"Yeah, but I know you were hoping it would be Trip. It sucks when people aren't who you thought they were."
"Whoa, that's pretty deep for a four-year-old."
"Well, I'm almost five."
I tackled her on the bed and tickled her, blowing on her belly and forgetting all my problems to the sound of her laughter. A knock on the front door stopped my assault.
"Brian's here." Norah bounced out of my room and ran toward the living room.
I took the last poster down and folded it with the rest. A knock on my door pulled my attention. Trip stood leaning against my frame, a smirk on his face.
"Whatcha doing, Raine?"
My whole body exploded in heat. He had a hat shoved on his head, putting half his face in a shadow of sexiness. His plump lips curled in amusement broke out of the darkness. His replacement was going to be impossible to find.
"Nothing," I stammered, grabbing the stack of posters and shoving it in my top drawer.
Trip's eyebrow quirked up and his smile ratcheted even higher. "It doesn't look like nothing. Your whole face is bright red. Were those pictures of me?"
My mouth dropped open and I glanced back to make sure my drawer was fully closed.
"I'm kidding, McKenna."
"Oh," I answered, wanting to crawl under my bed and hide. He hadn’t said a word to me unless necessary the whole week, and now he decided to invade my space. I tried to convince myself to act cool.
"Am I bothering you?"
"Are you talking to me?"
Way to act like you don't care, Kenna.
Trip blew out a breath and ran his hand over his mouth. I watched in amazement at the man with more swagger than every player in the ABL acted unsure. I crossed my arms over my chest and raised an eyebrow.
"I'm...well."
My eyebrow rose even higher as he attempted to stutter out some weird form of explanation. I leaned on my dresser and Trip began to pace my room. He moved until he was right in front of me and stopped.
"I'm trying to change."
"So you don't talk to me anymore?"
"No, yes. Hell, I don't know."
"What's going on, Trip?" The stress on his face released all my anger and insecurities he brought out by ignoring me. It may have been because I’d stalked him for so long, but I felt a connection to him, and I wanted to help.
With another big sigh his eyes locked on mine. "After the accident I almost lost my biggest sponsor.”
“And that has to do with me?”
“No, but kind of. I told myself I was going to change. No more fucking around and acting like a douche.”
“Well, if by ignoring me all week is your way of not acting like a douche I think you need to get a dictionary and read the definition.”
The remaining stress around his face smoothed out when he smiled down at me. He took off his hat and shoved it on my head, letting his dark hair make its presence known.
“I’m fully aware of the definition of douche. Although I’m sure you’d be able to give me a full history on the evolution of it.”
“Well…”
