“More like most of the time.” I chance a look at her and the glow in her eyes is freakin’ mesmerizing. “I like how you football guys always show up to our games.”
“You do the same for us,” I say with a shrug. A lot of my friends from the football team will attend the volleyball games with me, only because I convince them to. Plus, it’s a great time for all of us to be social in the stands, which we never get to do since we’re always at practice or at a game. Though really?
I’m just there to watch Addie.
She always looks damn good in the uniforms. The tight-fitting tops and the short shorts that show off her long, toned legs.
My gaze drops to those legs, appreciative of the leggings she’s wearing.
“Athletes taking care of each other then?” she asks.
“Yeah, for sure.” I glance around before I return my attention to her, my gaze snagging on her blue eyes and how she’s looking at me right now. As if she might be…
Interested.
I’m probably just getting my hopes up.
“You wanna go sit somewhere and talk?” I ask her out of nowhere.
That wasn’t very smooth, but it’s the best I’ve got.
“Aren’t we doing that right now?” She laughs.
“Yeah, but maybe…somewhere more private?” Oh fuck, where am I going with this? Not like I drank a lot, so it’s not alcohol that’s making me so bold. This is some risky shit, considering Sasha’s not here and all kinds of people are, who’ll report back to her.
“Um, sure.” She ducks her head, tucking a thick strand of brown hair behind her ear. “Where are you thinking?”
“My car, maybe?” We glance over at my SUV and realize there are tons of people standing around it, drinking and laughing. Not a one of them is paying attention to us. “Or maybe not.”
“How about my car?” she suggests.
I raise my brows. “Do you mind?”
She slowly shakes her head. “No. Plus, it’s getting kind of cold standing out here. I’ll grab a blanket from the trunk and we can chill in my car.”
I tell myself not to get excited, but chilling in Addie’s car while we’re sharing a blanket sounds promising as hell.
You shouldn’t even be thinking like this. Don’t be an asshole. She’s your friend. That’s it. You have a girlfriend. Even if you’re not into her anymore, you need to break things off with Sasha. She’s a nice girl. You’ve had a great relationship, but now it’s over.
Make it official before you do something stupid and Sasha finds out.
Ignoring the very practical voice in my head that sounds suspiciously like my mother, I follow Addie to her car, noting how dark and desolate it feels the farther out we are from where everyone’s clustered together. She unlocks the doors and goes to the trunk, lifting the lid to grab a couple of blankets out of it before she slams it closed.
“You come prepared,” I say as I approach the passenger side of the car.
“I don’t like freezing my ass off out here,” she says with a laugh as she opens the driver’s side door.
I copy her, opening the passenger side and climbing inside. I immediately push the seat back to accommodate my long legs, and I let out a huff of surprise when she tosses a blanket at me, hitting me in the head.
Pulling it away from my face, I glance over to find her smiling at me.
“Sorry,” she says, not sounding sorry at all.
“Uh, thanks?” I shake the blanket out and drape it over me, noting how it’s pale pink and dotted with white hearts. “It’s so…cute.”
I make a face, which only makes her laugh harder. “It was my Valentine’s Day present this year.”
I’m about to shove it off me in disgust.
“—from my mom,” she finishes.
I find her gaze again to check if she’s playing me.
She’s just smiling, looking pleased with herself.
“How sweet.” I nod toward the blanket currently sitting in her lap. I’m just damn grateful the blanket I’m using didn’t come from her ex. “Where’d you get that one?”
“My sister got it for me for Christmas a couple of years ago.” She shakes out the pale blue blanket, so it covers her bottom half. “Kind of one of our school colors, you know?”
“Sure.” I lean back in my seat, glancing up at the ceiling to see she has a sun roof. “Hey,” I slide the cover open, exposing the glass, “we can see the stars.”
“We can, huh?” She hits the start engine button on her Honda and slides open the window partway, letting in a whoosh of cool air. She shivers, pulling her throw blanket up to her chin.
“We can shut it if you want,” I tell her, not wanting her to freeze. That was half the reason why she wanted to come to her car and talk to me in the first place.
I mean, maybe it could have something to do with me, but maybe not. I’m not getting my hopes up. Addie has me in the friend zone for sure, where I deserve to be.
“No, this is fun. We can lean back our chairs.” She does exactly that, so she’s practically laid out flat on the seat.
I run my eyes over her, lingering on all my favorite parts, though I can’t see much thanks to that damn blanket covering her. She turns her head toward me, an expectant look on her pretty face. “You going to join me?”
I immediately go into action, putting the seat back until I’m pretty much horizontal, my knees practically hitting the dash. I try to get more comfortable, tugging the blanket over me, but fail. Addie stretches over the console, grabbing the edge of the blanket and pulling it into place so I’m mostly covered. “There you go,” she murmurs as she settles back into her seat.
I stare at her for a moment, at a loss for words. Swallowing hard, I jerk my gaze to the window above us, staring at the stars in the black sky. In the distance, I can still hear the music playing, though it’s more the throbbing of the beat versus the actual song. There are people talking, but I can’t make out what they’re saying.
It’s as if we’re locked away in our own little world.
“I’m glad it’s clear tonight,” Addie says. “We can see the stars.”
“Yeah.” That’s all I can manage to say. I’d rather stare at her instead of the sky.
I wonder what she’d do if I scooted closer and took her hand in mine.
“Don’t they feel like you can reach out and touch them?” She stretches her arm out, the blanket falling, her hand drawing closer to the open window above us. “I sound silly.”
She’s about to drop her arm, but I take my chance and grab her hand, interlacing my fingers with hers. “No, you don’t,” I say, my voice serious.
Her hand is much smaller in mine and I sweep my thumb across hers, nice and slow.
Fuck, I feel that touch deep inside me, and I immediately want more.
Addie turns to look at me, and I realize our faces are close. Really close. Our hands still interlocked. My gaze drops to her mouth and all I can think about is kissing her.
That’s it. That’s all I want. To lose myself in Addie’s lips.
“Oh my God!”
THREE