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“No,” Una said quickly, like she was expecting the question. “I told them I’m with a client getting a job done. They’re on perimeter patrol and are to leave the area alone.”
I quirked a brow and lifted the side of my lips. “Oh? I’m a client now, huh?” The lengths she went through to make sure we would be alone here was admirable.
Her face hardened, but I didn’t take it personally. Una took her business seriously. “Technically yes and no. You made a contract, but you haven’t paid.”
I stopped for an instant before bursting out laughing. She was right; I never paid her upfront, which she required for all other contracts. I specifically put in payment upon conclusion for a reason. Mainly because it was a jobwithher, and not something for her to complete as a side mission.
“Well, I can pony up—”
“No,” she interrupted. “This job isn’t for money, is it?”
That hit me straight in my chest. It wasn’t for money. There was nothing I wanted to gain out of the deal except to see Una happy and believing in love.
The bonus would be if she believed in love withme. But I couldn’t get my hopes too high. The contract made it clear what my intentions were.
I shook my head, agreeing with her statement. “No, it isn’t,” I whispered, staring at her. I clenched a fist at my side, trying to hold myself back from kissing her, just like I desperately wanted to do the other night after dinner. “Then why are we here?” I finally asked.
Una didn’t answer. She turned, ducked into her back seat, and pulled out a soccer ball, planting it under her arm, pinned against her hip as she closed the door.
My eyes lit up with excitement. “You want me to teach you some moves?” It wasn’t something I would have thought of. Una didn’t seem like the athletic type, yet she brought a ball, knowing soccer was one of my favorite things.
A short, cute, little snort escaped Una, bringing my focus to her. “Hardly.”
I frowned, confused.
“You think my dad’s been a coach all these years, and a former player, and never taught me?”
Lightbulbs erupted in my mind, putting the pieces together. She didn’t bring me here for me to teach her some moves.
She came to play.
If anything, deep down, Una was competitive. It’s how she ran her leadership—making sure she offered the best deals, showing she could get any job done. People respected her because she was unparalleled.
Excitement grew inside of me. I bounced on my toes, unable to control the joyous look on my face. Una rolled her eyes, pushing me with her other hand toward the field.
“Why aren’t you on a team?” I asked while we walked side by side to the middle of the untamed terrain. It wasn’t so bad that we wouldn’t be able to move the ball around, but it definitely was not well-maintained.
Una stopped and peered at me with an incredulous glance. “Do organized sports look like my kind of thing?”
I waited a beat, then laughed once again. As always, she was spot on correct.
Before she realized what I was doing, I stole the ball away from her and backed up a few feet. I juggled it from knee to foot a few times, showing off a few fun moves. After hooking the ball on my foot and going under my other leg and back, I nudged it into the air and punted it down the field.
“Well then, see if you can keep up!” I said, adding a wink, before rushing after it.
Una didn’t hesitate. She sprinted after me, almost catching up, her arms pumping at her side, her sights set on the ball.
I got there before she did, dribbling it back and forth a few times before sliding the ball right between her legs and taking off in the opposite direction.
But she never wavered. She played hard, and I was actually shocked at her skill. If she competed for Fairy Tale High, she would be on starting varsity for sure.
She challenged me, managing to keep the ball away from me on numerous occasions. I seriously regretted taking a shower earlier, as I worked up a major sweat.
At one point, I got downfield, on my way to a makeshift goal, when she appeared out of nowhere. She swept her leg out in front of me, stealing the ball toward her, but also tripping me up.
Thankfully, my reaction time was decent. I threw myself into a forward roll at the last second, saving myself from injury.
“Hey!” I yelled after her. “Yellow card, ref!”
