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She snorts, shaking her head with a smile. “Actually, it was more geared toward pro athletes. But yeah, even back in high school I had your brother’s number. Other girls threw themselves at him left and right, but to me? Guys like him just seemed like a risk I wasn’t interested in taking.”
“I can imagine.” Being a sports reporter—a woman in a predominantly men’s field, she faced scrutiny her male peers seldom did. “So what happened? What made you give him a chance?”
Her eyes take on this faraway look and she bites her lip. “It wasn’t reallya chanceper se. It was just supposed to be one kiss. But thatkiss…”
Geez, I can see the goosebumps come up on her arms through my phone. “And that kiss was it? You were gone for him?”
“Not even close. There’s a whole story there, but suffice it to say… despite my best efforts to prevent it, your brother worked his way into every part of my heart. And once he was there—” she flashes me one of those eternally satisfied smiles and sighs, “—there was no getting him out.”
I nod, not trusting my voice to carry past the lump in my throat. She’s happy. No question. But she’s also just confirmed my brother’s warning. Julia had no intention of letting him into her life and now they’re bound together until death do they part.
Chapter 19
Vaughn
“Hey beautiful, sorry I missed you.” I yawn into her voicemail, scrubbing a hand over my face as I fight the gravitational pull of my bed after going into overtime against the Knights. “Gotta hit it tonight but give me a call when you get a chance tomorrow.”
* * *
“Got your text,babe. Sounds like a crazy day, but glad you’re getting some sleep. Call me tomorrow. I want to hear your voice.”
* * *
“Allie.”I press my forehead against the cool glass of my hotel room window, closing my eyes to the glittering city lights below. “What’s going on?”
She isn’t going to answer. It’s voicemail again.
She hasn’t called me back since I left four days ago and she hasn’t texted me in two. Before everything blew up with Baxter, we were talking and texting and finding ways to see each other no matter how jacked our schedules were, so this isn’t about being busy.
I take a breath and rub at the aching spot in the middle of my chest.
“You’ll laugh at this, babe. I actually had to ask your brother if he’d heard from you. Oh man, itsucked. That dude is a stone-cold gloater. Can’t remember the last time I’ve seen him smile that big. He told me he talked to you around lunch and I kept waiting for the pissed to kick in, you know? But Christ, Allie, all I felt was relieved. Yeah, you’re dodging me and I don’t know why, but you’re okay. And that’s what matters.”
I walk back to the bed and, more beat than I can remember, drop back onto the spread. “So, uhh, look, in case I don’t talk to you… Trevon uploaded the footage from your game. Congrats on the win. That play in the second with thirteen and twenty-three was badass. Your girls have the moves. Anyway, it was fun to watch.”
* * *
Allie:Can we talk?
Me: About to take off. Be at your place in six hours.
* * *
Natalie
I’m waitingon the stoop when Vaughn comes up the walk still dressed in his suit, a ball cap resting low enough that I can’t see his eyes until he’s standing in front of me. And then I wish I couldn’t because they’re as cold and hard as they were that first night he showed up here and one look has me pulling my coat closer around me.
“I’m sorry I didn’t call you back,” I whisper, hating what I’m about to do and the way I’ve done everything up to this point.
“I know.” He takes a long breath and lowers his big body onto the top stair. Knees wide, hands hanging in a loose fold between them, he waits until I sit beside him. “You want to tell me what happened?”
What I want is to climb onto his lap and feel his arms tight around me. I want him to tell me not to worry because everything will be okay, that he’s got me, and he won’t let go.
And my wanting those things is the problem.
Hugging my knees, I tuck my cheek into my shoulder and meet his eyes.
“I think everything coming to a head with Greg sort of brought what we were doing into perspective. This has gotten too serious for me.” I take a breath, trying to keep the dread spooling through my chest from choking me. “It’s not what I want.”
