Page 113 of On His Team

“What?”

“Come here.”

I glance at the door. Then at him. “I’m already over my bathroom limit.”

“Come here.”

There is something different in his voice this time.

I cross the room.

He catches my hand when I get close, pulls me between his knees, and kisses me once slowly. No laughter. No hands under clothes. Just his mouth against mine for long enough that the rest of the room disappears again. Then he lets me go.

“Okay,” he says.

I stare at him. He smiles. I smack his shoulder. “Get over yourself.”

I open the door and leave.

I use the bathroom because I actually do have to pee, wash my hands, and spend thirty seconds making my hair look less criminal before I head downstairs.

Nobody looks up when I enter the living room. Then Lucy does. Her eyes track me from the bottom of the stairs all the way to the kitchen.

I ignore her, get water, and sit on the floor beside the couch.

Five minutes later, Rowan comes down.

Then Stanley says something about Michigan, Rowan answers him, and his eyes find mine across the room in the middle of the sentence.

I bite my lip. He looks away. There is a secret in this room now. A real one. We’re hiding it because it’s ours. I like that more than I should.

Lucy nudges me with her foot.

I look up.

She mouths, What?

I shake my head. Nothing.

She narrows her eyes.

I grin at her and turn back toward the TV.

Across the room, Rowan is smiling again.

And this time I know exactly why.

Chapter 12

ROWAN

My phone buzzes face down beside my laptop, and I turn it over before the vibration finishes.

Gianna: Mara wants to know if you can walk today.

I’m sitting in the second-floor library with half of Novak’s case study open in front of me and a coffee I’ve forgotten to drink cooling beside it. I read the message twice, mostly because I don’t understand why Mara is suddenly concerned with my mobility.

Me: Why?