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I curse myself in my head. Isn’t this what I wanted, though? To have Reed keep his distance from me? I’ve been lucky that my schedule hasn’t had him on it, so I have been able to avoid him, for the most part. I interview the other athletes, but I would be lying if I said every time my eyes wouldn’t wander in hopes of catching sight of him. He’s the one I end up watching the most during a game, forcing myself to tear my gaze away and focus on the other players, too. I end up Googling him late into the night and reading every article I can find on him. Reed has invaded my damn thoughts, and I don’t know how to make it stop.
After another hour of chatting with Nico and pretending I can’t feel Reed’s presence in the room, my cousin and I call it a night. But as the two of us are walking toward the bar exit that leads directly to the hotel lobby, we pass by Reed and Leo’s booth, and despite how hard I try not to, my gaze wanders toward Reed anyway. My chest tightens when he meets my eyes for a split second, mid conversation with Leo—who gives me a smile in greeting—and then Reed’s eyes flicker to Nico and harden once more. Geesh, what the hell is his problem?
“Great game today, guys,” I say quickly as we pass by. Maybe a bit too quickly? I’m trying to play it cool, but it sounds a bit forced.
“Thanks Willow,” Leo says, but Reed only gives me a soft grunt while scanning Nico from head to toe. Clearly, he has no idea that I’m with my cousin, and not on a date. No wonder he’s burning holes into Nico with his eyes. But… why does he care?
With my cheeks pinkening from the awkward interaction, I hurry out into the lobby with Nico, who pulls me in for a hug. “Look, I don’t know what that was all about, but there’s a star quarterback in there who obviously has a thing for you. I’ll see you soon, Will. Have a safe flight home,” he says, giving me a squeeze.
Five minutes later, I’m alone in my hotel room, toeing my shoes off and putting them to the side. My carry-on is already packed and ready to go for tomorrow’s flight, and I untie my hair from its ponytail and let the strands fall loosely around my shoulders. I run my fingers through my hair, massaging my scalp because the ponytail had been a little too tight. I’m on my way to the bathroom to do my nightly routine before bed when a few sharp knocks on my door echo through the room.
My eyebrows furrow together. It can’t be Nico because I don’t think I mentioned what my room number is. Approaching the door, I get on my toes to peek through the peephole, and I can’t stop the surprised gasp from catching in my throat when I see Reed’s unmistakable face on the other side of the door.
The mere sight of him out in the hallway has my heart racing, hands pressing flat against the door as I stare at him through the small peephole. What the hell is he doing here? How did he find my room?
Okay, well, the second question is easily answered; I’m sure he found it out through the staff or whoever else we traveled with. But what the fuck is he at my door for? My heart rattles in my chest, and I have half a mind to ignore him until he goes away. But my body has a mind of its own, and I’m reaching for the door handle before I can stop myself and pull the door open.
I hate how breathless my voice sounds as I ask, “What are you doing here?”
Reed stares at me for a few impossibly long seconds, my grip on the door handle tightening. The muscle in his jaw feathers as he stares, and I wish I knew what he’s thinking. “Can I come in?”
My stomach tumbles. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”
That muscle jumps again. “Okay,” he says stiffly, voice lacking any real emotion. His gaze locks with mine as he asks, “Well, it’s good to see you. You did a great job covering the game today–I watched your commentary and interviews. Uh, can I ask who you were with down at the bar?”
My eyes widen slightly at his compliments, and then his question, surprise parting my lips. “Uh,” I sound stupidly, taking a step back as a silent way of telling him to come inside because I’m suddenly realizing I don’t think it’s a good idea if someone happened to come by and saw Reed at my door. He follows me in, the door shutting behind him, and I try to ignore the poking knowledge of Reed being in my room and instead say, “I don’t see how that’s any of your business.”
“It’s not,” he says with a firm nod, standing with his hands clenched at his sides. He’s so tall, and even as I stand a few feet away from him, his body towers over mine, his presence taking up all of the space in the room. Even though my heart races, it doesn’t feel suffocating. “But instead of letting myself enjoy some celebratory drinks with Leo, I spent the entire time wondering who the hell you were sitting with because I can’t get you off my fucking mind and it’sdriving me insane.”
My eyes are wide as I stare at him, jaw hanging open as I try not to let his words make my head spin. But that’s nearly impossible. How can I hope to do that when Reed straight up, to my face, just told me he can’t stop thinking about me? How can I calm the butterflies in my stomach or the wild pulse of my heart when I now know that just like he occupies every inch of my thoughts, I seem to be doing the same to him?
I don’t think either of us noticed how Reed seemed to have gotten a lot closer to me while he spoke, but suddenly the scent of his expensive cologne invades my nose, dizzying me in a way that I don’t mind. Every inhale has his scent taking over, and I don’t know if I need to focus on that or his words.
“I—” My voice trails off as my gaze zeroes in on his mouth—on those perfectly shaped lips and the stubble that surrounds them and decorates his chin and jaw. I can hear my heart pounding in my head and the desire that spreads through me is warm and inviting. “He’s my cousin,” I find myself admitting in a whisper. “Just a cousin.”
I swear I hear Reed exhale sharply before he mutters, “Thank fuck.” Oddly, I find my shoulders relaxing, too.
In the next second, his large, callused hands are cupping my cheeks, tilting my head back before his mouth comes down on mine. My reaction is instant, eyes falling shut and body melting into his kiss—into Reed. His lips are as soft as they looked, and my hands clench the front of his shirt as I push myself closer to him, electricity zipping through my veins in a way I have never felt before. God, I can’t be close enough to him, to the heat that radiates off his body and sinks into me.
My lips part in response to his tongue swiping against my bottom lip, and as he deepens the kiss, a moan travels up my throat at the sensation of his stubble deliciously scratching my skin and his tongue sliding against my own. He explores every crevice of my mouth, his thumb swiping over my cheekbone as he kisses me so deeply, so thoroughly, that if he wasn’t holding me, I swear my legs would have given out from beneath me. But his grip is firm yet gentle at the same time, holding me close, like he doesn’t want me to disappear from his hold. I suck at his bottom lip and he nips at mine, and the butterflies in my stomach wreak havoc.
Oh, God. He kisses as well as he plays football.
I can’t believe he’s kissing me. Reed Maxwell is kissingme.
The thought of his name is, suddenly, like a bucket of ice cold water splashing over me.
I inhale sharply before using my grip on his shirt to push him away, heart pounding as I put some distance between us. I try not to breathe too heavily despite my racing heart as I stare at Reed, wide eyed, taking note of his kiss swollen lips. He doesn’tlookwinded, but I can see his chest rising and falling a little quicker than usual. Reed’s normally blank, stoic expression is gone and is instead replaced by one that wears his own mild shock over what just happened. Desire darkens his eyes, making my blood hot, but I can’t focus on that.
“We can’t—” God, I sound like I just ran five miles. “We can’t do this. It’s a bad idea.” I’m already shaking my head, already regretting my words—not what I just did—as I break my gaze from Reed’s and add, “You should go.”
I swear, my lips are tingling from his kiss, but I clench my hands to my side, not allowing myself to touch my mouth the way I want to. Reed’s stare burns my skin, but I can’t bring myself to meet it. My face, where his hands had been, feels hot—my entire body does, actually—and my breathing isn’t steady. Shit, all I want to do is kiss him again, to feel him against me, but Ican’t. This never should have happened—no matter how good it was.
And calling itgoodis a fucking understatement.
“Okay,” Reed’s gruff voice breaks the silence, deep and sexy and panty-dropping as always. It’s a wonder I was able to resist him.Until now. I wonder if he was about to say something else when he repeats, “Okay,” before I hear his footsteps recede.
I look up only when I hear the door fall shut, finally allowing myself to breathe loudly, trying to catch my breath as a shaky hand reaches up and I brush my fingers along my lips. I stare after the door as I let myself sink onto the bed, gripping the comforter with my free hand. I feel like I’m in a dream, and that I will wake up any second now and realize that none of this is real.
