In response to the compliment, a slight blush hit her cheeks. Jealousy flooded Silas’ veins. He used to be the one to bring out that blush with his compliments.
Finn pointed at the two newbies. “If she asks you to show up at some event, you do it unless your mama is in the hospital, do you understand?”
“What if it’s your girlfriend?” Vinny asked.
Barros had meandered over at some point and shoved Vinny’s shoulder. “Like any girl wants to go out with your sorry—”
“Hey!” Finn held up a finger, stopping the words that were on the player’s lips. He crossed his arms over his chest and jerked his chin at Vinny. “Now look, we all know that Vinny couldn’t find a date if he was the best player in the league.” The guys laughed and Miriam covered her smiling mouth with a hand. “But if we could be serious for a sec. Miriam is one of the good ones, and I expect you to treat her right.”
With these words, Finn shot Silas a death stare. The message he sent was loud and clear: don’t you even think about upsetting Miriam again. Like Silas would ever dream of that. He knew he’d made some serious mistakes two years ago. And now that he was back, he had no intentions of making them again.
He had a lot of wrongs to make right now that he was back in Waterfront. But Miriam was the most important one.
“And this guy is Harris,” Finn continued. “He works closely with Miriam in ticket sales. They’re the ones pushing hard for us behind the scenes to get the fans riled up for games. We couldn’t do it without them.”
Grant and Vinny both reached out their hands to Harris.
“It’s nice to meet you guys,” he said. “It’s been great working for the Storm this past year, and I’m looking forward to the best season yet.”
Silas rolled his eyes. I bet he thought it was real nice working for the Storm, especially since he got to work “closely” with Miriam.
“Silas.”
His head snapped up at Finn’s voice.
“Why don’t you come over and also introduce yourself to Harris.”
I’ll introduce my fist to his face. He plastered on a tight smile and walked over to Harris. Silas puffed up his chest and stuck out his hand. “I’m Silas.”
“I know.” Harris smiled and eagerly shook his hand. “It’s really great to meet you. I was just telling Miriam on the ride over that I’m a huge fan. I’ve been watching your career this past year. You’re amazing.”
Silas raised an eyebrow. Harris was a fan? Oh, that was an interesting surprise. Along with the fact that he’d ridden over here with Miriam. He gave a stronger than necessary squeeze before releasing Harris’ hand. “Thanks.”
Silas’ eyes went to Miriam. Now that he was standing closer, he could see that she really did look exactly the same as before. Her hair was literally the only thing that had changed about her. The pale blue of her eyes was just as stunning as the last time he’d looked into them. There was still the same small smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose. Her full lips—even turned down in a frown—were just as kissable as he remembered.
And she still smelled of jasmine.
The scent that held so many memories, and it was the only explanation for what he did next.
Silas stretched out his arms and pulled Miriam in for a hug.
She let out a small gasp, and Finn inhaled sharply next to them. Miriam didn’t pull away immediately. But when she finally took a couple of steps backward, out of reach of Silas’ arms, her eyes were wide. In a whisper, she asked, “W-what are you doing?”
Silas shook his head, clearing the weird spell he’d been under. “I don’t know.”
Finn shot him another look—one that promised that they would be talking about this. It was a look that said there would be consequences. As if Silas didn’t realize he’d just made a huge mistake that he couldn’t take back.
He hadn’t meant to wrap his arms around Miriam, but he didn’t regret it completely either. He’d been devoted to the game for two years. He hadn’t dated anyone in that time. And holding Miriam—as awkward as it had been—wasn’t an entirely unpleasant feeling.
He only wished it hadn’t been so clearly unpleasant for her.
“Well, I’ve got a lot of work to do.” Miriam lifted a shaky hand and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Greg wanted to make sure I came by and introduced myself to the new players, and now I have. I think that it’s time for me—” She glanced at the fanboy to her right and cleared her throat. “For us to get back to the office.”
Harris peered down at Miriam with concern. “Are you—”
She pursed her lips and avoided his gaze. “Can we please just go?”
Harris nodded. “Of course.”
Silas narrowed his eyes at the eagerness in the younger man’s voice. Fan or not, he wasn’t what Miriam needed.
She released a loud sigh. “Thank you.”
Miriam didn’t give Harris, Silas, or any of the other players another glance before she turned toward the exit and high-tailed it off the field.
“It was really nice to meet you,” Harris said to the new players, though his brows lowered slightly when he looked at Silas. “Looking forward to the upcoming season.”
With that, he turned and jogged to catch up with Miriam who was already halfway across the field. Everyone was quiet until the pair was out of sight.
Once they were gone, Finn was up in Silas’ face. “Are you blind or just stupid?”
Silas wasn’t blind. He’d seen the looks Finn had given him. He’d also seen Miriam looking just as beautiful as he’d remembered—maybe more so. No, Silas was just plain stupid.
When he didn’t answer right away, Finn lifted his arms. “You deaf too?”
“Easy, man.” Bastian walked over and put a hand on Finn’s chest.
