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She understood. There was no space for mistakes in my public life. I’d been doing this on my own for years, since my dad died, and sometimes the urge to quit was overpowering—but every time I got to step onto the field was worth the pain. Having a place to come back to where I didn’t have to be perfect was a perk I hadn’t expected.
I didn’t know what I’d done to deserve Eva, but she’d earned my loyalty in less than five minutes.
Hot tears pricked my eyes, and Eva blinked a few times before she cleared her throat. “Good. Now that we’ve bonded. Tell me everything that’s happened since you arrived.”
“Wait, Mac lives across the hall?”
Eva hopped up and disappeared into the galley kitchen. “Yeah, with Parker and Noah. Want a drink?”
I groaned, and she peeked her head around the corner. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah…” I paused, unsure how to explain my reaction without compromising the lovely opinion she had of me.
Her expression sharpened, and she leaned against the wall with a slow smile. “Parker or Noah?”
My eyes widened. “What?”
“Parker or Noah? Which one are you hot for? You can tell me. I promise it won’t go beyond this room.”
She must be a witch. Or a psychic. How had she read me so easily?
“Parker.” I slapped a hand over my mouth and stared at her in horror. I’d worked so damn hard to be taken seriously, and within ten minutes of meeting her, Eva had gotten me to confess something I hadn’t fully accepted myself yet. “Are you with the CIA? If not, you should be.”
“I’ve heard that before.” She shrugged and pushed away from the wall to go back into the kitchen. “I’m not surprised either. Parker is unnaturally beautiful. If I didn’t know better, I’d think he was a vampire.”
Her phrasing implied she’d tested the theory. I managed to keep my mouth shut this time. Barely.
“He doesn’t date, you know. Thinks it will interfere with his dedication to the team,” she said over the sounds of her rummaging in the fridge.
Before I could school my face into polite indifference, she popped back into the room and tossed me a water bottle before taking her spot at the other end of the couch. “We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, but Ireallywant to talk about it.”
No one could know. The thought spun around in my head on repeat. I considered trying to backpedal and laugh off the “misunderstanding”, but I didn’t think Eva would believe me. My bedroom door was only a few feet away. I could plead homework or a headache or any other innocuous excuse and flee.
As if she could read my mind, her face softened. “You’re freaked out. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make this hard on you. Think about this. I’ve known you were coming for months, and I didn’t tell anyone. Not even Mac. I know we just met, but you can trust me.”
Her logic calmed my raging fight or flight response. Parker’s shock this morning had been one hundred percent real, and I’d bet my lucky Wisconsin Wolves hat Mac hadn’t known who I was when he met me in the weight room.
I let out a slow breath, feeling my heart rate start to return to normal. “Okay. Truth? I’m not comfortable with my attraction to Parker. He’s my quarterback, and it feels completely unprofessional. To be clear, I’m not against dating—or the occasional hook-up—but never with a teammate. I’d lose all credibility.”
She nodded. “I get it. You don’t get a second chance.”
“Right.” I uncapped the water and took a big swig, realizing I knew very little about her beyond the basic facts. “What about you? Any big juicy secrets that will make me feel better about having no control over my mouth?”
Eva laughed and spread her arms. “What you see is what you get with me. I have plenty of secrets, but none are mine to tell.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “Favorite movie?”
“The Princess Bride. Yours?”
“The Replacements.”
She shook her head. “I should have seen that one coming.”
I raised a brow. “You’ve seen The Replacements?”
“All the people I hang out with are either football players or cheerleaders, and my best friend thinks he’s God’s gift to the sport.”
We threw rapid questions at each other, and I relaxed into her company. Eva was funny and outgoing and not afraid to voice her opinion. Before I knew it, we’d agreed that Chris Evans was the best superhero Chris, Lucy Score wrote the best books, and Die Hard wasdefinitelya Christmas movie. I’d also agreed to let her order dinner from her favorite Chinese place.
