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“This doesn’t feel like a good start.”
She pushes against my shoulder. “Just answer the question. What happens to you if the Sharks call us tomorrow and tell us you’ve been cut?”
I shake my head. “I don’t know. I’ll probably get epically drunk, to be honest.”
“Okay, after you get drunk and feel your feelings and sober up, then what?”
I don’t like this game. I don’t like thinking about what’s going to happen to me. It’s why I haven’t let myself consider it yet. The thought is too depressing. But she’s not going to let it drop, so I force myself to do it. “I…I don’t know, I imagine the guys will probably be all up in my house trying to revive my spirits.”
“You think your friends are still going to talk to you after you’ve been cut from the team?”
A defensiveness for my friends sweeps me. “Yeah…of course. They would never—”
I cut off and a slow cunning grin pulls over Nora’s mouth. Damn. I fell right into that.You won’t lose everything.That beautiful devious smile of hers shoots down my spine, amplifying my desire for her. But she’s on my lap, so I need to not think about how beautiful she is or how much I want her in this moment.
“It doesn’t matter how you got your friends; those guys are going to be with you for life, Derek. And they’ll be there to help you in your next steps too. It might not be easy to find out who you are outside of the NFL, but that’s okay because you’ve overcome hard things your whole life. You’re up for the challenge. Yes—the sport, the people, the fame, it all shaped you into who you are now, but it does not make up the whole of who you are. Football was just the start. You have—”
I kiss her.
I steal the words right out of her mouth. But then I remember that she has a no-kissing-inside-the-room rule and I pull my mouth away just as quickly. “I’m sorry. You said not to kiss inside and I—”
She kisses me.
We both breathe sharply. She hesitates for only a second before rising to her knees to wrap her arms around my neck and get a better angle on my mouth. The kiss is melting and demanding all at once. I spread my hand across her back to rock her closer to me, but she yelps at my touch.
I pull back. “Okay, what’s going on?”
She shakes her head, already leaning in to continue where we left off. “I’m fine. Kiss me.”
But I tuck my chin back, cutting off her access to my mouth. And then to really seal the deal I cross my arms over my chest. “I’m not kissing you anymore until you tell me why the hell you keep wincing in pain.”
“Just let it go!” she pleads.
“No. You didn’t let it go for me. Fair is fair.”
Her face is all defeat before she twists around, presenting her back to me. She reaches over her head, slowly bunching up the sweatshirt to reveal a very, very sunburned back. Excruciatingly red from our day on the beach.
I drag in a breath through my teeth. “Shit. Nora. I’m so sorry.” I feel like a real jackass for pulling her out into the water without sunscreen. “I didn’t think you’d burn that quickly.”
“It’s not all your fault. I forgot to put on more sunscreen before I went out again to think—Imean read,” she quickly corrects with a guilty smile. “But it’s fine because I’ve always wanted to know what it feels like to be a stop sign and now I get to find out firsthand.”
“All right. Lie down on the floor,” I tell her.
Her eyes widen. “I’d like to remind you, Mr. Dermott, ours is a business relationship.”
“Huh?”
“It’s fromHow to Steal a Million…never mind.”
It’s hard to keep up with Nora sometimes, so I don’t even try.
“Lie down on your stomach on the floor.” I set her on her feet, and then I go into the bathroom, where I dig through my toiletry bag.
Unsurprisingly when I come back into the room, Nora is standing stock-still beside the couch—noncompliant with my command. I smile, knowing where her head has gone. I hold up a bottle of aloe and realization sweeps her face. “Oh. Aloe! That makes more sense. You just had that on hand?”
“I can’t promise it’s not expired—but yeah. During summer practices I usually get pretty sunburned on my forearms at least once. I like to keep this around for emergencies. I’m going to use it on your back.”
“Youare going to put it onme?”
