“When have you ever known me to joke around?”
“Um, all the fucking time. You’re literally one big joke.”
Lawson narrows his eyes. “Screw you, Kells.”
“Thanks, buddy, but you’re not my type. Your mother, on the other hand…”
Lawson launches over the table at Keller, who just laughs, sipping on his drink like his teammate isn’t trying to maim him.
Hutch yanks Lawson back down beside him, shaking his head at them. “Would you two knock it off? We don’t need to go getting kicked out of Top Shelf.”
“I’m with Hutchy on this. We like this place way too much for that,” Hayes says, backing up the captain.
“Then tell Keller to leave my mother out of this.” Lawson flips off the man in question, and he doesn’t react in the slightest. “That woman is a damn angel and would never go for the likes of him.”
Keller snorts. “Let me meet her and we’ll see about that.”
“Not a chance in hell.”
Fox pats Lawson’s back, trying to calm him down. It’s rare he ever gets fired up, but anytime Keller brings up his mother, it’s always like this. I swear Keller feeds off the animosity, which is a whole other bag to unpack with that guy.
“Is, uh, everything okay over here?”
I stiffen at the voice and hope like hell nobody notices. Slowly, I turn to find Nessa standing at the end of the table. That damn braid is still sitting over her shoulder, and I still want to wrap it around my fist and tug at it. I remember how much she likes that. How much she wanted my hands in her hair, pulling softly. That little noise she made every time I did it.
I clear my throat, trying to repress those memories before I do something stupid, like pop a boner with my teammates right here. WithHutchright here.
Don’t look at her. Keep your eyes down. Don’t you dare try to sneak a peek.
I repeat it again, then again. Hell, I even squeeze my eyes shut—anything to keep thoughts of her at bay.
“We’re good,” Hutch tells his sister. “Sorry for the commotion. Won’t happen again.”
There is absolutely no mistaking the threat in his words:Straighten up or else.
“Oh. Okay,” she says quietly, and I can’t help myself—I look.
I peek right over at her, and all those thoughts from our night together come racing back like I never shut them out at all. And I guess I didn’t. I’ve thought about her every day since I woke up with her gone. Something always reminded me of her.
I think it’s worse now, knowing who she is and having her so close by. I want to talk to her again. I want to know her. I want to ask her why she left. I want to see how she is since the divorce was finalized. Want to make sure she’s okay. I want to touch her. Kiss her.Tasteher.
Fuck, do I want to taste her. It’s been much, much too long.
As if she can feel my eyes on her, she glances my way for a split second. It’s enough to see it—that spark. That same one she had when we met. The same one that had me offering to walk a strange woman back to her hotel when the last thing I should have been doing the night before a midday game was staying out later. The one that had me inviting her back to my hotel room, something I’d never done in all my years on the road. The one that had me pressing her to my bed and giving in to every wicked thought running through my mind.
The one that still makes me want to do that.
“I’ll grab you a few waters,” she offers to no one in particular before practically running away.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
That’s how many seconds I last before I mutter a pitiful excuse and race away myself. I head down the darkened hallway, hiding away in the bathroom even though I don’t have to go. I just need a break. From what? I’m not sure. Pretending, maybe? Acting like I don’t want to kiss the hell out of Nessa? Because I really fucking want to. Would Hutch really be that mad? I thinkabout how I’d react if one of my sisters were dating a teammate, and I realize…
