As soon as the game was over, though, he was going to find Shelby.
Chapter Sixteen
After that brawl of a game, there was only one person Ian wanted to see, and it sure as hell wasn’t the one reporters wouldn’t stop asking him about. He’d made it two whole questions—both about his dad—into the postgame interviews before he bailed.
Now, here he was, sitting on the stoop outside Shelby’s building like a sad puppy waiting for her to get home. He’d been there about half an hour when she came walking down the street with a guy in Cajun Rage gear.
What the hell?
Each of them was carrying the distinctive hot-pink cups that everyone in Harbor City recognized on the spot as being from the city’s favorite LuLu’s Pink Lemonade Cupcake Emporium. During the offseason, he ordered Uber Eats from there on the regular.
He stood up slowly, not wanting to scare her. He knew the moment she spotted him. Her steps faltered and her eyes rounded as an electric jolt of awareness shot between them, holding him to her steps as she drew nearer.
“Ian,” she said, her gaze locked on him as a small, almost shy smile curled her lips. “What are you doing here?”
He was beyond the bullshit of coming up with some lame excuse. “Waiting for you.”
Her smile deepened and her gaze dropped to the sidewalk as she fiddled with something in her pocket. He could watch her for hours, the way she rubbed her fingers over the short side of her hair when she was thinking things over, the snap in her eyes when she was giving him shit, the way she laughed, the sound escaping from her as if it were a surprise each time—all of it totally and completely Shelby.
So focused on drinking in every single aspect of her, Ian had nearly forgotten about the man with her until the guy cleared his throat and started talking.
“That was a helluva game. The last call really should have gone our way.” He held out his hand to Ian. “Bill Henny. I’m with the Rage, and I’ve been trying to get Shelby here to switch teams, but she’s pretty determined to stay with y’all.”
Even the idea of her leaving Harbor City had him squeezing the other man’s hand harder than necessary when they shook.
Shelby rolled her eyes and looked at the other man as if this were a conversation they’d had multiple times. “As much as I love you, Bill, I’m not gonna say yes.”
“Our loss, Harbor City’s gain.” Bill checked his phone as a car with a Lyft sticker slowed down. “Looks like this is me. Next time you’re in New Orleans, it’s my turn to treat.”
“Deal.”
Standing side by side, Ian and Shelby watched the car drive away. It wasn’t until it turned the corner at Towson Street that he realized they were holding hands. Being this close to her and not touching her had somehow become unnatural, no matter the zip code they were in.
He walked her up to her door, wishing with each step that they were farther away so he could spend even that little extra amount of time with her. “Can I come in?”
Her sigh said so much without using a single word, but when she looked up at him, the light from the streetlamp highlighting her dark hair, there was no missing the way she looked at him as if she didn’t want him to go, either. He had no idea how they’d gotten to this place of want-but-can’t-have—it made no sense. Together, they made sense.
“We both know what will happen if you come in,” she said, stepping nearer to him as if she couldn’t help but be as close to him as possible. “I’m not sure if that’s a good idea.”
“Probably not.” He glided his fingertips over the sensitive shell of her ear, relishing the way her breath hitched as desire darkened her eyes. “But after the game, you were the first person I wanted to see, the first one I wanted to talk to.”
“Ian, that’s not fair,” she said, her voice breathy. “At the cabin, we agreed it would be once.” She pressed her palm to his chest over his heart. “In the hotel, you were supposed to keep your hands in your pockets.” She took a half step closer, eliminating any space between them as they stood touching, their faces close enough that they were practically kissing. “Now what’s the limit we’ll set?”
The temptation to dip his head just the smallest bit needed to complete the kiss was overwhelming, but this had to be her call. “Only when we beat the most hated team in Harbor City?”
She tugged her bottom lip between her teeth as she shook her head. “I should say no.”
“I shouldn’t even be here.” But there was nowhere else in the world he’d rather be. Even if they never left this top step, if he was with Shelby, it felt right.
She took a quick step back, breaking contact between them and putting in the passcode on the building’s security keypad. “Should we pretend you’re just coming up for coffee?”
“I don’t mind if we end up in the kitchen.”
The kitchen, though, was exactly where they ended up. They rushed up the two flights of her walk-up, stopping to kiss every other step. It was nothing but hands everywhere, clothing being loosened, and anticipation riding high. They barely got in the front door before their clothes were coming off.
“You did say kitchen, right?”
He picked her up, carried her into her tiny kitchen, and sat her down on top of the table. Her shirt was halfway off and she made quick work of getting it the rest of the way gone.
His balls tightened at the sight of the high curves of her tits pushing against the black lace of her bra. The material gave just enough of a glimpse of her dusky pink nipples beneath to make pre-cum wet the
