Freya and I stayed up late, talking about what she should do next while drinking more wine than was entirely necessary. Witnessing Will’s blossoming relationship was going to be torture for her. She was adamant she couldn’t reveal the truth though. ‘If he had any feelings for me, he wouldn’t be dating her,’ she’d said. I understood her reasoning, but in reality, I believed Will and Freya had been misreading each other’s signals for so long, they couldn’t see what was so clear to everyone else.
With the potential drama between Freya and Will, and having to face Miguel after kissing McCoy, I had no enthusiasm for work on Wednesday morning.
Instead of heading straight to the pitch, I holed myself up in my office for a while. I figured I had ten minutes clear before anyone would look for me. Settling myself in my desk chair, I flicked through a magazine I’d bought but never got round to reading. An article entitled “Ways To Make Him Ache For You” caught my attention and I chuckled as I perused some of the suggestions. I always found it odd that people looked to magazines for sexual advice. I couldn’t ever imagine an occasion when I’d be in the middle of sex and suddenly think, ‘Hang on, now what was that tip I read about in Cosmo…?’
I hadn’t managed to read more than tip four of ten when someone spoke my name, startling me out of my self-help trance.
I hadn’t even heard the door open.
“Hello,” I said, quickly closing the magazine.
Richard grinned. “I didn’t see a thing.”
“I was only looking,” I said, sounding like a teenager who’d been caught watching porn, and Richard laughed.
“Your secret’s safe. I just wanted to come in and say thanks for staying with McCoy. He didn’t give you any trouble, did he?”
“No. In fact, he was actually pleasant for the first day. It was when he started to get better that he went back to his usual smug self.”
“A sure indication he’s back to normal then. Even so, I’m taking him out of tonight’s match just in case he isn’t fully fit,” Richard said. “I don’t want to risk his health by putting him back into action so soon.”
I doubted Radleigh would thank him for the night off, even if it was for his own good. He’d been desperate to get back to work even while he was in pain, so having to sit the game out when he was so much better would piss him right off.
“It’s only for tonight though, right? He’ll be playing again by the weekend?”
“We’ll see. He can do some very light training today, and if he’s okay, we’ll step it up a little more tomorrow.”
“Knock knock.”
My heart jumped into my throat, then descended into the depths of my stomach, where it churned with guilt as I looked into Miguel’s beautiful brown eyes.
“Hi,” I said, as he stepped into my office.
Richard’s eyeballs swivelled back and forth between
us, then he smiled. “I’ll leave you to it.”
“Won’t be long, boss,” Miguel told him. The second we were alone, he drew me into a hug. “I missed you.”
“I missed you too.”
The words still felt phony as they left my lips but instead of dwelling on my stupidity, I kissed him softly, forcing my indiscretion with McCoy out of my head.
“I know we don’t have too long here,” Miguel said, “but I wondered if you wanted to go on that first date tomorrow night?”
“Yes.” I smiled. “I would love to.”
“Good. Because I already ordered the picnic food.”
“Oh, very confident!”
“I wasn’t confident. I was hopeful.”
“Well, I don’t plan to disappoint you.”
“You could never disappoint me,” he said, and my stomach lurched again. He was so trusting, so open. I wasn’t sure just how much of his adoration I deserved.
****