She takes the can hesitantly. “Thanks.”
“Where’s mine?” Maverick teases.
“In the fridge.”
He holds a hand to his chest and pretends to be appalled.
“When you’re as hot as Ginny, I’ll start being your beer bitch, too.”
She rolls her eyes as she pops the tab on her beer, but there’s a faint blush to her cheeks.
“Genevieve,” Adam calls from the kitchen and lifts a beer in a silent offering. She holds up the one I gave her so he can see she’s already got one.
“Genevieve?” Mav asks. “I thought your name was Ginny.”
“Ginny is short for Genevieve.”
“That’s rad. Why would you ever go by anything else?” He says her name again slowly. “Genevieve.”
“Adam couldn’t pronounce it when I was born.”
Mav and Rauthruss bust up laughing.
“He was three,” she adds, sticking up for him.
Rauthruss wins, like he always does, and Mav looks to me. “I’m done getting my ass kicked. Do you want to play?”
Nodding, I hold a hand up and he tosses the controller to me. I nudge Ginny. “What do you say?”
Rauthruss holds his out to her and she takes it.
“Have you played before?”
“I grew up with Adam. What do you think?” She sits forward and places her beer on the coffee table and straightens her shoulders. She’s taking this seriously, looking determined and sexy as hell.
I set out with the goal of taking it easy on her, but Ginny doesn’t need it. A few of the guys on the team crowd around to cheer her on and voice their hope of me getting my ass kicked. I win, just barely, and everyone boos.
“Thanks a lot, guys. Real team spirit.”
“Do over,” she demands.
I’m not confident I can pull off a victory twice, so I hesitate. We lean forward and grab our beers at the same time. I take a long drink while she sips and then grimaces.
“What was that face?” I stare at her cute little mouth and pink lips wet from the beer.
“Do you actually like the taste of beer?” she asks.
“I wouldn’t drink it otherwise. Why didn’t you say something?”
“I’m trying to learn to like it. It seems to be what everyone drinks here.” She takes a longer drink as if to prove her point.
“Be right back.”
I find Jordan and trade a twenty-dollar gift card for a twelve-pack of his hard seltzers. Two more people have taken over the game, so I motion for Ginny to follow me and lead her out to the deck.
“Try this.”
“Thank you.” She takes it and I lean back against the railing. There are a lot of people out here, but no one is paying us any attention except her brother. Big brother radar, I guess. Dude needs to chill.
I turn so his big-headed scowl isn’t in my peripheral. There’s no pleasing the guy. He wanted me to look out for her. I am, yet he still seems displeased. “I don’t remember seeing you last year. You were really at our games?”
“A few of them.” This time when she takes a drink, she smiles. “Much better.” She plays with the end of her braid. “I was at the Colorado game and Arizona State and whoever you guys played for Parent’s Night.”
I think back to that game for a second. “Western Michigan.”
“Right.” Her smile lifts higher.
“I can’t believe I didn’t see you.” Her phone is stuck in the front pocket of her jeans and I nod toward it. “Let me see your phone.”
She hands it over without question and I program my number in it and send myself a text so I have hers.
“A lot of people come to the games. Plus, it wasn’t like I was sitting on the bench with the team. Do you guys notice anyone in the crowd?”
“We notice hot girls.” Maverick butts into the conversation and puts an arm around her shoulders. “You’re hot, Little Scott.”
She blushes and I hand her phone back.
Mav holds on to her and takes a step away from me. “I’m stealing her. Ginny here has a lot of people dying to meet her and you’re hogging her, Payne.”
“I do?” Ginny asks, sounding a little hopeful.
“Oh yeah.” Mav nods. “Come on. You need a tour guide.”
“Okay, yeah, that’d be great.” She glances at me. “You probably want to hang out with your friends anyway.” She lifts her seltzer. “Thanks for this.”
“Anytime, Genevieve.” I wink and tug the end of her braid.
She follows Mav, and I head inside, grab another beer, and take a seat back on the couch next to Rauthruss’s giant frame. “I’ve got winner.”
6
Ginny
True to his word, Maverick introduces me to everyone. He has a shirt on now, but the tattoos that cover both arms, all the way down to his fingers, are still visible. And I can spot a hint of his chest ink peeking out of the top of his T-shirt.
He leads me to where Liam and Jordan are standing. Liam and Maverick look like polar opposites. Where Johnny Maverick is dark-haired and covered in tattoos, Liam is blond and clean cut. He’s even wearing a polo shirt. Even though I met him earlier, this time when Maverick introduces me, Liam extends a hand for me to shake. “Ginny, really nice to meet you.”
“Same.” His politeness catches me by surprise, but I slip my hand into his giant palm and squeeze.
“Roadrunner?” Jordan asks, holding a blue shot glass out to me.
I take it and sniff. “What’s a Roadrunner?”
“It’s like a Blue Kamikaze,” he says and continues passing out shots.
I don’t bother asking what a Blue Kamikaze is. My experience with alcohol is pretty limited. My high school bestie always grabbed a bottle of white wine from her parents’ wine refrigerator and we’d drink that when we went to parties or had sleepovers. I never paid much attention to the label—none of it was great, but it was better than beer.
Jordan lifts his and the rest of us mimic the movement. I watch the others drink first.
