“Oh, my gosh!” she chirped. “Devon Smith is going to be here tonight. He’s super-hot and wellequipped,” she tittered. “I hooked up with him at a postgame party when Utah played against us last fall.”
I then noticed they were both wearing Arizona State sweatshirts, likely at Draft Day, supporting someone they knew, a friend or a relative perhaps.
The redhead continued looking over the attendees, her finger moving down the list, stopping suddenly. “Holy, shit! He’s here. Lucas Hot Ass Stone.”
My heart free-falled at the sound ofmyboyfriend’s name oozing out of some other woman’s mouth.
“You’re so obsessed,” said Dark-Haired Girl. “He’s got a girlfriend, some nerdy book-obsessed blogger.”
I’m not nerdy, is what I wanted to say, my insides churning like a cyclone.
“As long as he’s notmarried,” Red-Headed Slut said. “He’s fair game.”
I closed my eyes, basking in a cool and relaxing daydream of me grabbing a fistful of red hair and slamming her face into the ground. It was women like her—football groupie leeches—that made my skin crawl.
“Macy, are you falling asleep?” Sage’s voice intruded my kick-the bitch-in-her-ass fantasy.
I flicked my eyes open. “Nope, just thinking about how crazy my life is about to become.” The thought made me just about lose my appetite for tacos.
Which didn’t matter when Sage announced, “Um, the idea of shoving another taco in my mouth is gross.” She pulled my arm, yanking me out of the line. “Let’s get some froyo instead.”
Time scrolled by, Sage and I dipping our toes in just about everything, and by the time 6 p.m. rolled around, we were beat.
Back in my hotel room, the anxiety streaming from Lucas was as potent as a contagious virus.
His agent, who’d been feverishly working behind the scenes, could be heard over speakerphone, spewing updates, while his dad kept feeding Lucas advice about said updates. Knowing nothing really about how the draft worked, I was lost. All I knew was that at eight, the first teams would pick from a list of eligible players—Lucas included—then announce their choice.
I could see the stress in my handsome jock’s eyes even from where I stood, several feet away.
Walking over to him, our eyes locked, and I watched relief clean the look of anguish off of his face.
Gaze sparkling, he smiled and mouthed, “I love you,” pulling me into his arms.
Lips brushing against the shell of my ear, he said, “I can’t wait until this whole thing is over so we can celebrate alone, just you and me,” his voice low and swoony, slaying me with all the heart-to-toe-tingling feels.
Soon after, Lucas ended the phone call with his agent and his dad left to get dressed, saying he and his mom would meet us at the elevators at seven-thirty.
Lucas breathed out a noticeable sigh of relief as he plopped down onto the couch of the pretty swanky suite.
He patted his lap. “Come here, let’s sit together for a minute, do a pulse check.”
I climbed on top, straddling his lap as he ran his hands up and down my back, landing, then lingering on my butt. “How was your time with Sage? Any players out there try and take your fine ass back to their room?”
I giggled. “Only one, but I told him I was spoken for.”
“That’s my girl.” He slapped my ass. “This is all mine.”
I thought about my encounter with Red-Headed Slut. “You know, I did get a taste of what life may be like for me as the girlfriend of a hot pro football player.” I ran my finger along the planes of his chest.
“Oh?” His eyebrows drew north. “Do tell.”
I told him about the two women and what the trampy redhead said before I imagined bashing her face in. “I hate that my life could very well be like that. Every single day hearing other women talk about how hot my guy is.”
Lucas shook his head, hands moving to the front of my shirt where his fingers began to unbutton my blouse. “Now you know how it feels.”
I felt my eyebrows come together. “I’m sorry?”
He chuckled softly. “Baby, ever since high school—scratch that—ever sincemiddleschool, I’ve had to listen to friends, other football players, jerkholes, talk about how hot Macy Sinclair is. You have no idea how many fights I’ve gotten into over some asshat talking about what he wanted to do with you.”
