Leo flattened his lips before shaking his head and turning to me with his arms outstretched for a hug. “Please tell me I don’t have to listen to you gloat, too.”
“Have you ever known me to be the type?” I asked as I clapped him on the back.
“You should be after tonight,” Kyle said. “Hell of a game, man.”
I huffed a laugh. “That’s rich coming from you. You had two touchdowns.”
“Yeah, but yours was sexier.”
“Please never say that to me again.”
“Nope, I can’t agree to that. The one hand reach and tuck into your chest? The toe drag to seal the inbound play?” Kyle whistled, cracking his fingers in a whip of his wrist. “That shit was fire.”
“Yeah, I have to admit… that one hurt to watch from the sidelines,” Leo agreed. “Mary is already asking if our wide receivers took notes.”
“God, I love her,” I said.
Leo narrowed his gaze. “Careful. I know she was all of our roommate but she’smy…”
At that, Kyle and I blinked and egged him on. “Go on. Having regrets that you haven’t wifed her up yet?” Kyle asked.
Leo flipped him off, and then turned the attention back to me — which was a weird sensation I wasn’t used to. I much preferred to be the friend on the sideline, cheering everyone else on while quietly doing what I needed to play my part on the team.
But for the last month, I’d had some pretty monstrous games.
I had a feeling I knew why.
Having Emily’s attention, having her hands on me, her mouth… it fired me up like nothing in my life ever had. I knew I was playing differently because I was carrying myself differently — my shoulders squared, chin high, a permanent grin on my face.
It helped that everything was going great back home. My parents had taken a weekend vacation at my insistence, and Ginny had a great weekend with the nurse and all her video game friends. Knowing all was well at home made it easy to relax.
Knowing Emily would be in my bed made it easy to act a fool.
I was bordering on cocky when I hit that field because I wanted to show out. I felt unstoppable, getting away with having everything I wanted.
Maybe because I’d never had the pleasure before.
“Seriously though; Seattle got your ass acting different,” Leo said, arching a brow at me. “This is far from the Braden I knew at NBU. The touchdowns were there but… I don’t know. It’s like you’ve got this swagger now.”
“Don’t encourage him,” Kyle muttered.
Leo shook his head, eyes narrowing like he was studying me. “You’ve got that look about you.”
I frowned. “What look?”
“The one that says you’re getting laid and feeling confident as fuck, so you bring all that energy onto the field.”
The blood must have drained from my face, because a laugh fizzed out of Kyle, who swatted Leo’s chest, and Leo crossed his arms with a smile like he had me pinned.
“I’m just locked in,” I said. “Got a contract to renew.”
“Sure this doesn’t have anything to do with that dancer Kyle was teasing you about at the start of the season?” Leo asked.
“You guys are fucking insufferable.”
That just made them laugh again.
“Well, whatever you’re doing, keep doing it,” Kyle said, clapping a hand hard on my shoulder. “I don’t care if it’s a dancer or a blow-up doll. This is the Braden we need to make the playoffs — and it’s the Braden we all knew you could be. So keep it up.”
