Page 42 of False Start

I was in a car with two freaking NFL players.

I was about to be at a weddingfullof them.

I shook his hand with an awkward smile, my heart working overtime again. “Madelyn.”

“She packed lighter than you,” Kyle teased Braden when we released hands. He turned to me next. “I can’t convince this guy to use his signing bonus to get a car from this decade, but he has no problem buying a new pair of shoes every day and insisting they all need to come with him on a long weekend trip.”

“You’re just salty because I dress better than you,” Braden quipped, throwing the car into drive. “Always have.”

“It’s four nights,” Kyle said. “You have twogiantsuitcases forfour nights.”

“Well, we might be hiking!” Braden said, as if that was all the defense he needed. “And then there’s the rehearsal dinner, the groom’s brunch, the wedding itself, whatever we end up doing the next day — whichcouldbe hiking. I’ll be hitting the gym every day, we might play football while we’re there — what? Don’t look at me like that. We might!”

Kyle barked out a laugh, razzing his friend as my eyes lost focus once we pulled onto the highway.

What the hell am I doing?

My hand gripped the seat below me, my chest aching with the pressure of each breath. I thought I might actually be hyperventilating when I felt a pair of sea green eyes on me.

Kyle had pulled the visor down, and he was staring at me through the mirror of it.

When our eyes met, time slowed, the sound of traffic and the radio and Braden continuing to defend his packing all fading until everything was muted.

Relax, he mouthed in the mirror.

I glared at him, and he smiled.

Then, he reached one massive hand behind him and squeezed my knee.

I stared at that point of contact, fire licking along the inside of my thigh. And when I glanced at him in the mirror again, I saw his eyes sparkling.

And for some reason I couldn’t understand even if I dissected it, Ididrelax.

I took a breath. I smiled. I shook my head and flushed as Kyle squeezed my knee once more before removing his touch altogether.

Something about the way he looked at me told me this wasn’t serious enough for me to freak out over.

Something in those eyes of his told me to have fun.

Fun.

I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d done anything like this. I used to love to take long weekend trips, to travel, to meet new people.

Sometime in the span of my brief marriage and time of being a mother, I’d lost that.

I’d lostme.

But until the plane landed back in Seattle on Tuesday, I didn’t have anything to do or anywhere to be other than right here with Kyle Robbins.

My blast from the past who turned everything upside down.

Maybe I didn’t have to think too hard about it all. Maybe I didn’t need to stress about being underdressed or out of place or states away from my son.

Sebastian was safe with my mom.

Work was on hold until next week.

Right now, regardless of what I was wearing, Kyle had his eyes on me with all kinds of mischievous promises dancing inside them.