Page 23 of Out of Bounds

A few moments later, Gunnar heard soft snoring that could only come from someone who had fallen into a deep sleep. Glancing down at Felicity’s head on his chest, he couldn’t help but smile as he admired just how beautiful she was.

“I see you, Effie. I see you.”

Chapter Eight

According to his watch, the flight back to Atlanta only took a little under two hours. However, to Gunnar, it felt like it had taken about three days.

The last thing he’d done prior to falling asleep the night before was set his alarm, to make sure he was up early enough to order room service for Felicity. Given her behavior and what the bartender had indicated her consumption level to be, he figured she would have one hell of a headache when she woke up. He figured the least he could do for her after a night like that was to make sure there was plenty of black coffee and dry toast for her.

Except when he rolled over in bed to turn off his alarm, he found he was alone. A quick search of the room let him know she was gone. At some point in the middle of the night, she had packed up everything and just left. He figured he’d see her at the airport for the trip home, but when everyone had boarded the team’s chartered jet and she still wasn’t there, he’d asked Dalton, who’d told him that he hadn’t spoken to her since yesterday.

She was still on his mind as he unlocked the door to his new flat, wondering if she was okay. Those thoughts were swiftly forgotten, though, when he stepped inside to find himself in a fully decorated space. Looking around, he barely recognized his furniture—it was like he was standing in a completely different flat than he had left behind.

“Hey!” Talia called out from the kitchen.

“Hi,” he answered, looking around the living room. The couch had multicolored throw pillows, and the tables were decorated with stylish knickknacks. Even the walls were covered in fun, but unassuming, art. “What is all this?”

“All what?”

“This,” he said, gesturing wildly at all the new additions to their home.

“Oh, Felicity helped me decorate it. Do you not like it?”

“No, it’s great. Wait…Felicity Sutherland?”

“Yeah, when we went to lunch last week, she took me shopping afterwards and helped me pick out some stuff.”

Well, I’ll be damned…he thought. This was why she arrived a day later to training—she'd been helping Talia get settled. He owed her more of a thank you than he thought. For what felt like the millionth time that morning he wished she hadn’t run away, that he’d seen her before leaving Florida.

“So, I was thinking…about us getting to know each other. We should do weekly dinners or something. I’ve been doing them with Liam, but you and I should too, you know, a father-daughter date or something. It doesn’t have to be formal, but I figure it might be less awkward with food.”

“Food is good,” she answered, plopping down onto the couch.

“We have our first preseason game on Saturday, but fly out tomorrow since it’s a day game, so how about tonight?”

“I can’t, I have to work. But I don’t need to be there for a couple of hours, so we could do lunch,” she offered.

“Lunch it is. Just let me put my bags in my room, and we can head out.”

After a short walk to the Thai place around the corner, they found a table and settled in. Gunnar felt a little weird, like he was on the most awkward blind date of all time. He knew it would take time for the two of them to learn each other, and that was okay. After seeing Felicity last night and how upset she was, partially because of whatever had gone on between her and her own father, he knew it was important for him to do this.

“You found a job?” he asked after they’d placed their orders.

“Yeah. At this new sports bar called Bunz. It’s where Felicity and I met for lunch last week. She knows the owner, who was looking for a bartender, so they’re going to train me.”

Bunz. This was the second time in as many days that he had heard the name of this place. He was going to have to go check it out. Maybe he could drag Cowboy. They’d always enjoyed a good pub, and if this place was geared towards sports, well, how could they go wrong?

“That’s cool. The owner nice?”

“Yeah, at least from the little I’ve talked to her. She said she has a friend who works at Georgia State, so she can help me figure out applying there. Maybe I'll finish that degree after all.”

“What were you studying?”

“I really was just getting my gen-eds out of the way before. I was listed as a business major, but I don’t know that that’s actually what I want to do.”

“Is there something else you’re interested in?”

Talia shifted in her seat, looking out the window, like she was trying to avoid answering the question. Gunnar wasn’t sure what had made her so nervous all of sudden. Had he done something wrong? Was that the wrong thing to ask?