Page 48 of Out of Bounds

“Not asking you to be. Just asking you not to push me away. Think you can do that?”

“I might need some reminders. Or maybe even some discipline if I’m a bad girl and forget.” A wicked little grin appeared on her face then, and Gunnar’s dick twitched back to life, reminding him he was still wearing the condom.

“Oh, I can do that,” he muttered. “What are your plans tomorrow night?”

“Probably working late. Need to make sure everything is in order for the team to go on a four-day road trip on Wednesday.” She slid off his lap again, grabbing her shirt from the chair and slipping it over her head.

“The team goes on a four-day trip?” he said, feigning shock. She swatted at him as she bent down to grab her pants and stuck her tongue out at him, which only made him laugh harder. He pulled the condom off, tying it up, wondering how he would discreetly dispose of it while he tucked himself back in.

“Shush. I need to make sure everything is in place, so you don’t have trouble. I’m not going with you, so I need to make sure everything will go as smoothly as possible.”

“You’re not coming with?” he asked, this time his surprise genuine. Disappointment rushed through him—he'd expected that she would travel with the team to all their away games.

“I can’t travel to all the games. I do have things I have to do here, you know. And preseason isn’t as important, is it?”

“All seasons, pre, regular, post, are important,” he said. It was something his own coaches had drilled into him and that he had already started drilling into his players. Just because the games didn’t count toward their record didn’t mean that they didn’t matter. “I was just thinking it might be fun to try and sneak into each other’s room late at night.” He wiggled his eyebrows, which earned him a giggle that went straight to his dick. If he wasn’t careful, he was going to walk out of here just as hard as when he came in.

He sprung up out of the chair, wrapping an arm around Felicity’s waist, drawing her to him. He felt her relax into him, making him want to hold on to her even tighter. The heat radiating off of her was welcoming in a way he didn’t dare think about. If he thought about that kind of thing too much, he’d land himself in all kinds of trouble. He knew he was already asking a lot from her to not shut him out, and he didn’t need to let himself go down any other roads.

“You work too much.”

“Excuse me? Have you done anything non-work related since moving here?”

“You.”

“I’m the boss, so I think that’s technically still work-related.”

“Touché,” he laughed. “But no working late tomorrow for either of us. Have dinner with me instead.”

Felicity looked at him like he’d just asked her to sacrifice a goat. “What, just march in to Bunz and ask for a table for two? We can’t be seen together. And this is just sex.”

“Walls, Effie,” he scolded. “I was thinking takeaway on one of our couches, but if you prefer Bunz…”

“I repeat, this is just sex.”

Gunnar smiled, laughing to himself as Felicity repeated herself. Her words said “just sex” but the look in her eyes, combined with the way she was letting him hold her, told him that she was lying to herself, and she knew it. She was willing to let him in and that was significant. He meant what he’d told her before. He didn't have an answer for what this was, but it was more than just sex.

“If you say so, Effie. If you say so.”

Chapter Seventeen

“You know, it defeats the purpose of a salad to have all that stuff piled on it,” Devlin said, sliding the large plate piled high toward her.

The Southern Delight salad was nothing more than a fancy chef salad, with all the standard toppings of ham, turkey, bacon, hardboiled egg, tomatoes, cheddar cheese, and slivered almonds. But what made the recipe so special, and the reason Felicity had insisted Heather put it on the menu, was the hot bacon dressing. Felicity had no idea where her mother had gotten the recipe, but the dressing made from the bacon drippings, shallots, red wine vinegar, and a mix of sugar and spices was the stuff dreams were made of. The salad had been a staple in their house when Felicity was little, and it didn’t matter how long her mother had been gone, it still felt like she was sitting right next to her whenever she ate it.

“‘All that stuff’ is the purpose of this salad,” Felicity countered, unwrapping her napkin and taking a big bite. She let out an exaggerated moan as she chewed, never breaking eye contact with him.

Devlin leaned over the counter, placing his mouth right next to her ear, and whispered, “If that’s your reaction to a salad, then it might be time to get a little meat in you. You just name the time and place, beautiful.”

Felicity flinched backward, his words catching her off guard. Devlin was hot, no doubt about that, and she knew she should probably be flattered by the lame attempt to hit on her, but instead she had to fight back a laugh.

“Thanks, but I’m perfectly satisfied. With this salad and in other arenas. Besides, I don’t do ‘little.’ I require a salami, not a hot dog.”

“Ooooo, denied!” Link commented as he walked by. Devlin jokingly flipped him the bird, a smile creeping up his face.

“It was worth a shot,” he answered back, giving Felicity another wink before disappearing toward the kitchen.

She shook her head, turning her focus back to her salad as her mind wandered off to thoughts of Gunnar and his salami. It’d been three days since their rendezvous in her office, and she hadn’t seen him since. He may have halfway bullied her into agreeing to dinner for Tuesday night, but two of the players had collided during practice that afternoon, and Gunnar had opted to hang around while the doctors ran tests to determine if either guy needed to be benched. It had taken longer than he’d expected, and by the time they were cleared, it was late enough that dinner had no longer made sense and he needed to get back to his place to pack for four days away. So much for neither of them working late.