Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 97882 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 489(@200wpm)___ 392(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97882 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 489(@200wpm)___ 392(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
“Then again, not the best view from across the street. Maybe you should invite me inside next time.”
I turned to find Holden wearing that stupid smirk he loved to don so much, the dimple in his left cheek defined.
“Or maybe I should invest in blackout curtains and a security team, stalker,” I replied sweetly.
“Who stalked who first?”
I rolled my eyes, just as Riley knocked on the table between us. “Um, can we get a little context here?”
“Julep lives across the street from The Pit,” Holden explained.
“No way!” Giana gushed, squeezing my forearm. “You have to come out after the first game. Win or lose, The Pit is always the place to be.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Sounds like it.”
That earned me a laugh from Riley. “Aside from the fact that it looks and smells like a bachelor pad, it actually is pretty fun.”
“Hey! Not every part is like a bachelor pad,” Holden defended.
“Yeah, yeah, we all love and appreciate your pretty garden,” someone said as they rounded the table, grinding a knuckle into Holden’s head as they passed. Leo Hernandez plopped down in the seat on one side of Riley with a grin just as Zeke Collins took the one on the other side of her.
And suddenly, I felt surrounded.
“You should come over sometime though,” Leo added once he was seated. “And bring that roommate of yours.”
“You mean the one who hates you?”
Leo smirked, shrugging. “They all say they hate me, but words are cheap.”
He winked at me, and I let out an incredulous breath of a laugh before picking at the broccoli on my plate.
Zeke threw his arm around Riley, whispering something into her neck that made her blush and made me feel uncomfortable for having witnessed it.
“Disgusting, isn’t it?” Holden said in a low voice, nodding toward where Zeke and Riley were huddled together. “Although, I’d take this over the shit show they were their freshman season.”
“Isn’t it weird,” I asked. “Two teammates dating?”
He shrugged, shoveling a huge mound of rice into his mouth. Once he swallowed, he said, “Not really any of my business. As long as they do their job on the field, I don’t care what’s going on off it.”
“So very captain of you.”
Holden winked, and I fought the urge to give him another roll of my eyes.
“What about you?” I asked, waving the end of my fork toward the back corner table. “Which one of the cheerleaders is yours?”
“Oh no,” Leo interjected, standing up enough to clap Holden hard on the shoulder. “Cap doesn’t date.”
“Wilson is his one true love,” Clay added.
I gave them both a look of disbelief. “Uh-huh. Sure.”
“They tell no lies,” Riley said. “QB1 doesn’t have time for a girlfriend.”
“He makes time for the important part of a relationship, though,” Zeke added with a wink.
I caught Holden just in time to see him giving Zeke a warning glare, and Riley smacked Zeke across the chest.
“Ah — so that’s the move, huh? Pull a cheerleader into your bed, make her think she has a chance, only to break her heart?”
Holden angled himself toward me, one elbow on the table as he leaned in and invaded my space. His scent overpowered anything else, a combination of his spicy body wash and the musk still hanging on from practice.
“Is this your not-so-subtle way of asking if I have a girlfriend, Julep Lee? Because I can save you the detective work and tell you that I don’t.”
I scoffed. “Like I care.”
“Seems like you might.”
“Seems like they might need to order new helmets to fit your big head.”
Leo coughed to cover his laugh, nudging Riley who was having that silent conversation with Giana across the table again.
Holden ignored all of it, only leaning in even more, his breath warm on my lips. “Some of us are going out tonight to celebrate chart before the real work of the season starts. You should come.”
“Since when are you going out?” Leo asked with a scoff.
“Since now,” Holden answered without looking away from me. I didn’t think it was possible for him to lean in any closer without it being a kiss, but he managed, and I resisted the urge to back down. “That is, if Julep joins us.”
My next inhale came harder than the one before it, burning in a way I was unfamiliar with as those sea green eyes danced.
“You keep forgetting who I am,” I said, hoping my voice was louder to him than it was over the roaring in my ears.
“I know exactly who you are.”
That made me scoff. “You don’t know anything about me.”
“So, let’s change that.”
He shot the words back at me so quickly that the table went quiet, everyone pretending to eat when I knew damned well they were all tuned in to what I would say back.
I narrowed my eyes, rolling my lips together before I pressed just a fraction of an inch into the slight space that still existed between us. I opened my mouth, ready to fire back even though I didn’t have anything locked and loaded.