Elijah slams his big shoulder into Wyatt, sending him flying into the dirt, and then he circles around and hits Bryce so hard that the ball goes flying out of his hands.
“Go, Elijah!” I jump up and scream as he runs over, grabs the loose ball, and heads for his end zone.
The players on the offense lazily chase him, barely pretending to make an effort. They know what’s going to happen if they try and tackle the beast. They’ll get a stiff-arm and a mouthful of grass instead.
I cheer and scream when he scores a touchdown. He points right at me, filling me with a warm glow, and then spikes the ball down hard.
I can’t believe he’s actually interested in me. What is happening? This can’t be real.
The coach blows the whistle and screams that the practice is over.
Elijah keeps his possessive eyes on me as the coach says a few words to him. He slaps my man on the back and then Elijah comes walking over.
My heart starts pounding with every step he takes toward me. God, he’s so hot. His jacked shoulders, chest, and arms are larger than ever, pumped to the max after that brutal workout. All of the other players look half dead, but he seems totally fine as he prowls toward me, those light brown eyes fixated hungrily on my body.
I grab my bag and carefully step down the bleachers, trying not to embarrass myself by awkwardly tumbling down them (something I would definitely do).
“You’re incredible,” I tell him as I stand on the lowest bench. He’s so tall that my eyes still don’t reach his.
“Those guys won’t be messing with you again,” he says in that deep sexy voice. “If they do, I’ll kill them.”
“I think you did enough,” I say with a laugh as I look around his large frame to where Bryce is taking off his pads with a wince. He looks like he’s trying not to cry.
“Ready to get out of here?”
I turn back to him and get a deep throb between my legs when I see the way he’s looking at me. His skin is all sweaty and I don’t know why, but it’s really doing something for me. I just want to drag my tongue up his muscular neck and see how he tastes.
“I’m ready.”
He takes my hand and swallows the entire thing with his huge palm and thick fingers. I fall a little bit deeper in love being connected like this.
Students from my school are watching, including the football team, but I don’t pay them any attention as I hop off the bench and start walking to the truck with my beast. All of my focus is on Elijah. If I could shut out the entire world and have it just be us, I would.
He opens the door to his truck and I climb in. His possessive eyes never leave me as he walks around the front of the truck and gets in.
I feel so grown up. I’m in this man’s luxurious truck, feeling wanted for the first time. This is a little piece of heaven right here.
“How come you’re not smashing guys like that in the NFL?” I ask him when we’re rolling down the street. My high school disappears from the side mirror as we turn the corner. “You seem like you’d be a star.“
He smiles sadly as he stares out the window.
“I probably could have been,” he says as he slides his hand along the steering wheel. “But when that drunk driver slammed into our car, I got a punctured lung. It limits what I can do.”
I stare at him in shock. This man looks like he has no limits at all.
“I can work out fine and I can play here and there,” he says with a heavy sigh. “But the NFL is no longer an option. I couldn’t keep up with only one lung and I can’t push it too much.”
I drop my eyes to my lap, wishing I didn’t bring it up. It must have been so hard on him to have to give up his dream over something that was out of his control.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper.
He looks at me and shakes his head. “You have nothing to be sorry about, Ali. I’m glad it happened. I’m happy I’m not in the NFL right now.”
“You are? Why?”
“Because I’d probably be off playing in Dallas or Green Bay right now instead of sitting here with you.”
I swallow hard as I look at him looking at me.
“I might not have met you,” he says, looking pained. “And nothing is worth missing out on that.”
A heavy heated silence fills the truck. I can feel the electricity in the air—the need and the lust.
It breaks when I notice a cut on his arm. He’s bleeding.
“You’re hurt!” I say with a gasp when a drop of blood rolls down his thick tricep.