“You talked about your nieces and nephews at dinner the other night, but you didn’t say anything about your siblings. How many do you have?” I asked at halftime.
“Three brothers,” he said rubbing his thumb over mine as our fingers intertwined. “They’re quite the handful. They’re lucky they produce cute kids or I wouldn’t have anything to do with them half the time.” His hesitant laugh told me he wasn’t completely joking.
“Do they get themselves into trouble?” I asked trying not to pry too much but unable to temper my curiosity. I only had one sister who was basically perfect.
“Some. Nothing that gets them arrested or anything but enough to be a frustration.”
“Are your parents still together?” I asked before taking a sip of my Coke. Garrett had stuck with soda as well, keeping good on his promise not to get drunk.
“My dad died when we were kids, but Mom’s still hanging in there. Her birthday’s coming up, and she’ll be in town.”
“I know, you told me.” I chuckled. I had her gift in the back of my car after all.
“Oh, yeah.” He rolled his eyes at himself. “But yeah, she’s pretty amazing for dealing with four boys all these years. I try to help, but my brothers don’t always listen to me. But enough about me, I think you said you had a sister?”
“I do. And she has four boys.” I laughed. “She definitely has her hands full, but she takes it all in stride. It’s amazing. She’s always been the good one. The one who makes my parents proud.”
“I’m sure you make them proud too.”
I shrugged. “I don’t know about proud, but my mom is definitely happy I’m living with them again.”
“Oh?” Garrett’s voice squeaked. He cleared his throat. “You live with your parents?”
Damn. I hadn’t meant to tell him. Not yet anyway. “Uh, yeah. Only for a little while. When I moved down from the mountains after my ex and I broke up, I didn’t have enough money to get a place until I found a good job and it looks like I’m going to possibly get the full-time—”
“Whoa.” He squeezed my hand. “It’s okay. I don’t mind that you live with your parents. But it does explain why you didn’t want me to pick you up.”
I could feel my cheeks warm. “You really don’t mind?”
“We all fall on hard times. That’s why we have family. No matter what happens, family is supposed to look out for one another.”
I sucked in a deep breath trying to calm my racing pulse—thankful he hadn’t blown me off. Something about Garrett made me forget about Troy and Antonio and Luke. Well, almost forget Luke.
Garrett spent the rest of the time making me laugh and asking questions about the game. He didn’t know much about football, but I didn’t mind giving him some insight.
When the last whistle had blown, giving us the win, I found myself sadder about having to move from beneath Garrett’s arm than I was about the actual game being over. Cheers surrounded us as Garrett cupped my face in his hands and kissed me.
I wrapped my arms around his neck letting my fingers play in his hair. His tongue darted in and out of my mouth sending sparks down my spine. By the time we pulled ourselves apart, half of the stands had emptied.
“We should probably go down and meet Eli.” Garrett stood and offered a hand to help me up. “Don’t want to keep him waiting.”
At that point, I would have almost taken another make-out session over meeting the QB. But it was Eli Hudson . . .
We were two of about twenty people led into a back room to meet with Eli. When we stepped in at the end of the line, we were greeted by the devilishly handsome quarterback and four of his bodyguards.
“Thanks for coming.” Eli’s smile lit up the room. He was even more handsome in person. I squeezed Garrett’s hand and looked over at him. His eyes were taking in every part of my face, a smile touching his lips. Eli might have been handsome, but Garrett was more than attractive. He was warm and funny and a damn good kisser.
“Nice jersey,” Eli said when we finally made it to the front of the line. I was, of course, wearing his number. “Can I sign it?”
“Yes, please,” I managed to say. I’d never been so star struck in my life.
He uncapped his sharpie. “Who can I make it out to?”
“Rylie,” I said and then spelled it for him.
He scribbled his message on my back making me shiver.
We posed for a picture, and I congratulated him on his win before the bodyguards ushered Garrett and me out of the room.
“That was so cool. Thank you!” I hugged him.
“You’re welcome.” He kissed the top of my head. “Did you drive here?”
“No, I took the light rail.”
“I can drive you back to your car if you’d like,” he said. “Where did you park?”
“Up north. It’s pretty far. You really don’t have to.”
“I want to,” he said smiling down at me. He held my hand all the way out of the stadium through the gates and out to the parking lot where a brand new dark green Toyota Corolla sat all alone. He opened my door for me and then went around to get in on his side.
The car was immaculate just like his house, minus a few dog hairs here and there from his Alaskan Malamute. “Do you take Babbitt with you a lot?”
“Yeah, he goes with me practically everywhere. He’s my bud. Sorry about the hair.”
“No problem, Fizzy sheds too.”
“When do I get to meet this Fizzy?” he asked turning in his seat to face me.
“Introducing our kids so soon?” I gave a joking grin. “We could take them to the dog park sometime. Fizzy would love that.”
“It’s a date.” He chuckled and slid his hand onto my knee rubbing it with his thumb.
Before we could say
