Page 10 of Falling Offsides

“You don’t have to take me all the way up.”

“I know, but you need to keep the Koolpak on your head, so you don’t have enough hands to carry all this. It’s also the least I can do after—” I nod at her head.

Courtney’s average height, but she’s slender enough that it makes her appear taller with how lithe and long her legs are.

Jesus, I should not be noticing any of this. Not her legs. Not how clear blue her eyes are. Or how her skin is so pale that it appears almosttranslucent. So bright. Her lips are juicy, the kind of full that gives her a natural bratty pout…

“Come on,” I say, cutting off my train of thought as I take her things into the elevator and focus on the blood turning black on her hoodie.

If I don’t quit thinking about her, that’s going to be my blood on Coach’s hands.

But her lips are pretty enthralling. Especially when she nibbles on them.

Fuck.

Gripping her luggage harder, I try to focus on the heartbeat that pounds on my fingertips.

Until Courtney loosens her messy bun and her curls drop to her shoulders. Dark. Thick. It’s the kind of hair that would feel good wrapped around?—

“No.”

“Excuse me?” She turns to look at me.

“Huh?”

“You said no… actually you growled it.”

“Growled? No, I didn’t?—”

“Okay…” Courtney takes a step to the side, away from me.

That’s it. Clever. Good girl.

Good girl?

Really, asshole?

I’m ecstatic when the elevator arrives at our floor and the doors ping open. Courtney instantly finds her door. There are only two apartments on the top four floors of the building, so it was fifty-fifty potluck and she won.

Fishing her keys from the front pocket of the backpack I’m still holding, she opens the door and pushes her luggage inside before she takes her camera bag and backpack from me.

“Well, thanks for the ride. And, you know… not letting me die out there.”

“Anytime.” I shrug like a fucking moron.Anytime?How many times am I planning on hitting her with my puck?

Courtney chuckles. “Hopefully there won’t be a next time. I’m thinking I might invest in a hi vis.”

“That’s a great idea.”

“Yeah,” she chuffs, backing into her apartment as I stand watching her go in and then disappear behind the door that she locks.

Smart.

I keep standing there, listening to her footsteps fade deeper into her place.

Only when I can’t hear any movement do I back towards my own door. I let myself in quickly.

The dark space has a new pulse. There’s a fresh buzz in the air. Static crackling in the walls as I stand in the dark and soak it all in.