Page 4 of Pressure Point

He let out a long breath, holding on to the girl who had become like the sister he’d never had for a beat or two longer than was probably necessary. An almost painful silence had surrounded him and Avery during the short trip over, and it was still eating at him. Every time he started to try and initiate a conversation, he stopped himself, afraid that whatever was about to come out of his mouth was just going to make him look stupid. Now that they were here, he was relieved to see a familiar face and hoped that having a friend like Talia close by would help the conversation flow. The cute brunette returned his friendly gesture, quickly stepping back from the hug and turning to Avery.

“Hi, I’m Talia.” Holding out her hand in greeting, she smiled brightly.

“Oh, sorry. Talia Whitmore, this is Avery Houghton, team PT,” he introduced. “Talia is Gunnar’s daughter.”

“Nice to officially meet you,” Avery commented. “I’ve heard your name.”

“Yes, I believe there was a company-wide memo,” Talia joked, acknowledging the weird situation for what it was. Talia and Gunnar had only discovered each other a couple of months ago. Talia had found out about Gunnar via a letter her mother had left her after her death two years ago, and when he moved to Atlanta to be the head coach of the Rising, she’d tracked him down. “Gunnar and Felicity should be on their way, or so I assume since she told me earlier they would be stopping by after the game, but the rest of the team is over that way.” She pointed to the far corner of the bar, where Liam saw a bunch of his teammates crowded around a group of tables. “And welcome to Bunz! A sports bar for women. And well, I guess now the local hangout of the Atlanta Rising.”

“A sports bar for women? Is that why the men are half-naked?” Avery asked.

“Sure is! Think Hooters, but for us girls. And there is a plenty of eye candy around here,” Talia said, wiggling her eyebrows.

“Ugh,” Liam grunted, not wanting to hear about eye candy.

“I’m making a bar run. The usual?”

“Aye. Avery?”

“Ummmm, white wine?”

“Coming right up!”

They watched as Talia slipped behind the bar, greeting the other woman who was behind there, and started to pour drinks. Liam figured it would be a moment before Talia was done, so he gestured toward where the team was.

“Girlfriend?” Avery asked as they weaved through the crowd.

“No, no,” Liam answered quickly. His pulse started to race, his nerves kicking back into high gear. Avery thought Talia was his girlfriend. No, he couldn’t have her thinking that. “Just friends. Gunnar ran the academy back in Dundalk, and my younger brothers played for him. He was the only person I knew when I got here, and he was a mentor to me back home, so we hung out a lot. When Talia arrived, we hit it off and became friends too.”

“And now that he and Felicity are together, you guys are like a little family,” she cooed.

“Is that a girl thing? Because Felicity and Talia referred to the four of us having dinner this week as ‘family dinner,’” Liam laughed. Not that he was opposed to the term. He was used to a big family, and even though he knew he had made the right choice in leaving, he missed them a great deal. He enjoyed having a family unit here, even one as unconventional as the four of them.

“Maybe?” she giggled. The sound sent a rush through him, and he wondered what he needed to do to make her make that noise again.

“Daley!” D. B. Elliot, a midfielder, called out.

Liam nodded in greeting as the rest of the group cheered, holding up their glasses in salute.

“And Miss Avery,” Vance said. Avery gave a little wave, a shy smile tugging at the corner of her lips. She was so cute he couldn’t stand it, and he wished like hell it was just the two of them here tonight, rather than the whole team. Although he was still so nervous around her that if they had been alone together in one of those booths, he probably wouldn’t have been able to form a single sentence.

“To our first fucking win!” Chance hollered, holding up his glass again and throwing an arm around Dash who was standing right next to him. “One, one and O? Not bad for an expansion team!”

“Not bad for any team. We had a season in Dundalk where our first seven games were all draws. Left us with some unhappy fans.”

“I’d say,” Chance commented. “A draw is like kissing your sister.”

Dash recoiled at the phrase—breaking loose from Chance’s embrace—the look on his face more than a little unsure of where his new teammate was taking this.

“I’m the middle of five boys; I’ll take your word for it,” Liam joked, earning him some laughs.

“You kiss your sister?” Dash inquired, his face still scrunched in alarm.

“I’ll kiss your sister,” Chance offered with a waggle of his eyebrows.

“You leave Maria out of this.”

“Enough talk of sisters,” Vance said, giving Chance a shove. “And it looks like Talia needs help with those drinks.”