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“We probably need to do some exercises.” I closed the book and stood up.
Ignoring his sigh of annoyance, I helped him remove his shirt and get situated in a chair, then stood in front of him. I settled so that one of my legs was on each side of his thick thighs.
Clearing his throat, he shifted in the chair. The movement made the outer edge of his gray sweats brush against my inner thighs. He froze, his attention fixed on my black pants, and swallowed harshly. A tension buzzed in the air between us, sending my pulse skyrocketing and making my breaths come faster.
He fisted his hands on his legs and grimaced, almost like he was in pain, but I hadn’t even touched his shoulder. This stretch was common. It was one I did with players almost daily. Not once had it felt weird. And yet, right now, I was half ready to jump out of my skin and half wanting to lean closer to him.
But this was my job. Get a grip, Rory. Giving myself a mental lecture, I let out a breath. Then I gripped his left wrist and slowly guided it across his body.
As we stretched his muscles, his intense jade eyes locked on me. My palms on his warm bare skin made my stomach tighten. He studied my face and paused for a heartbeat on my lips before focusing on my eyes. My heart pounded in my chest. And for a second, I forgot to breathe. I couldn’t look away, not even if I wanted to. And I definitely didn’t want to.
“You know I would have never blown you off, right?” His words were laced with a fierce desperation. Like he needed me to believe him. “Not then, and not now.”
I searched his face for any indication that he was lying. As much as I wanted that to be the truth, the awkward girl buried deep inside me wasn’t sure that something wouldn’t get in our way again.
She was so close. Maybe six inches from me. But that gap was shrinking bit by bit, like an invisible string was tugging us closer. I could snake my arm around her waist and have her settled on my lap before she knew what was happening. Or maybe she already understood my thoughts. If the hitch in her breath and the way her eyes were dilated were any indication, then that was the case.
Before I could act on it, though, she stepped back. As the warmth that had surrounded me vanished, disappointment crashed over me in a tidal wave.
Why did she have such a profound effect on me? Before I could process that thought, the stark white circle that surrounded the Revs logo on her shirt captured my attention, reminding me without words that we couldn’t cross that line. She’d always wanted this career. Even when she was a junior in high school, back when I was still drifting aimlessly, without a clue about what I wanted, she knew. She’d talked about her dream of one day working for a professional team. Hockey was her first choice, but she hadn’t minded the idea of working for a pro baseball team either. While she had her sights set on her future, all I wanted was her.
Pain lanced through my shoulder, pulling me from my trance and making me wince.
She backed up another step, then another. “You need to ice. I’ll get something.”
Nodding, I dragged myself back to the sofa. Once I was flat on my back, I tucked my good arm behind my head. “There’s a bag of peas in freezer.”
I forced my body to relax, breathing through the pain in my shoulder and the dull throb in my head, and tracked Aurora as she moved across the apartment. And fuck if I wasn’t an asshole. Because when she bent over the freezer, giving me the perfect view of her ass, I couldn’t help but smirk. She wasn’t tiny, and that was perfect. I had big hands, and from here, it was easy to see that my palms would fit perfectly molded around the globes of her ass. Before I’d had my fill, she stood up and spun around. Looked like I’d have to bury the bag of peas better next time.
In less than a minute, she had the peas on my shoulder and was collecting the plates we’d used for pizza and bustling around the kitchen.
My eyes drifted shut, the exhaustion of the day weighing on me. When I opened them again, she was curled up on the love seat, wearing her dark-framed glasses, attention locked in on her book. Iron Flame. Interesting.
“I read that one when it came out.” My voice was gruff from sleep. As I pulled the bag of peas from my shoulder, I cleared my throat.
“Really?” She lifted her head and scanned my bookshelves like she was searching for it.
“I spend so much time on the plane, so I read on my phone a lot. I only buy physical copies of my favorites.”
“So this series didn’t earn a place?” She lifted one brow in challenge. Hmm. She must have loved them so far.
“I’ll see when the series is done. I won’t buy a set until it’s full.”
With a smile, she nodded. “I remember that about you. You were horrified when I bought Cinder and Scarlett before we knew whether we actually liked the series.”
“Turned out you were right. It was epic.”
She flashed a smile, and my stomach bottomed out. Behind the glasses she was sporting—she must have taken her contacts out at some point—her brown eyes sparkled.
God, how had I ever forgotten the feeling I got when she smiled at me? I gave my teammate Dragon so much shit for how willing he was to turn himself into a pretzel if it made his girl happy, but as I sat here, soaking in the warmth that hit me when Aurora smiled at me, it was easy to remember how easily I’d become that guy eleven years ago and how easily I could fall right back into that role.
My stomach rumbled loudly.
“Someone’s hungry.”
I rested a hand on my abdomen. “Growing boys need their food.”
She chuckled and shook her head. “That might have worked at eighteen, but you’re twenty-nine. You’re done growing.”
