I’d asked her how her day was, and my girl was clearly not having a good time, so I excused myself from the room and called her.
“What’s wrong?” I asked as soon as she picked up.
“Oh, nothing in particular, just a so-so day. Can’t wait for it to be over.”
“You’re watching SNL tonight, right?”
“You remember that?”
“Of course. I’ll call you, and we’ll watch it together?”
She laughed softly. “Why would you do that?”
“Because I want to spend time with you. Even if just on the phone. Besides, I have a great record of entertaining you.”
“Well, I can’t disagree with that.” Her tone was playful, and fuck if I didn’t miss her even more than before. I wanted to see her. I needed her. “Tell me what you’re wearing right now.”
“Jace,” she chastised.
“Tell me.”
“No! I’m at the club.”
“Tell me. I want to know what you’re wearing,” I insisted.
“A skirt and a blouse.”
“And under those?”
“Panties and a bra,” she whispered.
“Describe them. In detail.”
She made a small sound, like a groan. “Black. Silk and lace.”
“Babe...”
“I’m not telling you anything else.”
“We’ll save it for tonight.” I smiled, imagining her blush.
“Oh, Jesus.”
“Have to go back anyway, before Coach comes out to drag me in the viewing room. Talk to you later.”
“I can’t wait.” She sounded far more excited than when she’d picked up, and knowing I was responsible for the change filled me with euphoria. I couldn’t wait to spend one hour of quality time with her. I also wanted us to have a serious conversation about where we were and where this was going, but I’d wait until I was in LA and we could talk face-to-face.
I wasn’t a fan of away games. Being on the road was tiring, and no matter how often I’d played in a rival arena, it still felt foreign. I also had very little time on my own. Back in LA, soccer talk ended when I left the club, but during away games, the boys and I were joined at the hip.
However, this time we were in San Francisco, where I actually had family: my Bennett cousins.
After coach finally released us, I headed to Pier 39, where I was meeting Pippa for a quick brunch before flying to Michigan where we were playing a friendly game with a local team.
Out of all our cousins, we were closest to the Bennett clan. I was sort of regretting there weren’t any more weddings to be had on their side of the family, and none planned on ours, because over the past couple of years, we’d mostly seen each other during weddings.
Pippa was already sitting at a table, bent over a piece of paper, sketching. She was the head designer at Bennett Enterprises, and she liked sketching by hand.
She jumped up upon seeing me.