“I can’t believe you’re falling for the rookie.”
“Slow down, chief. We’ve agreed to date. I’m not falling for anyone.”
“If you say so.”
Charlie came running up, high-fiving a few of the guys.
Lucas smacked the top of her helmet. “Nice kick, rookie.”
She took it off and yanked her hair tie out, freeing her ponytail. “Thanks, Lucas. Nice run, Collin.”
“Thanks.” Maybe it was paranoia or nerves, but it felt as though all eyes were on us. “Did you speak to that reporter who wanted the exclusive? It wasn’t Veronica Tate, was it?”
Despite following in her uncle’s footsteps and becoming a sports reporter, Veronica loved gossip more.
“No, her name was Andrea O’Connell. I met with her and Reese while you guys were running drills. She has the exclusive. Reese thought better to do it that way than have a bunch of reporters hurling questions at me. They’re talking to Anton now. He seems to love the limelight.”
“Yeah, you can say that,” Lucas said, shaking his head.
Anton was a good quarterback, but after we had a winning season last year and his endorsement deals tripled, so did the size of his head. His contract was also coming up for renegotiation. But cocky QB aside, I needed to remember to thank Reese later for not having a slew of reporters hurl questions at Charlie. If Anton wanted the attention, he could have it.
Using the hem of my jersey, I wiped the sweat rolling down my face. “I’m going to go hit the showers.”
“Same. I must look awful.”
Seeing two smudged lines of black grease beneath her eyes and sweat-soaked hair that looked like a bird had frolicked in it should have been a turnoff. Instead, it was the opposite. Or maybe it was just the girl. Charlie smiled, and I nodded.
Yeah… it was the girl.
###
Planning a date for someone you saw every day and lived with held a different type of pressure. If it sucked or if things weren’t fantastic, theI’ll give you a call sometimeline wouldn’t work. That was why workplace romances were oftentimes frowned upon. There had never been anything in the Thunder bylaws that stated teammates couldn’t date or that coaches couldn’t date players. It would be hypocritical thanks to Reese and Trent. How often were the head coach and GM of a team married? I’ll tell you… not often at all. In fact, never.
It seemed the Thunder didn’t adhere to irrelevant rules like women playing in the league. Again, not in any rule I’d ever read, but still Charlie had been the first. Then again, I honestly didn’t know any who had been turned away. I just think it was a thought society or whoever put out in the world for people to adhere to.
Thanks to Reese, our team had smashed that proverbial ceiling. And I had a feeling that Charlie would break records by the time the season or her career ended.
“I wasn’t sure what to wear.” I glanced up to see Charlie in a pink skirt that showed off her shapely legs—which seemed to get sexier by the day—and a white top that rested at her waist and had little puffs for sleeves. Her shoes were her favorite pink high-tops.
Knowing we’d be able to cover up, I complimented her. “You look perfect, Charlie. I like when your hair is down. Not that I don’t like it when it’s up,” I quickly added.
“Thanks. I don’t know if it’s the helmet or that I’ve had my hair in a ponytail most of the week, but my head has been aching.”
“Are you okay? Did you want to reschedule tonight?”
“Not a chance. I’ve been waiting more than half of my life for this moment. And my head is fine now. I took an ibuprofen.”
“Okay, then let’s go.” After talking to Lucas and thinking about everything that could go wrong tonight, I changed course a bit. Not so much the place, but I did take precautions to make sure we wouldn’t be hounded.
“Are you going to tell me where?”
“Now what fun would that be?” She gave me that pretty smile of hers and stared at me. “What’s that look for?”
“I’m just happy, that’s all.”
I laced my fingers with hers, kissed her temple, and led her outside to my car. Tonight we’d be taking my Maserati. It was white, sleek, and my pride and joy. When I opened the third bay of my garage, my baby appeared.
“That’s beautiful.”