“So, dinner.”
“Dinner,” he echoed.
“Tomorrow night?”
He couldn’t hide his surprise, or the goofy grin that was quickly becoming my favorite thing about him. “Tomorrow.”
I smiled, letting my eyes trace him one last time before I grabbed his file off the counter.
“One more thing,” he said before I made it to the door. When I turned to face him, his eyes were wary. “Do you like football?”
“God, no,” I answered quickly, practically spitting out the words like a bad bite of food. I watched him carefully, hoping like hell I wasn’t about to miss out on what was sure to be a fun romp just because I didn’t like to watch guys throw balls into hoops and score goals and shit. “That’s not a problem, is it?”
His smile slipped back, easy and confident, and something sparked in his eyes. “Not at all. In fact, it’s perfect.”
I narrowed my eyes on a confused smile. “Okay, then.”
“Until tomorrow, Ms. Monroe.”
My name on his lips left me with a shiver when I walked out of his door.
And I was already counting down the minutes until I’d see him again.
Makoa
“Bro, you’re the only guy I know who wants to hide the fact that he’s in the NFL,” Colby said to me the next night, and even on the phone I could imagine him shaking his head, his thick curls bouncing with the notion. “It’s like an instant free ticket to Kinky Sexville, and you just tore yours up.”
I chuckled, putting him on speakerphone so I could finish mixing the ingredients for the coconut-crusted crab cakes I planned on making as an appetizer for dinner. “You forget that a ticket to Kinky Sexville isn’t exactly what I’m looking for.”
He scoffed. “Oh, that’s right, you want the ticket to Love Me Forever Island.”
“Don’t laugh. You don’t have a right to laugh at that anymore, not now that you’re on that island.”
“Yeah, well, sometimes I miss the trips to the other place.”
“Bullshit,” I said, calling him out. He’d married Cheyenne last year, and I knew as well as anyone that he was head over heels for the girl. I was waiting for the day he’d tell me he had a kid on the way, because as much as those two banged, it couldn’t be long now.
“Okay, fine, you’re right. But still, I don’t see any reason why you shouldn’t be wearing your damn jersey around the city right now. And carrying a football, too. Maybe a couple-hundred-thousand dollars in one hand. Oh! Let’s make you a billboard that says New to Town, Seeking Pussy, Have Enough Money to Fly You to Bahamas.”
If he were here, I’d have punched him in the arm. Colby was my closest friend, and had been since we played offense together at UH. He was one of the fastest running backs I’d ever played with, and he’d be one of the best in the NFL now, too, if it hadn’t been for a career-ending tackle our senior year.
It was one of the risks we took every time we stepped on the field, but we always hoped it’d never be us.
Colby had taken it in stride, though, and he’d effortlessly moved into a career in finance and bought a house in the suburbs of California with Cheyenne. When I was in San Francisco, we saw each other at least once a week.
I had no idea what I was going to do without him.
Especially in a new city, with a new team that I’d have to prove myself too.
“I’m telling you, Colby,” I said, setting the bowl of crab cake mixture in the fridge to cool as I moved on to make the salad next. “This is my chance. This girl… she’s the kind who knocks you on your ass from the first time you lay eyes on her. And she’s smart, and funny, has her own business.”
“And she has no idea who you are.”
I smiled. “The gods are smiling down on me.”
“Do you really think you can keep it a secret? I mean, once you go to training camp, your name is going to be all over that city.”
“We don’t know that,” I pointed out.
“I do. Because you’re going to kick ass and then it’ll be all the Bears fans can talk about.”
“Da Bears,” I corrected, embodying the fandom.
“Whatever.”
“Well, lucky for me, Belle doesn’t seem remotely interested in football. I asked if she was a fan and she practically gagged.”
Colby chuckled. “Well, that should work out great, if you do end up dating her. I’m sure she’ll love the lifestyle that comes with being a pro player’s girl.”
I paused where I was cutting tomatoes. “Damn. I didn’t think of that.”
“Hey, who knows if it’ll even get that far, right?” he said before I could go down the rabbit hole. “Just have some fun tonight. Wine and dine, get laid, you know — the fun stuff.”
“You and I both know I don’t fuck until the third date, but I like the sound of the first two.”
Colby sighed at that. “You’re the strangest man I know.”
“Tell me something I haven’t heard all my life.”
“Okay, how about this. You not telling her who you really are yet? I just want to go on record and say I think that is a terrible idea. But after the hell these girls have put you through over the past few years…” He paused, and I wondered if the horror reel of my ex-girlfriends was playing in his mind the way it was in mine. “I don’t blame you. Just be careful, man. Any relationship that starts on a lie…”
“I know,” I said, not wanting him to continue that thought. It was one I’d beaten into my skull enough times over the past twenty-four hours that I didn’t need him to echo it. Besides, it wasn’t
