk about the network picking it up and it being broadcast nationally. So yes, if Theo Kappas wants exclusive access to cover us as we win the Fremont Cup, then she most certainly gets exclusive fucking access.”

“Let’s not jinx us, shall we, Effie? No more talk like the Cup is in the bag,” Gunnar said.

“How did you leave things last night?” Felicity asked, not letting the subject drop.

“I might have quoted Gone with the Wind and then walked out,” he muttered, looking away from the group. He didn’t need to see their faces right now.

“Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn,” Dalton chimed in, his Rhett Butler impression spot-on.

“You did not!”

Cowboy shrugged. That was exactly what he had said, and there was no use denying it. Another wave of embarrassment came over him as he turned and saw the shock spread across Felicity’s face. He should have acted better. He was better. Could he claim an out-of-body experience? Because that’s what last night had felt like. Someone had replaced his happy-go-lucky self with some grumpier version. The look on his boss’s face told him she was not thrilled with his behavior—and deep inside, neither was he.

"You lost your temper?” Gunnar asked, perplexed.

“I wouldn’t say that. I just…”

“You don’t ever lose your cool. You like her.”

“Obviously not if he threw buns at her and then stormed out!” Felicity countered. Gunnar shrugged, tossing his girlfriend a look that Cowboy knew all too well. It was the one that said he understood what was really going on here. And after fifteen years of friendship, Cowboy trusted he did.

“I am not proud of how I reacted. It…it just came out.”

“So, it was either that or shove her up against the wall and have your way with her?” Gunnar teased, his lips curled into a smirk. “I get it, man.”

You have no idea, buddy…

“TMI…” Dalton warned.

“Enough,” Felicity said. She held up her hands, fingers splayed wide. “Cowboy, I don’t care how, but you’re going to make this right. Understood?”

Cowboy nodded. Normally he wasn’t above apologizing when he was wrong. Maybe because he wasn’t wrong all that often. But in this case, he was. Worse, he knew how to right his wrong.

He just hoped he wouldn’t live to regret it.

* * *

Running was the worst.

Theo was absolutely sure about that. There was just nothing fun about this. No matter what anyone said. So many people she knew droned on and on all about the “runner’s high”—some mythical euphoric feeling that came from finding your rhythm and getting lost in nothing but the sound of your feet hitting the pavement. Theo had never experienced that though.

At this point, she was thoroughly convinced it didn’t exist. Runner’s high was simply some made-up bullshit that the masochists who actually enjoyed this activity told people to trick them into joining them. She was not fooled.

However, knowing this also wasn’t stopping her from putting one foot in front of the other, over and over again, swiftly moving herself along the running trail in Piedmont Park. The air was warm and just humid enough to make her start to regret the choice to tackle the just shy of five-mile loop in the early summer sun, but at least she had the beauty of the park and Lake Clara Meer. If she had to suffer through a run, this was the place to do it.

Today Theo had opted to run her normal route in reverse, starting at the Meadows, then heading to the Promenade, passing the large playground and dog park, then onto the hill that took her by the Atlanta Botanical Garden, before looping her around the Active Oval, which was sure to be filled with couples, families, and other fitness enthusiasts. The decision to run the trail “backwards”—or so she viewed it in her mind—had been an easy one. This jaunt was more than just getting her normal exercise in. She needed to clear her head. Needed to stop playing last night over and over in her mind, and she knew that taking a different approach to a normally familiar activity would help her focus on the task at hand, rather than letting her mind run wild.

Or at least that was what she had thought.

Apparently, she was wrong.

No matter what she did or how she tried to distract herself, her mind kept wandering back to Cowboy. His deep brown eyes and the way they had lit up as he watched her react to the buns landing on their table. The laugh he’d let out and how she had felt it all the way down into her bones. How passionately he’d spoken about the team and what they’d accomplished so far. Everything about the man had been magnetic. Right up until he’d walked away from her.

No, even then she’d been drawn to him. Seeing him that fired up had unleashed something in her, making her wonder if he was that zealous in other areas of his life. Especially the bedroom.