Page 101 of Colliding with Ten

“I threw trash into a bush. What you have in your hand is a s’more.”

She shook her head at me, saying between mouthfuls. “I admit it’s better than mine. It’s delicious.”

She finished it in four bites, a bit of chocolate left on her thumb. I leaned over and sucked it off as she giggled. Firelight played across her face, warmth spreading in my chest. I wanted to keep seeing Ayla like this, as long as she’d let me.

Her phone alarmed, and she checked it. If she wanted to take the red-eye back to New York tonight, she would have to leave now. She stared at the phone, deciding.

“Come to my place.” The words fell out of my mouth without thought, but I wanted it.

She looked at me, surprised.

“It’s close by,” I said, giving her space to say no.

She thought about it for a few minutes, then nodded. We doused the flames and drove the three blocks to my house. I held her hand in mine and kissed her fingers as I drove with the windows down. The autumn night air was still warm.

It took me ten minutes to show her the house. The living room, with its art, I’d been collecting since my rookie year. The kitchen, where I almost never cooked. I’d been learning during the off-season when I had time. She’d expected takeout containers and protein shakes, which I had plenty of, but she was surprised to see a stocked spice rack and a cast-iron skillet with years of seasoning. The hallway had framed jerseys, mostly of basketball players I admired. I didn’t take her into the bedroom yet, because that wasn’t what this was. I was showing her my home, not running a play.

I followed her as she looked around. It was important to me that she loved the place. Everyone gravitated to the glass wall, but she stayed there longer than most. The floor-to-ceiling windows were the reason I’d bought it. The view from my living room was the Hollywood Hills, the ridge dark against the sky, and the city below.

She wrapped her arms around herself as she took it in. The reflection in the glass showed her eyes wide. “This is your life.”

“Part of it.”

She turned. The glass wall was behind her, and the city behind that as she looked at me.

Football was my first love. It had been since I was six, with a ball that was too big for my hands, throwing spirals at a tire swing in our backyard while my father called corrections from the porch. It had given me everything: my career and my purpose. The structure held my life together. I still loved it, but looking at Ayla⁠—

“Stay with me tonight.” The words came out before I could stop them, edit them, which wasn’t like me.

Her lips parted, eyes searching my face for an angle, a motive. There wasn’t one. I just wanted to spend more time with her, but a war was happening behind her eyes.

“I’m not asking for anything you’re not ready to give. I’m just asking you to stay here. With me. Tonight.”

The room was still. Standing six feet apart, the distance between us felt significant as I waited for her answer.

22

PAS DE DEUX

AYLA

Istepped back, pressing my palms to the cool glass, steadying my breath. Lennox was making that face. The one where the hero in the movie makes his play. Liking him was easy when he was only a fantasy, someone I watched from afar. But he wasn’t hypothetical anymore. He was real, already having jumped, waiting to see if I’d follow.

“I want to be with you,” he said. “But I want you to want it too. Even if it’s messy.”

My chest squeezed because he was right. It would get messy. AJ wouldn’t throw a parade. Our teams wouldn’t understand. But this was my life.

So I said yes, and his reaction was everything. The tension left his shoulders, and his face split into a grin. He crossed the room in two strides and pulled me in, fingers framing my face before he kissed me.

His breath warmed my mouth as his fingers slid into my hair, holding my head as if he could capture everything. Every part of me. Happiness radiated from him. My hands gripped his shoulders as he pulled me closer, as if he'd been starving for me.

“You have no idea how happy you’re making me right now.”

I narrowed my eyes, doubtful. Maybe I knew just how happy he was. My body was pressed to his, feeling everything. “I wouldn’t bet on that.”

He chuckled.

After everything it took to get us here, the rivalry could sort itself out tomorrow. Tonight, I chose him. And when he kissed me again, still smiling into it, I knew I hadn’t just stepped over a line. I’d leaped.