Page 8

CHAPTER 8

YOU CAN'T SCORE IF YOU DON'T TAKE THE SHOT

KAYDEN

I thought being back home would help, but we landed four hours ago and I still feel just as lost as I did before leaving Boston this morning. I doubt if I said more than ten words on the plane. Most of my teammates assumed I was hungover. But Brant knew better. I caught him studying me several times on the flight, and since we've been home, he's tried to call me twice. I wasn't ready to talk to anyone, though. Especially not on a plane or over the phone. I barely want to discuss it now, but I need to tell someone. So I key in the code to his front door and let myself in.

"Hey Branny? I could really use you." The kitchen and living room are both empty. "Brant? Lily?" There's just silence. Not even Chloe's dog Silver comes out to greet me. I collapse onto their couch and close my eyes. If I don't, I'll either cry or get sick. Maybe both.

"I thought that was you. Your voice is seared into my memory—an ugly, blaring call to run as far away as possible."

I startle upright, gaping at the woman standing impossibly at the other end of the couch. "Emory?" Her hair is pulled back in a tight bun, and she's wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants that are tight across her thighs. They look brand new. Just like the white sneakers she's wearing. "What are you doing here? "

"Acting as pest repellent. Brant and Lily obviously aren't here, so scurry elsewhere and leave me alone."

"Um, it's my best friend's house. I can be here."

"Uh, it's my best friend's house too, and I was here before you. So I win." She kicks at my dangling foot and then bends over the coffee table, pulling open a drawer. "Damn it."

"What are you doing?" I ask.

When she looks up at me through those dark eyelashes, a rush of heat rolls through me. Suddenly, I'm not thinking about my future with the Sting. I'm remembering the last time she looked at me like that. My fingertips blaze at the memory of her skin.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" she asks.

"Burglarizing their house?"

"You caught me." She pulls a piece of paper out of the drawer and tosses it on the table in front of me. "But if you promise not to snitch, I'll share this page of pizza coupons I just found. What do you say? Partners?"

I snort as I look at the paper she pulled from the drawer. "These expired in May. And why are they clipping coupons anyway?"

"How else could they get a free two-liter with the purchase of three large pizzas at menu price?" Her lip curls, and I swear she's just about to smile before she catches herself. "Now, what are you doing? You're the one who obviously broke in without their permission."

"You don't know that." I feel a grin creep across my face. What is it about her that makes me instantly feel so much better?

She folds her arms and glowers at me. "You called out for both of them when you came in here, so that means you didn't know they were gone. That means you didn't talk to them about coming over, and therefore, you're here without permission. Try me again."

I sweep my eyes along her body, wishing it was my hands instead of my gaze moving over those curves. I want to cup her full ass in my hands and pull her so close she's straddling my lap. Yeah, I want to try her again, but it's clear that she doesn't. "Pass."

"I bet that was a word you didn't hear very often from your teachers. Since you insist on being here, just go back to your nap or whatever it is you broke in for, and leave me alone. Then we can both get away from each other as soon as possible."

She closes the drawer on the coffee table and then moves to the end table beside me. As she looks under it, I stand beside her. "What are we looking for?"

" We aren't looking for anything, so…" she points at the couch, but I don't move.

"Teamwork makes everything better, including whatever this is. Tell me. I can help."

"We're not a team."

I huff. "We're so very far from a team. We're here, and teamwork is clear over on Jupiter."

"It's in another galaxy."

I nod like it couldn't be more obvious. "Another galaxy far, far away."

"And it passed a long time ago."

I pretend to swing a lightsaber, complete with sound effects that sound exactly like the real thing, if I say so myself.

She can only stare, probably because she's so awed. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Don't act like you don't know."

She shrugs. "Nope, not a clue. I'm not a nerd like you."

I click off my imaginary lightsaber and holster it, and there's that minuscule curl of her lip again. "Mm-hmm. Sure you're not. So what non-nerdy item are you so cooly looking for? Maybe we could use the?—"

"Oh my god, don't even say it. Just because I maybe vaguely understood your Star Wars reference doesn't mean that we're suddenly best friends and get to make silly jokes to each other."

"Obviously. But what's the biggest lesson Luke learns in those movies?"

"That his dad is evil and the source of so much suffering throughout the galaxy." I've never heard her sound so serious, almost hurt.

I start to ask her what's wrong, but as soon as I open my mouth, I close it. We don't have any relationship, let alone the kind where I can ask about something like this. She'd be more likely to find a paper clip and plant it between my ribs than to tell me the truth if something was hurting her.

"Wrong. Luke learned that he sometimes had to rely on other people."

She stares at me and sighs. Then sighs again and stares even more. But I don't take my eyes from hers until she gives up. "Fine. I'm looking for a key."

"To their safe?" I tease. "You are here to rob them!"

"To Lily's dad's house next door."

"Why do you want that? Are you going to rob that house?"

She looks left and right and then leans in, whispering, "because I heard there's a map to an ancient pirate treasure hidden in the attic."

I gasp. "One-Eyed Willy will be mad if you take his gold."

Her gaze drops below my waist, and she shrugs. "I don't think One-Eyed Willy is my problem."

It's hard to believe it's been only eight days since Chloe's party. Eight days since I made this woman come so hard she started to lose her voice. Would it be so bad if it happened one more time? "I'm not so sure, Ginger. You don't want to keep One-Eyed Willy from getting what's his, do you?" I bite the corner of my lower lip and squint just a little. It's a look that I know women can't resist.

She rolls her eyes. "Do you know how many times people have called me Ginger? Come up with something original. Or better yet, just don't call me anything. You go your way, and I'll go mine."

"And your way is taking you to Lily's house."

"If I can find the damn key. She said it was upstairs in her jewelry box, but it's not. Now, she's not answering my calls"

"I have an idea." I walk toward the hallway, but when I turn around after a few steps, she hasn't moved. "Usually people consider that a cue to follow." I march back to her and take her hand. It's not until I start to pull that she comes along. Even then, she tries to work her hand away. "Is it really that bad to touch me?"

I turn back in time to see her glance down at our joined hands. She swallows before looking back up to me and nodding. "It's a good thing I have access to heavy-duty sterilization equipment or I might never get this hand clean. Well, I did have access. I suppose I don't anymore."

The heaviness is back in her voice, and this time I can't ignore it. "What's really going on, Emory? Why are you back in Salt Lake City?"

She shakes her head, and her gaze drifts somewhere over my shoulder. But she doesn't say a word.

"Sometimes it's easier to talk to someone you don't like. You don't care what I think, and I don't care what you think. So tell me, Emory."

She pauses so long I think she's just going to ignore me, but then she answers, "I'm moving here."

Her voice is thin, and now I know I was right when I heard the hurt earlier. I want to cup her face with my palm. To pull her tight and wrap my arms around her. I just want to touch her in any way she'll let me. But she barely let me take her hand.

"I'm staying in Lily's old house for now. If I can ever find the key to it. Just until I find a place of my own. And I'll need a job too before that. There probably aren't many free apartments in Salt Lake City. Shit, this sounds so damn stupid now that I'm saying it out loud."

"Why?"

"Because I have nothing here except Lily, but I uprooted my entire life to come here anyway."

I tighten my hand around hers, trying to send the message that she could have another friend here if she wants one.

"So why leave Denver?"

She shakes me off and drops my hand. "It's a long story that I'm not going to get into with you." Her voice falters for just a second but then snaps back to normal. "Now, what's your idea? The sooner we find that key, the sooner we can never see each other again."

Whatever moment we'd just inched up to is gone now.

I point at the room on my right. Brant's office, where he stores the things that are important to him. "Check the top left desk drawer." I watch the way she moves across the room and slides the drawer open, tucking a non-existent stray hair behind her ear before she peers inside.

"Oh my god, Kayden, this is it!" She's beaming as she spins around, holding up the key on its black and pink keychain.

Seeing the way her face lights up inspires what has to be the most foolish idea I've ever had. I start talking myself out of it before I even allow myself to fully consider it.

There's no way it could ever work. She would never agree to it.

But what if it does work?

What if this is what it takes to get my contract renewed? What if I can convince her to help me? There's no one else I'd want to do this with. With literally any other woman, it would feel fake. But with her…

I draw in a long breath, hoping to slow my racing heart. If I'm going to do this, it's now or never. You can't score if you don't take the shot. "I need you to be my girlfriend."

Her smile drops just a little before she bursts into laughter.

"I'm serious. Please."

"You need a lot of things, Kayden. That's not one of them."

I close the space between us, stopping when I'm a couple of feet away, even though I don't want to stop until she's in my arms. "I'm serious, Emory. I need a girlfriend, and you're—" She's what? The woman I haven't stopped thinking about all week? The voice I hear even when she's not around? The face that pops into my mind at random times throughout the day? "You're here. In Salt Lake City."

The last remnants of her smile are erased by my words. "Wow. You really know how to sweet talk a girl. I'm surprised you don't already have a girlfriend with those skills." Her words are flat. She's angry, and why wouldn't she be? "Thanks for finding the key, Kayden. Good luck with… whatever the fuck you think that was." She doesn't even look at me as she walks away.