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45
Brody
I don’t know if we were ever apart, but now that Taylor and I were back together again, everything in the world felt right.
I left her classroom so she could resume her lecture—if she could even manage to get everyone to focus after the scene I had caused. Then I drove to the Stallions practice facility. We had already had our final practice that morning, so the place was empty.
Except for Dallas Lockett.
“A whole season of passes,” he said instead of hello, “and you feel like you need some more?”
“Want to stay sharp before Sunday,” I said while lacing up my shoes. “No more dropped passes. No more mistakes.”
Dallas grabbed a football from a basket and considered it in his hands. “Coach is going to put his best players out there. And lately, that means Stark.”
“I know,” I replied. “But just in case? I want to be ready. Let’s start with a few stick routes to warm up, all right?”
Dallas nodded, and we began to practice.
It wasn’t just about sharpening my skills one last time before the trip to Denver. It was about doing something familiar to ground myself. Because suddenly, I was feeling a lot more like myself.
Taylor came over to my place that night. Luna was beside herself with happiness to see the redheaded woman, whining and wiggling against her in front of the elevator.
“She’s shedding all over you,” I said. “That pencil skirt is more gray than black, now.”
Taylor stood up and gave me a serious look. “We’d better get it off me, then, huh?”
I grinned, and she was only seconds behind me.
Yeah, I love this woman all right.
The sex wasn’t rough, or frantic, or overly passionate. We fell into each other’s arms in bed and savored each other. I drove into her slowly, carefully, like we had all the time in the world. Being with her again was relieving in a way I never truly understood until that moment, joining with her again under the covers, holding her in my arms and drowning her with kisses while we made love.
There would be plenty of time for fast, passionate sex. Plenty of time for fucking. But for now, for tonight, being with Taylor was a comfort for both of us.
Afterward, I held her in my arms and listened to her drift off to sleep. I caressed her back and watched her body rise and fall with every breath. Her exhales stirred the hair on my chest, and it tickled. But I didn’t dare move to disturb her.
Taylor Fox was mine. I was hers. And nothing was going to get in the way of that.
We flew to Denver on Saturday. Snow flurries fell on us as we took a bus from the airport to our downtown hotel, and the Rocky Mountains loomed large to the west. It felt strange to have them on that side of the city, greeting the sunset rather than the sunrise. It was a small, subliminal reminder that we weren’t at home. We were someplace different.
The cheerleaders were staying down on the fourth floor, but I was able to sneak Taylor up to my room. We didn’t fool around or anything. We just enjoyed each other’s presence while we both worked—me reviewing game footage, and Taylor preparing class notes.
“I know it’s only been a week, but I feel so behind,” she said absently. “Eric gave three lectures in the class last week, and now that the Dean gave the class back to me, it’s like I have to undo all of his teaching style and start fresh.”
“I’m sure you’ll do fine,” I replied. “Your ex is so boring I’m sure the students slept the entire time.”
“It’s an eight a.m. class, so you might not be wrong!”
I woke the next morning full of nervous energy. Every action in my routine held exaggerated importance. Trimming my beard in the mirror. Showering. Putting on a suit to wear to the stadium. Eating breakfast downstairs with the rest of the team. Four scrambled eggs, three slices of toast with butter. Sausage instead of bacon.
Would any of these minuscule decisions affect the outcome today?
On the bus ride to the stadium, I listened to ESPN radio.
“…make or break game for the rising Stallions franchise. If they can’t find a way to win today, they may never get out of the shadow of their mountain rivals.”
I turned the radio off and stared out the window instead.
