She grimaces. “Notdancing, these shoes are killing me.”
I look down. Her heels have to be three inches high, if not more. “I have no idea how you all wear those things. Especially after a game.”
“It was probably dumb, to be honest. Marisa loaned them to me.”
“I wear size fifteens, otherwise I would offer mine.” I chuckle, but then catch myself.Why do I make the most cringe jokes around her?
Only her eyes darken. “Of course you do.”
Oh?She wants to go there?
“I make no apologies for being a big guy,” I say, the corners of my mouth turning up.
And then—holy fuck—her tongue darts out, and she licks her lips.
Does she know she’s giving me tells that she’s into me every time we talk?I’m dying to push my luck.
“I guess you’ll never know for sure though, since you have that ‘no athletes’ rule.”
But my line does the opposite of what I intend. As soon as the word “rule” is out of my mouth, she smooths out the flirtiness from her expression.
Damn it.
“Where’s my phone?” she asks. I grab it from the bar and hand it to her. “I think I’m done for the night. I’m going to order a ride home.”
After punching in the buttons to order her car, she tells a couple of the teammates standing near us she’s taking off, before turning back to me.
“The Lyft’s going to be here in two minutes.”
“Let me wait with you to make sure you get into the car safe.”
She considers the offer and then nods.
We step toward the door of the bar. She’s a little wobbly still, but I suspect that’s now more because her feet hurt.
“Here, put your weight on me,” I say, and let her loop her arm through my own. Our arms now linked, she leans into me, which I don’t mind one bit.
We make it outside of the bar, and she eases off me a bit, but I notice she doesn’t disentangle herself completely.
“What type of car did the app say?—”
“OMG, is that Rawley Battle? Get a picture, Trish!”
I flip around and see a phone pointing at us.
“And he’s with that basketball girl! OMG!”
“I’m already recording!”
Avery pulls away from me completely, and I send a heavy look to the two women filming us.
“Guys, we’re just here with our teammates. Can you stop recording?”
It takes them another second, but then the phone appears to be off.
“Sorry,” one of them says.
“My car is here,” Avery says in a short tone. “I’ll talk to you later.”
