Page 54 of Out of Bounds

Felicity took a sip of her water, trying to hide her smirk. Obviously neither of these guys had watched the local news yet, or they would know that Theo Kappas was actually a woman. A beautiful one at that. They’d only met in passing, but she knew Theo to be smart, tenacious, and willing to go after what she wanted. If she wanted an interview with Cowboy, there was no doubt in Felicity’s mind that Theo would find a way to get it. She made a mental note to make sure to be around when Cowboy had to finally come face to face with her.

“Are you two willing to participate?” she asked. Despite her efforts, she could hear the slight warble to her voice as she threw the question out there. It was a fair question, but one she wasn’t really sure she wanted to know the answer to. At least not about Gunnar. She wasn’t sure she could handle him standing up on a stage while other women ogled him.

So much for keeping feelings out of it…

“Why?” Gunnar asked, a confused look on his face.

“That could be a fun idea,” Cowboy said. “Fun way to meet some ladies. Oh, would you look at that!”

He pointed to the big screen, which was showing a game from Germany. The replay showed Beau Blackwood, future Atlanta Rising player, score a header off a corner, then proceed to retrieve the ball from the net and shove it up under his shirt, resting on his belly, making it look like he was pregnant. The celebratory moves seemed to bring even more excitement to his teammates, but Felicity couldn’t help but think that was one of the strangest ways to celebrate.

“Good for him and Petra. I think they need that.”

“Maybe this will help stop some of that drama that surrounds them,” Gunnar muttered.

“What? What does that mean?” Felicity asked, obviously not in on the secret message.

“His wife is pregnant. That’s the universal way of announcing it in the football world,” Gunnar told her.

“Oh,” she replied, another wave of emotions hitting her. She sucked in a deep breath, reminding herself to hold it together. This wasn’t any different than any other meeting. Just because she had showed up thinking it was a date, and she’d worn an outfit she thought Gunnar would like, didn’t mean anything. She was still her tough as nails self—and she wasn’t going to let anything change that.

Especially not the knots she felt tightening in her stomach.

A buzz against the table pulled her from her thoughts, and she watched as Cowboy picked up his phone, reading the name on the screen.

“It’s my mom, gotta take this. If Devlin ever comes back, order me the Buff Chick, would ya?”

“Sure, but you’re dealing with the bun. I’m not going through that again.”

Cowboy waved him off as he answered his phone, his “Hi Mama,” coming out of his mouth in such a thick Texas accent Felicity was almost startled. She watched him walk out the front door, waiting to feel the relief of finally being alone with Gunnar, but it didn’t come. Instead, she only felt more anxious and insecure. Part of her wanted to crawl in his lap and hold on to him so tight that it threatened to cut off his air supply, while another part was telling her to excuse herself and go home, where she could cry over having let herself get attached after a couple of hookups and a seriously hot evening of phone sex.

Gunnar reached over, placing his hand on hers. She pulled her hand away instinctively, placing it in her lap, while trying to ignore just how good the heat of his skin felt against hers.

“What’s the matter, Effie?” he asked, looking at her like he was trying to see into her brain. She could feel his gaze on her, and it only made her want to crawl into him even more. She was so screwed.

“Nothing.”

“Liar.”

* * *

“I am not!” Felicity hissed, glaring at him like he’d just stolen her puppy. She looked so friggin’ cute in her jeans and university sweatshirt that he just wanted to haul her into his arms and hold her there for the rest of time. But the irritation radiating off of her was starting to make him worry that maybe she didn’t want to be here with him. He also hadn’t missed her slight flinch when the pregnancy was brought up. Was there something going on there that he didn’t know about?

“Effie, I can read you like a book. And something is very, very wrong. You’ve been acting weird since you got here. What’s the matter?”

“Nothing, I’m fine,” she insisted.

Her words said one thing, but Gunnar could see it written all over her that she was…he didn’t know what the right word was, but whatever it was, it wasn’t right. This was not his Felicity. Maybe he needed to try a different tactic.

“I missed you,” he said, reaching for her hand again. She left her hand resting on her thigh, but didn’t pull away this time, letting him wrap his fingers around hers.

“We spoke multiple times a day while you were gone.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Then I cannot imagine what else you could have meant, Gunnar,” she said, her voice icy and distant. Her eyes were shiny though, and he could see the emotions she was fighting back. His heart gave a squeeze, wanting to be able to magically fix whatever was wrong. He needed to get it out of her.

“Walls, Effie…we talked about this.”