Page 97 of Falling Offsides

Instead, I move around the booth, dropping into the seat across from her.

I say nothing. Just watch her whole demeanor change.

Slender shoulders pull back with the toss of her hair over her shoulder. It’s longer and so fucking silky when it’s straight. But I miss her curls. Wild and knotty. Miss the way they felt when I combed my fingers through them last night. Coarse and strong.

Courtney doesn’t look at me. Not even when she tips her nose up and finishes her glass of pink champagne and allows Erik to top it up again.

She’s blatantly ignoring me, and that’s okay.

Is it pissing me off?Yes.

Is it turning me the fuck on? Also, yes.

Knowing that her panties from last night are in my drawer, still smelling of how fucking good she came for me is my current happy place. It’s what’s stopping me from losing it on Erik and Matheo right now.

Pulling my keys from my pocket, I thread them through my finger, so that the tag she gave me glints in the blue and red light.

Oh.That catches her eyes. Those pretty fucking eyes that are desperately trying to hide her emotions… her want… all that delicious lust she soaked me with yesterday.

I can feel it roll off her milky skin. Like a secret scent that she exudes only for me. Filled with heat and tension. Promising that storm still buzzing beneath her skin.

Courtney shakes her head, focusing back on Matheo’s cachaça for connoisseurs lecture.

But her smile is too bright. Too practiced to pass off her feigned indifference.

Hmmm… my girl likes the chase. Tobechased.

I’m here for it. Here for the tremble of her hand when she lifts her glass. For the pronounced rise and fall of her chest that pushes her plump tits past the heart-shaped neckline of her dress.

I see the effect I have on her. And she knows it.

When her gaze finally flicks to mine, it’s a spark to dry kindling. Her blue eyes flash hot—her composure threading.

“All right, I’m going to call it a night,” Courtney announces, standing up, brushing off her skirt like she’s trying to shake off the tension between us.

“No,” Cecelia whines, tugging her back down onto the seat. “You’re like the only female here. Don’t leave me.”

“We have work tomorrow.”

“One more drink…? For the road?”

“Fine, one more. But not that stuff.” Court points to the shots. “Sorry, Matheo, but sipping isn’t going to make it taste better.”

“One can only take a horse to water,” he retorts with a tsk.

“If the alcohol is nice you can make it drink too,” Courtney counters, taking an exaggerated sip of the champagne Cecelia poured.

A knot tightens in my chest when she drinks a third of it in one gulp. Courtney’s not inebriated, but I don’t want her out there alone. The thought makes my stomach lurch.

Fuck it.Court will hate me for this, but all that matters is her safety. That I can see her to her door and know that she made it home okay. Pulling up the Uber app on my phone, I book a ride and gather my shit.

“Laters,” I say to the group, putting my jacket on and heading out.

“Laters, bro,” Erik calls over Ansel’s boos.

The entire path to the exit, I feel Court’s eyes on me. When I push through the tall blacked out glass doors, I’m tempted to look back. I don’t.

Instead, I head to the curb and look out for the Uber. When it arrives, I bribe the driver with a generous tip in cash so he waits.