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I was still looking over the invoice when someone knocked on my door. At least I knew it wasn’t Tiffany again because she would never give me the courtesy of not barging in.
“Come in!” I yelled.
Christian opened the door. He wore a backward baseball hat, gray sweatpants, and a T-shirt that stretched tightly across the muscles of his chest—the same muscles I’d been unable to stop thinking about since our hug goodbye on Sunday. And he had a football palmed in one hand.
I smiled. “Hey. What are you doing up here? Delivering a pizza?”
“Just thought I’d say hello.” He shut the door behind him and walked to the center of the room. Stopping, he rubbed his thumb to his bottom lip as he looked between the window and me. “Were you looking down at the field a little while ago?”
“No,” my voice rose a few octaves. “Why do you ask? Did you see someone? I thought the window was one-way glass and people couldn’t see in from the other side.”
“It is.” He shrugged. “But I thought I felt you.”
I laughed nervously. “You thought you felt me watching you?”
He looked into my eyes. “So you weren’t watching?”
Shit. I was a terrible liar, and he was the most observant man I’d ever met. He’d be able to read it on my face. So I pulled my chair in and buried my nose in the invoice Tiffany had left behind. “Nope. Was in a meeting with my sister. She wants to expense a car lease that costs more than most people’s first homes.”
Christian didn’t take his eyes off me. When I chanced a glance up, it looked like he was still trying to read my face. I smiled. “How was your first week back at practice?”
His eyes sparkled, and I got the feeling he knew exactly what I’d just done. Though if he did, he let me off the hook this time. He leaned against the back of the chair on the opposite side of my desk. “It was good. My knee feels better than ever. How was your week? Did you continue on in the planners?”
I nodded. “I did. I read a few more. But I stopped when I got to an entry about him visiting my mother’s grave. It brought up emotions I hadn’t felt in a while, so I decided to take a break. Whatever is in there isn’t going to change things, and I’d rather be in the right frame of mind when I continue.”
Christian frowned. “I’m sorry. I should’ve checked in with you earlier, but I wanted to give you some space.”
“It’s okay. I could’ve told Miller if I needed to talk to someone. I’m actually not sure why I haven’t filled him in on the planners yet. It’s not like me to fail to report all gossip back to him. But I went to visit my mom’s grave the other day, and that helped.”
“Good. I’m glad.” Christian thumbed toward my door. “I have to run to a five o’clock physical therapy appointment downstairs. They might have cleared me to return to practice, but they’re making me stick with these laser light therapy sessions to keep inflammation to a minimum and increase the blood flow.”
“Oh, I didn’t know about that. I might need to tweak my algorithm if you still need treatment. It’s coming out with an aggressive completion percentage.”
Christian flashed one dimple. “Only tweak it to increase it, boss lady.”
“I hope you’re right. We need a win this weekend.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“I know you will.”
“Are you hanging around a while? Want to grab something to eat after my therapy?”
“I actually have plans.”
Christian nodded. “Bozo?”
I wasn’t surprised he remembered. “Julian, yes.”
“Going anywhere good?”
“An Italian place down on Bleeker that I’ve never been to.”
“You going straight there?”
I nodded. “We’re meeting there.”
Christian walked around the desk. I stayed rooted in place, but my face must’ve looked nervous because he grinned and opened his arms. “Just giving my friend a hug…”
“Oh.”
Same as last time, he wrapped me in his arms so tightly I could barely breathe. Yet it caused my body to let out a sigh and relax. He was just so big and warm. His arms felt like the only safe place to allow my guard to slip down, if only for a moment. Not to mention, he smelled damn good again, even after a long practice. I didn’t want to let go, but too soon Christian pulled back. He dropped a quick peck on my forehead and looked down at me. “That should do it…”
My forehead creased. “Do what?”
“Coat you up with my scent to keep the other animals at a distance.”
I laughed. “You’re insane.”
He winked and let me go. “See you soon, boss lady.”
***
“So how are things with the team? You were working on an algorithm last time we saw each other, right?” Julian sipped his wine.
