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“Excuse me?”
“I made a lot of mistakes, Sawyer, but falling for you wasn’t one of them. Better get inside.” He tilts his head toward the door.
“That’s it? You’re not going to try to grovel. Or kiss me?” I hate that part of me wants him to do both.
“Do you want me to?” His face is suddenly closer.
I don’t. I shouldn’t. But I’ve been more restless than usual since that kiss, and even though I hate myself for it, I crave a break from the numbness that only Wes can give me.
The silence stretches between us, neither of us sure what to do. Then slowly, hesitantly, Wes cups my face and urges me closer until our lips just barely brush together.
Heat explodes through my body, waking it from its idle state. But before I can fully appreciate it or reciprocate, Wes pulls away.
“Just this once I’m going to stop, because I know you’re not ready to trust me yet. But Sawyer.” He strokes my cheek with his thumb. “The next time you let me kiss you, I’ll assume you intend me to be the last man you’ll ever kiss, and I won’t stop.”
The gravity of those words is enough to send me scrambling toward the front door. What have I done?
Wes
ColtandSam’sbackyardlooks more like a fairground than the serene oasis I’m used to. There’s a couple bounce houses at the far end, a face painting station, people dressed as superheroes, and what seems like twenty kids chasing each other with Nerf guns. Now I understand why this isn’t a pool party.
Pop and Jen are already here, sitting with Colt and Sam on the back patio. I set my gift – tickets for tomorrow’s game – on the table next to the mountain of others and make my way over to them.
“Beers are in the fridge.” Colt shakes my hand. “And food trucks are out front if you’re hungry.”
“Pop built you a fancy outdoor kitchen and you aren’t even using it?” I grin as I open the fridge.
“I didn’t want to be stuck on the grill all day. Besides, Sam likes the food trucks better than my cooking, anyway.” He steals a piece of chicken off her plate before she can slap his hand away. “How’s everything looking for the game tomorrow?”
It’s the Stallions first home game of the regular season, and we aren’t as ready for it as I’d like.
“The starting lineup is solid, but some of the rookies aren’t picking things up as quickly as I hoped, so our depth is concerning. Are you all coming?”
I won’t be able to get everyone tickets to every game, but seeing as it’s my first one with the team I’ve been given quite a few extras, and it timed out perfectly with it being Alex’s birthday. I’ll even get to sit in the suite with them since management can’t be on the field at game time, and in a way, I’m looking forward to that more than the game itself.
Watching games on Sundays is one of my best childhood memories, especially after Jen and Sawyer came to live with us. Jen is such a huge fan of the game, and while Sawyer never fell in love with it, she did like watching them with me.
Colt was still playing back then, and he’d just started dating Sam, so they never got to watch with us, but I’ve seen a few games with him when I was home over the years. I enjoyed those just as much.
Tomorrow will be the first time we all get to be together, and even though I’m not related to Colt and his family, as Sawyer likes to point out, I’m looking forward to having the people closest to me share in one of my favorite pastimes. Well, except for Sawyer. I got her a ticket, though no one thinks she’ll actually use it.
“Wouldn’t miss it.” Jen beams. “I haven’t been to the stadium in years. I can’t wait to see what it looks like now.”
“I don’t think it’s changed much.” It’s hard not to smile at her excitement.
“Maybe not, but it’ll still be fun. And Alex is going to love it.” She pops a strawberry in her mouth.
“It’s not his first game,” Anthony reminds her.
“But it is his first where the stadium is going to sing happy birthday to him.”
“Are you sure the team is okay with that?” Sam looks at me. “It seems like a big ask.”
“Any other year, it might have been, but with Colt being inducted into the Stallions Hall of Fame and me bringing him to the first home game it didn’t get a lot of pushback,” I assure her.
A few minutes later Alex spots me, and drags me, Colt, and Pop into a game of dart wars. It’s the three of us versus a couple dozen of his friends, and we spend what feels like hours chasing them around the yard until Colt declares the kids winners and sends them off to the bounce houses.
“I swear, practices were easier than keeping up with a bunch of kids,” he exhales heavily.
