“Let me check with Coach.”
Twenty minutes later, we were in the inside field. Coach Cal didn’t want us outside on the turf without anyone there. He also warned us against full tackle because we had a flight the next day, and in his words, hewould have my guts for garters if I broke our running back.
“What exactly did Jonesy say we should be practicing?” Milo asked as he lined up across from me.
“Figuring out your routes and cutting them off. Pretty sure tackling is part of it, but I don’t want to piss off Coach.”
Milo’s lips curved up into a smile. “If you can catch me, you can tackle me,” he told me. There was a cocky glint to his gray eyes, “but you won’t catch me.”
“Wanna bet?”
“No, because gambling is only fun if the other person has a chance.”
Milo extended his back leg behind him, and I got into the starting position. I kept my eyes trained on Milo, studying the point of his toes and the angle of his hips. I looked up at his eyes. I didn’t see anything Jonesy had pointed out while I faced him, and I was so involved with watching him that I missed the moment he took off. That half-second delay was enough for him to sprint past me. I couldn’t catch up with him.
He slowed a few yards past me and turned back with a smile on his face.
“Again,” I demanded.
We went again and again. He kept running past me, and I kept failing to notice the signs Jonesy was pointing out. I was starting to think our teammate had some kind of superhuman sight or attention to detail, something I would never be able to replicate.
It was time to relax. I was losing sight of the forest for the trees.
“Last one,” Milo called out. “I promised Aunt Ethel I’d take her to dinner tonight, and I still need to pack.”
I nodded and took my place. I drew in a deep breath and slowly lifted my head. My eyes met his, and I saw it. His eyes darted to the left, and there was the subtlest shift of his hips toward the right. I saw the twitch in his thigh, and I moved at the same time he did. I didn’t stop to think. I just went for the tackle.
My body collided with his behind the line of scrimmage, and we crashed on to the faux turf. I felt a puff of warm breath on my neck as the air was pushed from his lungs. My body settled on top of his. When I looked down, he was smiling. His face was transformed by his smile. His eyes sparkled, and his entire face lit up under the flush of exertion that colored his cheeks. His nearly colorless blonde hair was darkened with sweat, and for a moment, I was mesmerized by him.
Then I came to my senses and rolled off him, landing on my back.
“Didn’t think you were going to get me,” he panted. His head fell to the side to face me, and my eyes were drawn back to him like they were magnetized. “You’re a lot faster than I thought you were.”
“You weren’t going full speed, were you?”
“No.” He didn’t sound the least bit ashamed of himself. We were practicing. I hadn’t tackled him at full force, and he hadn’t run past me at his top speed. It might have been different in a full team practice or if we’d been wearing pads, but this close to a game? Neither one of us could afford the injury.
I wondered if I could catch him if he’d gone full speed.
I bit my tongue to stop myself from challenging him to a race, just to see. Something told me I wouldn’t stand a chance. He made a living off running, and while I’d had a damn good time at the combine, I wasn’t a running back. Besides, I had at least a hundred pounds on him. Even if it was muscle, that kind of shit slowed you down.
We laid there catching our breath for a few moments before Milo kicked his feet and rolled into a sitting position. “I gotta go. Promised Aunt Ethel.” He stood up and offered his hand down to me. I let him help tug me up into a standing position. “You want a ride back or are you going to call for another ride share? You know you’re wasting a ton of money on that, right? You should at least rent a car. Ithasto be cheaper.”
I shook my head. He’d let me know his opinions on the fact that I’d been there for over a month and still didn’t have a vehicle of my own on more than one occasion. It wasn’t as annoying as it had been when he’d first started because I’d got to know him a little better over the past few weeks. I’d heard him offer his unsolicited opinions and advice to everyone on the team on more than one occasion, and I’d come to learn that he was just the kind of guy who had an opinion and voiced it without thinking.
It didn’t mean that I necessarilylikedthe constant nagging about not having a car, but he did have a point. I did spend a lot of money on ride shares. I couldn’t do anything about that now. Maybe next week on a day we didn’t have practice, or maybe I’d finally go online and find some car to lease that could be delivered after we got back from Portland.
But I could accept his offer of a ride, so I did.
Notes
There’s just something homoerotic about tackling, okay? I swear if I had some big, hot, sweaty man tackling me to the ground, I would fall in love with him. Obviously, I had to include some sexually charged tackling in the story. (Before we get to the actually sexually charged tackling which IS coming. I pinkie promise. Just be patient.)
6
Notes
Gasp! I didn’t make you wait longer than a week for this update! I also haven’t had any massive trauma this week. The boyfriend and I are getting along. The new position is slowing down to where I think I can handle it. My landlord fixed the plumbing issue I was having in my tub. Which, you know, not actually something I’d mentioned before.
