“They fucked shit up!” he says with a laugh. At least he can handle being the butt of a joke. “The update could have merged my contacts and made Patrick’s number the default IOU. Your message on Monday could have been filtered.” He clicks on his screen again and curses. “Fuck.”
He shows me the phone and there’s my note, no contact name attached, filtered into “unknown callers.” If he’s making this up, he went to a lot of trouble to fake the proof.
“So does this also mean if you know ten Davids they’re now one David?”
He looks horrified at the idea. “I better check on that. My friend David runs a sweet new tapas place, but this other David from high school tries to sell me Muscle Milk all the time. I’d hate to mix them up.”
“Understandable. But how do you have another IOU in your contacts?”
Drew drags a hand through his hair, maybe a little chagrined. When he meets my gaze, his vulnerable expression tugs on my heart. I don’t want to sound like I’m doubting him if this is a tough topic.
In his silence, I add gently, “I’m just curious. But you don’t have to tell me. Truly, it’s fine.”
“I don’t mind,” he says quietly, but it sounds like he’s gearing up to reveal something personal. “I didn’t have a lot of money growing up. My buddyPatrick didn’t either, but when we got to college, he started figuring out the stock market and started making money. I was still scraping by, so he’d help me out from time to time. I named him IOU as a joke between us. He didn’t mind, but it always embarrassed me a little that I had to ask.”
I’m touched that he’d share that. “Sounds like he’s a good friend. I’m glad you had him to turn to.”
“He’s a good guy. He’s my financial advisor now, which works out well for both of us.” He blows out a long breath, letting his embarrassment go. Good humor comes in its place, his eyes twinkling. “Somehow, I completely missed that he was pulling a fast one.”
I laugh at the absurdity of the whole situation, from the prank to his friend seizing the moment.
I’m ready to let him off the hook except for one thing. I arch a brow, quoting Patrick’s impersonation of me. “That all sounds good. But I’m totes down for feeding and fucking too. Can you pull off that feat, stud?” I stare at Drew, a smile on my face. “That wasn’t the tip-off you weren’t texting me?”
He shrugs sheepishly. “It didn’t entirely sound like you—the stud part especially. But I didn’t want to be judge-y about how you talked over text.”
I lift the other brow. “Punish me, baby?”
He tosses up his hands. “Maybe you liked bondage and stuff.”
“I’ve been a bad girl?”
He holds up his hands in surrender. “Hey, now. No judgies.”
“None from me,” I say, enjoying the same rapport as we did on Sunday. “But that’s not what I’d say.”
Drew parks his hands on his hips, issuing me a challenging stare. “What wouldyousay, Surf Angel?”
I step closer, part my lips, lick them, and say, “Smack my ass. Hard. Harder. Yes. Just like that.”
His breath comes out staggered. “Brooke,” he says in a warning.
I do need to stop flirting, for real. When we slept together on Sunday, we weren’t working together. But now we are. I’ve stepped into a new job, the team is on reputation rehab, and Drew has a chance to show what he’s made of professionally.
I hate to say this. Truly I do. But there is no other choice. “We can’t go out tonight. Or at all.”
He’s quiet at first, impassive. I can picture him watching a game from the sidelines, giving nothing away. Then, with disappointment, he nods. “I had a feeling.”
“With the trouble the team has been through, we can’t take a chance of anything that would be…” I pause, hunting for the word. “Inappropriate. Even remotely inappropriate.”
No way in hell would management want a lawyer diddling with a player.
“Of course. We don’t want to put the team in a bad light,” he says. It’s a relief that he understandsthe full scope of the disaster another night together could be.
“And it’s your first year here,” I add. “We both have a lot at stake.”
“Exactly. Gotta keep everything above board.” Drew’s mood shifts from disappointed to playful. “But I bet there’s no rule that we can’t be friends. How’s that for a technicality?”
I can’t help it. I smile too. This man could charm the panties off me any day.